“The Collector is taking quite the share of oestrous meds,” complains our new chief scientist the next evening. “Her medical staff can’t be usingthatmuch.”
Chewing on the end of a stolen pen, I consider him, down in the lab of Naga mansion. “Maybe she’s found a female unicorn. Maybe she’s experimenting with that Connor anima. But she’s not letting anyone within a kilometre of her land, so no one knows.”
“You need to find out,” Mace says from his chair. “We need to know what she’s hiding in there before we make the decision.”
“The girl will plan her attack soon, surely,” General Taipan says from the door. “What if she successfully manages to kill her?”
“Then the choice will be made for us.” Mace waves a dismissive hand. “But if there are rare assets in there we can trade overseas, I might consider that beneficial.”
“They might end up killing each other,” I say conversationally.
“She cannot die here,” Mace says. “I will not waste an opportunity of that nature.”
War is expensive. If he can make money by selling her, he will. It would be the smart thing to do. “Very well,” I say, groaning as I get to my feet. “No rest for the wicked.” Tossing the pen back to the chief, I watch him catch it before I bow to our king and take my leave.
The night above Crocodylus Estate is laden with magic, but my shadows slip past it like oxygen. So many guns. So many soldiers watching the night as if it’ll attack them if they look away for long enough.
Scaredy little crocodile in her swamp.
It takes me a minute to find Katerina and her new toys, sinking down through the levels of the house and underground. She’s gathered them in a room with a metal floor, low lamplight flickering in the corner, making for a garish scene. There are shadows abound, and Xander’s tall form is the first I see, towering before the rest of them. His shoulders are stiff, and his arms crossed. His dark power buzzes around him like a live wire.
I sneak up on the dragon, low and slow like a cat ready to pounce, but a slight turn of his head tells me he knows I’ve arrived.“Has she moved the unicorn?”I whisper.“I want to see if rubbing its ass will grant me a wish.”
“Rub my ass and see what that does,”Xander replies.
I peer around the corner to see what has him riled up tonight. There’s a female grunt, and if I had a human face right now, it would be twisted in disgust. I lay eyes on what the Lady Crocodylus is doing, and even my shadows recoil.
She wields a knife over the Great White shark, her eyes almost as wild as an aquatic shifter in psychosis. Scythe is strung up, both wrists tied to a metal hook on the low ceiling. Metal glints under the harsh lights, and skin opens up to red, but Scythe does not flinch. His naked upper body is covered in deep, bleeding lacerations, but cold and distant, he does not move.
Katerina’s entire upper body is bandaged, crimson patches blooming like morbid roses across her arms and chest. Interesting.
“You are fucked!” Katerina snarls, panting hard as she wipes her forehead. “The lot of you arefucked.”
Savage lies curled in his wolf form, patches of white amongst his black pelt where he’s been singed. The massive lion is unconscious next to him, his mane roughly shorn down to the skin, and so many darts stuck into his back he looks like an echidna. I turn to look at Xander sideways.“You’re just standing there,”I say.“Just standing by…”
His growl is for my head alone. We both watch Katerina dance around Scythe, the metal darting this way and that but not touching the skin. As if she’s shadowboxing and can’t decide which bit of tattooed skin to cut up next.
“Won’t so much astouchme,” she grunts. “Or look at me. What is the fucking point? You were supposed to be dead anyway. They allwantyou dead.” She’s muttering like a madwoman, and something tells me she hasn’t slept for many nights now. I suppose the novelty wore off when reality was not as she imagined.
“Gah!” Katerina lunges upward, slashing far too close to the shark’s eyes, managing a vertical slice to his cheek. “So beautiful, everyone thought,” she spits, sweat dripping down her face. “They won’t think you’rebeautifulafter I’m done with you.”
“Power corrupts,” I drawl out loud. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Katerina whirls around, eyes wide, and for just asecond, I think she’s going to attack my materialising body. “Can I see the unicorn? Does it do rides?” She bares her pointed croc teeth and lets out the scary deep growling sound her kind like to do when they’re angry. “Oh shit, is it that serious?” I ask. “Because I’m serious about the ride.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” she snaps, advancing towards me, that feral gleam in her eye bordering on rabid. “And tell Mace he can f?—”
“Uh-uh.” I waggle a finger at her. “Let’s not forget who runs the entire state now.”
Anger flashes over her face like a flame. “He can’t even get this spell off me.” She gestures to her bandaged arms. “Either he’s not got as much power as he’s advertising or he’s not on my side at all.”
“If he wanted you dead, you would be,” I say soothingly. “You’re so valuable to us, Katerina. With or without the unicorn.”
Her scoff is pure disgust. “You and everybody else want what I have.” She waves the knife at the three brothers behind her. “And?—”
“What is it you have?” I ask with a soft hiss, stepping forward. “What”—I wave my hand at her charges—“isthis?
Katerina’s pale nostrils flare, slitted pupils flashing. Water splashes nearby, and I wonder who’s watching us. Which of her mates she keeps in those waters is human enough to hear our words? “You would never understand.You, who prefers to execute anybody he has been given to mate.Youwho was giveneverythingby Mace. You got to be saved. You were given your life on a fucking platter. I fought for power. I fought for my independence and grew my enterprise from the ground up when no one thought an anima could.”
“You’re more like Aurelia than you think,” I muse. “Also like Scythe, in many ways. Is that what attracted you to him other than the pretty hair?”
