“Okay,” Thomas said. His image’s expression broke, tears spilling down his face. “Okay. God. I know I screwed up, Harry. But the thing had Justine. It had the baby. It said if I told anyone that it would kill them both. It just stopped her heart right in front of me…”
“Easy,” I said. “Easy. I get it, man. I get it.”
When the bad guys had taken my Maggie, I would have done anything to keep her safe. I had, in fact, done unthinkable things for her sake. I was still living with the consequences. Even if I got Thomas out, he’d still be living with his. The svartalves did not forget those who had either helped or harmed them.
“God,” he said. “I’m so tired. I’m so damned tired, Harry.”
“Get some rest,” I said gently. “I’ll be back as soon as I can figure something out.”
His image nodded, sagging.
I focused on the crystal, and the image faded. It went back to glowing green stillness. Thomas’s sense of unease and incipient panic faded, the sense of his presence retreating, until it was just sadness and regret again.
I took my hand down from the casket slowly.
“I raised him, you know,” Lara said quietly. “His mother wisely fled. And Father couldn’t be bothered, of course.” She shook her head. “I took care of him. Fed him. Taught him to…be.”
I turned to look at her. Her crystal-blue eyes looked vibrant against the red that had come into her sclera with what looked like the beginning of tears.
“Thomas told me what pregnancy with one of your kind is like,” I said quietly. “You can’t have children of your own, can you?”
“I have Thomas,” she said quietly. “I will save him. If my way is the only way, I will save him. I don’t care what it costs. He will recover himself in time.”
“Seems like I have something to say about that,” I said.
And suddenly I was facing Lara Raith. The creature who had subverted command of the White Court of vampires. The being whose influence extended throughout the mortal world to a degree that was frankly scary to contemplate. She was cold and beautiful, and her presence was suddenly a thing that I could feel with every inch of my skin, that sent the hairs on my neck crawling about, warning me that a dangerous predator was very, very close.
“There are some places,” she said finally, “where it is foolish for anyone to stand. Between a mother and her child is one of the most well-known. Thomas is mine in a way that no one else ever will be, Dresden. I think it would be best for both of us to concentrate on the goals we have in common.”
“Don’t try to make me bring innocent people out here,” I said. “It’s not going to happen.”
Lara’s blue eyes became drowning deep and the timbre of her voice slid into something lower, slower, more sensual. “I can ask,” she said slowly, her voice like honey for my ears, “very…very…sweetly. Don’t make me say pretty please, Harry.”
Approximately seventy percent of me wanted to tackle her to the floor and go primal on an immediate basis.
Maybe twenty percent of me wanted to start screaming.
The tithe of me that was left made my body turn on one heel andstart walking toward the exit before anything bad (or really, really bad) could happen.
“Let’s go,” I said, and could hear how harsh my voice sounded. “Before choices get made. We both want to help him. That’s the main thing.”
I heard her quietly begin following me back to the stairs.
“He’s family,” she said. “It’s the only thing.”
Chapter
Nine
“Lara Raith is old-school,” Bear said. “I like that.”
“Says the Chooser of the Slain,” I noted wryly. “You’re not exactly the latest fad.” I caught the basketball the kids staying at the castle were playing with as it sailed through outstretched arms. I’d secured a portable hoop and set it up in the main hall. Fitz was serving as referee.
“Thanks, Harry,” Fitz said, holding up his hands.
I hit him with a firm pass. Fitz turned back to the three-on-three. “Okay, guys, way to pass, but, Olivia, you gotta stop throwing those elbows…”
Bear watched my interaction with Fitz with approval. “True enough, I suppose,” she said.
