“Absolutely not,” Lily huffed. Before Jason could deflate in relief, she added, “I'm asking if you'd consider a relationship with a woman and another man.”
“What?!” Jason nearly shrieked.
Lily just stared at him, waiting for a response. We all were.
Jason's face turned beet-red. He lurched to his feet and muttered something about having to pee. Then he fled.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Lily giggled.
“That was mean,” Leo noted.
“Nicer than simply crushing his heart and telling him I'm not interested,” Lily shot back.
“And what if he decides you're worth sharing?” Cyprian gave her a mischievous look.
“If Jason has the balls to share me with another man, I will rock that boy's world,” Lily declared.
“I take it back,” Leo said as the rest of us chuckled. “You're my new hero.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
I went to sleep that night between Malik and the Rians; all my kishanos needed to be near me. But I woke alone. And in another bed. In another place entirely. I came awake slowly, feeling exceptionally groggy, which never happens to me. Even a night of drinking acoo didn't leave me so out of sorts. I moaned and rubbed at my eyes.
“Amara!” Cyprian called to me. “Se Esaria, are you all right?”
I turned toward the sound of his voice, then drawled, “Well, this feels familiar.”
Cyprian was behind bars. So was I, for that matter. Cyprian stood gripping the bars that confined him, as close as he could get to me, but we were separated by another cell. A cell with a furious Fury inside it. We were in a massive room with stone walls and fluorescent overhead lights—the old tube kind you find in warehouses. I was in the middle spot of a line of prison cells, with Talon and Cyprian to my left and Kyrian and Malik to my right, in that order and each in a separate cell. Across the room from us was another row of cells holding Jason, Rain, Davorin, Leo, and Lily. We were all in our nightclothes—loose pants on my men and a silk nightgown on me, but the other men were in their boxers and poor Lily was in a bra and panties. Between us were worktables full of strange equipment and along the far wall was a length of counter split by a refrigeration unit and a very familiar spherical machine.
“Sweet Danu,” I whispered. “How?”
“They took us while we were sleeping,” Kyrian said as he reached a hand through the bars to me. “Are you hurt, Mara?”
“No,” I finally answered his and Cyprian's question. “No, I'm fine.” I took his hand and squeezed. “I feel a little woozy, but otherwise fine.”
“That would be the tranquilizer we used on you,” a woman drawled as she clicked into the room on high heels. “That, in addition to the magic-suppressor.”
“No,” Kyrian whispered as he let go of my hand and stepped toward the front of his cell.
I recognized the woman as well. Lady Ugela—blonde, deeply tanned, and blue-eyed. She was a Triari diplomat stationed at the Embassy in D.C.—ironically, she's exactly what I'd told Bishop I was. My mind tripped over the possibilities as Ugela smiled brightly at Kyrian. The machine. Supe criminals. Bishop. What was the connection to the Triari? To Ugela? A Triari diplomat. Gregory was a Triari Prince. He stole the Silver Tongue. He gave it to Braxis.
I started replaying what Braxis had said about meeting Gregory's accomplice on Earth. Earth, where Ugela was stationed. Could she be Gregory's accomplice? It would be a hell of a coincidence if she weren't. And where was Braxis, for that matter? I looked around the room as an icy dread filled me. My team had spent the night instead of going back to the Supemarket, so they had been taken with us, but I had a feeling that they were just a bonus. I was the one Ugela was after.
Ugela had known right where I'd be and when I'd be at my most vulnerable. With everyone else in the cells around me, there was only one person who could have betrayed us. The very person who had once made a bargain with Gregory. The man who had found Gregory while Gregory's accomplice had somehow managed to elude him, despite him knowing exactly where to start looking for her. My throat constricted as memories flashed through my mind, all of them taking on a new, sinister meaning. Everything between us had been a lie—one long charade to get his men back to Hell and have his vengeance on me.Bravo, Braxis, you deserve an award for those acting skills.
I had been so convinced. So absolutely certain in Braxis and his loyalty. His love. I'd never once considered that he could be playing a long game. But he had killed Gregory. Had it been a way for him to tie up loose ends and convince us of his loyalty? Or was it a part of Ugela's plans? Had she been the brains behind this operation from the beginning? The uprising on Eden, the theft of the Silver Tongue, perhaps even my parents' murders. She'd been hiding behind Gregory, fooling us all while using Braxis as a spy and a weapon. And now, it looked as if she'd been behind the theft of supe magic too.
But that made perfect sense. If she was one of the Triari who had killed my parents, she'd been after the Amaranthine Elixir. The news of my survival and the reason for it—that my father had given me the elixir—had awakened sleeping dogs several years ago. They had come sniffing for me. I'd managed to trick Traegur into believing that the elixir in blood wasn't viable, and I had hoped it would stop others from pursuing me. But true immortality was on the line. Look at all Bishop had done merely to extend his life. What would unscrupulous supes do to live forever? Anything. They'd do and try anything.
“Hello, Prince Kyrian,” Ugela drawled. “So nice to see you again.”
“You traitorous bitch!” Kyrian roared as he gripped the bars of his cell.
“Who is this woman?” Cyprian asked me.
“She's a Triari diplomat,” I said calmly. “But I believe she's also Gregory's accomplice.”
“Well done, Amara!” Ugela clapped her hands. “It only took youforeverto figure it out.”
