I stood and looked over at the bed where Nial was letting the woman’s body fall back to the bed. He stared at me a moment, his druid eyes shining yellow in sated delight.
“Innocent.” He managed the word as his eyes slowly turned back to their real green. “You knew. That’s why you gave her to me. She knew nothing.”
“Nothing. But thanks for that last orgasm. That was nice.”
“You are a bitch.”
I grinned then looked around the room. “I learned a few things tonight. Cato’s Challenge has too many layers to peel back. He wanted a hired hand to do his dirty work. He’s up to something, because that,” I pointed to the female’s body, “was a newly made vampire. She knew almost nothing except how to keep her memories. And Ginter was an innocent as well. Strong principles. He was offered a lot of money to walk away from his politics.”
Nial stared at the beheaded body. “No one makes a vampire without the approval of the Council.”
“Yeah, and?”
“None have been approved.” His head cocked in hesitant thought. “Not that I know of anyway.”
“What about when the one who is making them is a Council member?”
He raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
I put a hand on my hip. “I won the Challenge as it was issued.”
“Monitor of—”
I held up a finger. “I’m not done with the Challenge yet. Give me an hour before you call it closed.”
Nial’s eyes roamed my face, considering my request. Then he nodded. “I’ll be outside. Probably with a bottle of some foul liquid I can find in the cabinets downstairs.”
He walked out, and I got to work.
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
~KIMBER~
I tossed another ancient volume on the desk in frustration. Jallina had mentioned the Breaker of the Spine, and I had never heard of it.
My newest question was, how had I never heard of it?
Books upon books were here, in the library, in the public section, about the Breaker of the Spine.
I had never heard this part of our legends.
I put a hand to my head and stared at the desktop.
“Tymon told me you’d be here.”
My head jerked up to find Elex standing over the desk. “I asked him to let me in. I’d hope he knew where I was.”
Elex pulled a few of the books toward him and flipped through the pages. “What are you looking for?”
“Jallina—”
His head snapped up this time. “You talked to her?”
“Yes, yesterday after I walked out on Dorian. I ran into her at a coffee shop in the market. We talked and caught up and…”
Pulling a chair out, he sat next to me and moved the books closer. “And what?”
“It seems we have enemies. And we should have known about them all along. As much as it pains me to say, Dorian was right. We don’t know everything there is to know about this world. Not by a long shot.”
