“Neither. I knew you would protect her.”
“Hell of a gamble, given my proclivity for feasting on the hearts of innocents.”
Menyara inclined her head to him. “Not when I knew how much you loved your sister. And I was right. You protected our Miss Cameron. As I knew you would. Thank you for not disappointing me.”
Bane made a gruff “heh” sound in the back of his throat. “You still haven’t answered me question. Why are you here?”
“To warn you.”
He passed an annoyeddo-you-see-what-I-meanglare at William. “About?” he prompted when she failed to continue her sentence.
And even then Menyara waited before she answered. “Kadar knows the truth about your missing mermaid… and so does Shyamala.”
The blood drained from his face at those ominous words. “Do they have him?”
“Not yet. But they’re trying to find him, same as you.”
“Who’s Kadar and Shyamala?” William asked, baffled by the unfamiliar names. And he wasn’t the only one. Cameron didn’t appear any more familiar with them than he was.
Devyl ground his teeth. “Only the deepest, darkest evil you can imagine. They were the snake in the Garden of Eden, Mr. Death. The shiver that goes down your spine whenever you think you’re being watched in the night. They are the whisper that tempts good men to the animal side of corruption. That lapse of conscience that drives humanity to do its worst.”
“Oh, fun! Sounds like our kind of people.”
But the grim expression on Devyl’s face said that he didn’t appreciate Will’s sarcasm.
“Actually, they were once Du’s people. He fought long and hard for their cause and killed many in their name.”
That took the humor right out of William’s spirit. “Beg pardon?”
Menyara nodded. “Your good captain once led his army for them.”
“And what did it get me? A knife in me gullet and bled out at the feet of the bitch who betrayed me to serve them, until I killed her and locked her in a special hell for it.”
The same hell that was now breaking open and that they had hopefully sent Vine back to when they’d killed her for trying to murder Bane’s new wife, Mara.
The Carian Gate.
His eyes flared as he stepped back. “Come, Lady Cameron and Mr. Death, let’s see about our mission.”
As he started away, Menyara stopped him. “Before you leave, there’s something else I must tell you.”
Devyl placed his hand high on his black baldric of three flintlocks. “And that is?”
Menyara turned toward William with a beautiful, dazzling smile. Beguiling and sweet. Without a word, she approached him slowly and reached for his belt.
Stunned, he didn’t move. Not until she reached for his daggers. In one fluid motion, she grabbed them, kicked him back, and spun toward Devyl.
As she closed the distance between them, her entire being changed from the petite Menyara into a tall, graceful, red-headed beauty.
William gasped as he realized that this was Devyl’s ex-wife they’d destroyed.
Or at least, they thought they had.
How was this possible? Even though the Carian Gate had broken open, how could she have returned to life?
Yet there was no denying that this was the very sorceress they’d fought, and she was back from her grave to take vengeance on them all for killing her.
Hissing, she rushed at Devyl. “You didn’t end me, you worthless bastard! But I will see you back to hell for what you’ve done! And I plan to send that sniveling little Myrcian bitch there with you!”
