have the power of all three noble races within you, which makes you divine, but . . .”
“Yeah?” I prompted when he fell into silence.
Pen smiled wryly and pulled out a chair, flipped it around, and sat down. “Well, think of it this way . . . Even the noble races have evolved since they were first given life. They’ve acclimated and changed. The Adonai, for instance, they learned to utilize the power of Elysia with utter precision, they wield it, heal from it, draw it into themselves . . . You don’t think that has changed them over the course of millennia? It has. You weren’t given the genes of those early ones who seeded the worlds; you were given the genes from those who had evolved over thousands and thousands of years.”
“True,” I said. “It makes sense, but how is that going to help me?”
Pen shrugged. “Not only are you divine, but you have ties to each world. You don’t rely solely on divine power. You’ve used Charbydon and Elysian power in the past, yes?”
I nodded.
He took another drink. “Sachâth’s power is divine. The Creator is also a primal power. How do you fight primal power?”
“With another primal power,” I answered. “We fight Sachâth with Elysian or Charbydon. Or both.”
Pen smiled. “Or we hit him with all three.”
I knew there was a reason I liked the Druid. A very tiny spark of hope lit in my mind.
“I can pull insane amounts of Nwyvre through the henge, so I’ve got Earth covered. You come with Elysian and Charbydon power and we strike it with all we got . . .” He shrugged and drank. “Then we
“That’s drawing the creature right into your territory, using the henge,” I pointed out.
“If it only attacks other races when provoked, I don’t see a problem. I’ll make sure my Kinfolk won’t attack. The bigger problem is getting a primal energy source, raw, arcane stuff, from both Elysia and Charbydon. Good luck with that.”
“Thanks.” I stood up and set my half empty beer on the counter before turning toward Pen and giving him a long, curious look. “Why would you help me? There’s nothing in it for you.”
He went still as he studied me and the hairs on the back of my neck lifted. Then the sensation was gone as quickly as it came. “If Sachâth is gone, Ahkneri will be safe.”
Oh, I had a feeling I knew where he was going with this. Not good. Not good at all. “She can never rise, Pen. You know that. No one even knows how to awaken her, except maybe a Disciple. And the tablet about them was destroyed by the Circe. And even if she could rise, her existence would start a three-world war. You can’t seriously be thinking this.”
He drained the last of the beer, watching me as the liquid slid down his throat. He set the bottle on the table. “She rises. We reveal the sarcophagus. Let the jinn, the Sons of Dawn, and any other cult out there see that it was empty all along, then she can live in peace. That’s all she ever wanted, Charlie.”
“And her weapon? Her power. You can’t hide that.”
“Sure I can. I’m the Druid King.” A small smile played on his lips. “Tell me you don’t want to see her free, too.”
“Of course I do,” I answered immediately. “Christ, Pen . . . Let’s just take this one step at a time, okay? We get rid of Sachâth and then we’ll work out a plan. But we have to agree, have to cover all our bases, before we even seriously consider what you’re thinking.”
“Done.”
That was too easy. “I want a
His expression went shrewd and that eerie color washed over his irises again. His chair screeched along the floor as he unfolded himself. He held out his left hand, palm up. “Place your palm flat over mine.”
Having never actually demanded a binding vow like this, I was a little hesitant as I stepped forward and placed my palm over Pen’s. A tingling energy wrapped around my hand and the winding tattoo that covered his left side moved, or at the very least shuddered, awakened . . . Along his wrist and hand, a shadow of it climbed over my skin like vines, threading together and making a knot over our hands. A bond. As it did this, Pen vowed that Ahkneri would not be awakened until we agreed upon terms.
And then he dropped his hand and it was done.
I rubbed my hand. “So what happens if you break the vow?”
“I can’t even if I wanted to. I won’t be able to move beyond an intention to break the vow, so it’s a moot point.” I slid my hand into my jacket. It felt prickly, like it had fallen asleep. “The henge is yours. You let me know when you figure things out.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. You’ll be taking over Killian’s case, now that you’re back, I presume?” It was phrased as a question, but sounded more like a demand, a very subtle one, but still.
“Yeah, let me get Death off my back, and I’m all yours.” Pen’s eyebrow arched, a raven’s wing that didn’t seem to appreciate my sarcasm at all. “I’ll get an update from Ashton and Liz, look over the labs and paperwork. I’ll let you know the status as soon as I can.”
19
I returned home with pizza and breadsticks, helped Emma with her vocabulary, and then settled in for the night. I’d never made it to the station, but I planned on being there first thing in the morning.
My dreams that night were a rehashing of Ahkneri’s battle, Alessandra’s eerie head spouting off prophecies, and random bits of me and Hank, his torture, and the fight against the Circe.
By the time I woke, I felt like I’d relived a couple lifetimes in just a few hours. I took a cool shower to wake me up, ate breakfast with Emma and Rex, and then dropped Em off at the League of Mages school before continuing to the station.
“Well done, Madigan.” The chief clapped me on the shoulder as I entered our work space. He must’ve decided that wasn’t enough because he pulled me into a bear hug. “Well done.” He set me back, the look in his eyes warm and fatherly. Then he winked at me and went right back to work mode. “You’re going to have one hell of a report to file, so better hop to it. And don’t forget to file a report on the oracle as well. Sian will send a copy over to the folks in Ithonia. Glad to have you back.”
“Has Hank been in yet?”
“He’s over in legal giving a statement.” The chief grabbed a file off his desk. “I’ll be back after noon. Ashton’s in the process of following up a lead, but he’s got until the end of the week to get his reports and notes together on the Grove case, then it’s back over to you and Hank.”
“I’m sure he loved hearing that.”
The chief gave a merciless shrug. “He knew all along he was just filling in. Good to have you back, Madigan.”
“Thanks, Chief.”
The chief barreled out of the office. Sian finished making coffee in the small kitchenette, and offered me a cup. “You should’ve seen his face when he found out you and Hank had come through the gate. He had to sit down, on the floor. I swear I thought he was going to have a heart attack. Teary-eyed and everything.” She handed me a bag of bagels. “For you.”
“Thanks, Sian. And thanks for . . . before . . .” When she’d tried to comfort me as Hank’s supposed execution dropped me to my knees.
“No problem. I got you a copy of the latest report from Liz. That hair you found by the lake came back as sidhé fae. I’m still searching the histories for that ‘old school’ group that showed up in the oracle’s club. Might be the same guys . . . I mean, pretty coincidental, right?”
I sat down at my desk. “Could be.” Probably was. This wasn’t going to be a cut-and-dry case, and I had a feeling Killian’s murder was just the beginning. As soon as I took care of my literal shadow of death, I’d be able to put my full attention to solving Killian’s murder. For now I was content to let Ashton finish up with his lead. I didn’t like him or his tactics, but he was a good investigator. “We’ll see. Keep searching. Try searching the word
