corporeal form. “You’ve done this to yourself.” His chiding tone made me want to vomit. “You can be mad all you want, Darian. But this is
I sat on the bed, staring in disbelief as he left my side to tend to Delilah. What the hell was wrong with me? Fallon should have been dead where he stood. If any other man had laid his hands on me, I wouldn’t have hesitated to part him from his head. So why, now, did I cower in fear of this Fae who shouldn’t have one-tenth of the power he held over me? I thought of the times I’d felt drawn to him, compelled to divulge information he had no business knowing. Could it be that his magic had played a part even then? Secretly stealing my will? The thoughts in my brain began to swirl and mull about like mud meeting a pool of fresh water. I had a feeling someone should be coming to get me, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember who.
“Darian, come here.”
I walked to Fallon despite the instinctive thought that I should keep my distance. He knelt at Delilah’s feet in an almost-meditative position, his palms resting on his knees. “Time to spill your secrets,” he said, and pressed the heel of his hand to her forehead.
Delilah came to as if someone had just doused her with a bucket of ice water. As she thrashed her limbs and gasped for air, it took all of Fallon’s strength to hold her down. You wouldn’t think a twig of a girl like Delilah could fight so hard, but let me tell you, she gave him a run for his money.
“Keep quiet!” Fallon growled. “You’ll have all of Washington down on our heads if you raise your voice.”
I waited for him to smack her across the face or kick her good and hard. But he didn’t. Apparently he saved that affection solely for me. Prick. Delilah calmed, the mere sound of Fallon’s voice enough to put the fear of Jesus in her. Not a very hard nut to crack. “Do you know where you are?” I asked.
“Darian.” Her voice, unused for a few weeks, rasped in a near whisper. “You’re swathed in Fae magic. And separated from your protector. Changed since I saw you last. Have you been to The Ring?”
Come again? “I haven’t been anywhere, you crazy pain in the ass. You’re up and talking for one reason and one reason only. Where is Raif’s daughter? You said you knew how to find her. Where is Brakae?”
Delilah laughed as if she’d just heard the funniest, dirtiest joke ever written. She tilted her head in Fallon’s direction, looking very much like the cat that ate the canary and crawling, it seemed, from madness to lucidity. “You don’t know, do you?”
Fallon sat back on his heels, taking in every word Delilah said with perverse interest. I ignored the way my body responded to his movements, swaying backward as if attached by a length of string. My mind cleared as if by his will, and I found the pluck to drill right into Delilah. “No more games, no more riddles. Just plain talk here. I’ve been through hell the past couple of weeks and, goddamn it, I want to take a shower, get some sleep, and go the fuck home. Tell me right now where Raif’s daughter is, and I won’t beat the shit out of you before I give you back to the PNT.”
“In my mind’s eye, she’s very beautiful. Is she still?” Delilah asked, the epitome of innocence. “Did you know that Oracles are blind and not particularly lovely in exchange for their gifts? I’ll never see the sunrise as you do or captivate men’s hearts the way you have. The way
I went for the dagger I kept sheathed at my thigh, ready to stab her out of sheer frustration. But when I reached for it, I found it was gone. I looked around the room, confused. Again my mind felt shrouded in fog, and my memory became hazy. Where was the dagger? I reached for my back. The katana was also gone, but I couldn’t remember for the life of me where it could be. Had I left it in the car? Put it in the closet? I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and Delilah’s face blurred in and out of focus. Damn Fallon and his magic Fae fingers. What had he done to me?
“Where is she, Delilah?” My legs wobbled, threatening to give at any moment, and my arms felt too heavy to lift. “Spit it out already. Where is Brakae? I need to find her.”
“Darian.” Delilah sat up straight in her chair, her voice laced with bravado. “Darian, Darian, Darian. You broke me out of that prison, abandoned Tyler, and the gods know what else, when what you should have been doing was watching your back.”
Well, she’d snapped back into her old snarky self pretty damned fast. What happened to the bat-shit-crazy girl I’d dropped off at the PNT weeks ago? I should have known she wasn’t going to be grateful and spill her secrets as if we were the best of friends. Nope. I’d have to beat it out of her. Fine by me. Though I’d probably need a solid night of rest before I could do it properly. Jesus Christ, I was tired. When was the last time I’d slept?
“I warned you,” she said. “But you never listen, do you? You’re just
I answered her with silence. I hadn’t told Tyler I was leaving, or had I? God, I couldn’t form a coherent thought to save my life.
“You didn’t tell him!” Delilah squealed like a girl at a pajama party. “Oh wow. He is going to be
“Shut. Up!” I yelled, clarity singeing a path through my brain. I brought my face nose to nose with hers. “You are not allowed to talk about him. Ever. You used him to get to me. You would have let me die thinking he’d betrayed me.”
“Had to get you on board somehow. You were chosen. And the Enphigmale needed a Guardian’s blood to be awakened. A Guardian…in love, no less.”
Guardian. Again. Fate laughed at my predicament, the separate events of my recent life twining once again into a long, complicated braid. The black-haired Shaede had called me a Guardian. So had Reaver. What the fuck was going on? And why was I
“Are you sure about that?” Delilah asked, her head cocking toward Fallon.
He stood in a flash of movement and brought his fist down hard against Delilah’s tiny skull. He knocked her right off her chair, actually. She fell to the floor with a thud, out like a light. My knees finally gave up the fight to support my body, and I crumpled to the floor beside her, staring without emotion at her still and fortunately silent form. Fallon stood above me, stroking my hair as if I’d become some sort of pet, and I fought a wave of nausea so strong, I thought I’d empty my stomach right there on the hotel carpeting.
“Shhh,” he soothed as he petted me. “Sleep, Darian.”
Magic twined around me, holding me warm and secure. I fell back against him as his arms gathered me close.
Chapter 21
I awoke to a pulsing warmth at my throat. The sensation didn’t disturb me; in fact, it calmed me and turned my bones into Jell-O. A body hovered above me, and warm breath fell on my bare neck as a finger caressed something hard and unyielding that lay against my skin. I felt rested, despite the crazy dream I’d had, as if I’d been sleeping for hours. I snuggled deeper against my pillow, my eyelids still too heavy with sleep for me to open. I recalled the details of my dream as I floated in the hazy realm between sleep and wakefulness. I’d become a thief, a kidnapper, and I’d left Tyler. I groaned as I struggled to fight the lethargy that clung to my mind. Surely my dream was more nightmare than anything. No way in hell would I ever leave Ty.
“Tyler.”
The warmth at my throat diminished as fingers lifted the heavy weight from my skin. I felt the rasp of a chain as it slid against my neck, but my brain was still too fuzzy to command my eyes to open. It had to be Tyler sitting next to me. I wanted to open my eyes, to look at him, but holy hell, I was so, so tired.
“I dreamt I’d left you without even saying good-bye. It was horrible.” My voice was thick with sleep. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I tried to lick my lips, but the effort exhausted me.
The warm weight returned to rest against my throat, and what I’d once perceived as a pleasant touch became forceful as a hand wound around my neck, forcing my face upward. “It’s time you forgot about the Jinn,” Fallon snarled. I came fully awake as if plunged into a freezing lake, and I stared into his angry gray eyes. “Do you understand me?”
