“I was obeying orders.”
“From who?”
“My commanding officer.”
“Your commanding officer on this mission is Vayl,” I told her. “And Vayl expected you to be at the Hotel Sraosa with the rest of your team. Therefore you have disobeyed your commanding officer.”
She winced then, her eyes darting to the window, as if she’d had the same thoughts herself and wanted to escape them. “We told you Dave was the mole,” I said. “And yet, knowing his orders were coming directly from the Wizard, you still obeyed him. What’s the deal with that, Grace?” I asked her.
“Am I going to die?” Her voice had become small. Faint.
“If you’re lucky,” I said. I know it was cruel. Screw it. She deserved every gob of shit that hit her now. “Tell me exactly what he said to you.”
“He just said to come watch you. He suspected that you’d been taken over by the Wizard without your knowledge. He said if you didn’t seem to be gearing up for the job that I was supposed to do it.”
“And how were you supposed to get away afterward?”
“He made it clear it was my choice. That I’d be caught. Probably tortured. Definitely killed.”
“Grace. Think. That’s not Dave’s MO. He’d never send one of his own into that kind of situation. Not ever. That’s a Wizard move.”
She began to cry then. Soft, muffled sobs that made her moan with pain every time they shook her. “I loved him so much. I’d have done anything for him. Anything.”
Obviously
. I looked at Vayl.
Does love make fools of us all? Maybe. Eventually. At least for a little while.
Chapter Thirty-One
W
e left FarjAd and Asha with Zarsa and Soheil, who still hadn’t gotten over their awe by the time we moved on. Since they didn’t know of a doctor who wouldn’t blab to the authorities, we took Grace back to the house, stowed her facedown in the girls’ room bed, and let Cassandra experiment with her nursing skills, which, while admittedly rusty, were still exceptional.
Before I left I said, “We can’t get you to a hospital until this mission is complete, Grace, and it’s not done until the Wizard’s dead. But that should be tonight. As soon as the guys are back I’ll send in the best backup medic. Who is that?”
“David,” she said miserably.
I muttered a very bad word under my breath. “Next?”
“Cam.”
“Okay.” I turned to leave.
“Jaz?”
I nearly snapped at her. But since she still had three of my blades sticking out of her body, I figured enough was probably enough. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
I nodded. “You’d better be.”
When Cassandra assured me she had everything she needed, I went to the kitchen. All three of my guys were there, standing around looking like they could use a stiff drink.
“Phase two?” asked Cole.
I nodded, unstrapping the sheath from my right wrist. I chose the knife I wanted. It had a short, thin blade, which I held in the stove burner until it glowed red. While I watched the sanitization process I tried to jump out of myself. Not physically. This was no time to confront the Magistrate. I just needed that separation between action and emotion that would allow me to cut my brother’s throat without collapsing into a gibbering heap. At least until later.
The front door slammed. My heart constricted.
“They’re back,” said Bergman, his voice pitched so high I almost expected to look up and see someone strangling him.
“Jasmine,” Vayl said, his voice icy, his powers rising. “Can you do this?”
I nodded, raising my eyes to his. I couldn’t explain that only I loved David enough to make this work. That I didn’t trust anyone else to be quick. That I thought even Vayl, who was strong enough, cool enough, might be too distracted by the blood to go fast. I suddenly understood the stories I’d heard of families who, during the Middle Ages, had piled wood high on their condemned relative’s pyres. Though their loved ones had been consigned to burn at the stake for choosing the wrong religion, or bewitching the wrong husband, their concern in the end had been for as much speed and as little pain as possible. Funny how some things never change.
I turned off the burner. Held the knife behind me and leaned casually against the counter as my brother walked into the room, scratching steadily at the back of his neck. He smiled when my eyes met his. I reminded myself the soul looking out from those deep green orbs was trapped, screaming to be free.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
I gave him Lucille’s fake warmth, hoping he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. “Like clockwork. What did
