Poison Tree

submission, I’m allowed to fight with her.”

“Can you take Kral?” Alysia asked.

That’s the twenty-mil ion-dol ar question, isn’t it?

Christian laid his jacket down on the bed, because it was easier to take it o than to strip all the weapons from it, and because it would count as armor. He would have felt less naked without his pants.

“I really don’t know,” he answered. “But if Sahara can get the nerve to declare jeraha and follow through, then I’m willing to try.” His eyes drifted to the painting. “I liked Cori. She was a sweet kid.”

He had seen what they’d done to her. Sahara had run away, and he understood why.

Christian was the one who had taken Cori’s body home to be buried.

“Be my second?” he asked Alysia.

She asked, “What do you need?”

“If Kral uses any weapon beyond his own body, or if anyone else interferes, you can shoot him,” he explained.

“Anyone?” Alysia asked. “If this goes down in the middle of Onyx, you’re going to have a lot of trigger-happy mercenaries wondering what this means to them.”

“Onyx belongs to Kral. If he can’t control his people, that’s his problem.”

“I’m technically one of those people,” Alysia pointed out. “Doesn’t that mean if I kill him in the middle of the fight, it’s his own fault?”

“You’re also one of my people through Frost, and arguably one of Sahara’s, given the way you two teamed up at SingleEarth,” Christian said. “Normally I’m not opposed to splitting hairs or outright cheating, but we don’t want to sever Onyx’s ties to the Mistari.

It’s one of the most valuable political connections the guild has. There’s no point in taking

Onyx if we destroy it in the process.”

“Jeraha is a fight to the death, isn’t it?” Alysia asked.

“Unless the combatants agree otherwise,” Christian answered. He couldn’t imagine Kral backing down until he was ready for a body bag.

“Just so you know,” Alysia said, picking up a couple of his discarded weapons and adding them to her own armament, “I don’t give a ying fruitcake about Onyx’s ties to the Mistari.

If I need to decide between cheating and saving you, or playing fair and letting Kral kill you, you know which way I’ll go.”

“Yeah,” he said, though he also knew that if Kral took him out, it would probably happen too quickly for Alysia to do more than blink.

Kral had been around a long time. Maybe he was getting old, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still know how to ght. Christian could do a lot of damage in mere seconds with a touch, but so could a full-grown tiger.

“Let’s go,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

Alysia followed as he left the room. They both paused, blinking, as they entered the dim

Onyx Hall.

“Ten to one she chickens out,” Christian said softly to Alysia as Kral’s voice reached them both through the darkness. He was across the Hall, working with one of the novices.

Christian could see Sahara in silhouette as she watched him, the two cubs next to her.

“You might be surprised,” Alysia replied.

“Father.”

And there was Sahara’s voice, holding only the barest tremor. Alysia and Christian both sped their steps to reach the tigers as Kral replied, “Sahara, excellent. I need you to—”

“I need you,” Sahara interrupted, raising her voice above his, “to answer a question for me.”

Christian wasn’t sure, but he thought the continued wavering in the tigress’s voice was not just fear, but also fury.

Use that anger, he thought. Remember what you’re fighting for.

“And I need you to answer honestly,” Sahara continued, “because I want to know that you at least have the courage to admit you would sink so low.”

Kral turned fully toward his daughter, and the novices who had been nearby backed away fast.

“Child, I suggest you watch your tone.”

Sahara ignored the warning and continued with her questions.

“Did you hire Maya to kill Cori?” she asked, not bothering to keep her voice quiet to avoid being overheard. “Did you pay her the equivalent of millions of dollars to torture to death an eleven-year-old human girl? Did you do it to frighten me? Or to teach me a lesson? Did you—” She broke o . “Was she really so threatening, just because she was human?”

There was the accusation Kral could not tolerate: not that he had had his daughter killed, but that her existence had been a threat to him.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kral replied flatly. “Cori was—”

“Cori was my sister,” Sahara snarled. “She was your daughter! She … she was your tribe’s weakest child, and instead of protecting her, as was your duty, you had her murdered in an underhanded power play because you were worried she made you look weak.”

“She was proof that he’s mortal,” Alysia interjected. “His human blood is kicking in. He’s aging. Getting weaker.”

Kral’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at Alysia. “What is she—”

“Don’t look at her!” Sahara nearly shrieked, her voice breaking. “You face me rst. Fight anyone else after me if you can, but first you’ll answer me: Did you have Cori kil ed? ”

“So what if I did?” Kral snapped back. “I thought getting rid of her would make you stronger, but you’re still the same impulsive child you’ve always been.”

“I’m not a child anymore.”

Kral at-out laughed. “You are my only daughter, Sahara,” he said calmly, “so I will give you one last chance to back down. You know you can’t win a ght against me, and your so-

called mate has never fought a tiger.”

Just hit him, Christian thought. Don’t let him talk to you. Don’t let him frighten you.

“I …” Sahara hesitated.

“Back down, Daughter,” Kral said, “and maybe I will give you a chance to visit the

Mistari main camps. You wanted to talk to someone about the boys, didn’t you? And it’s about time I sent an emissary there to relay my regards.”

She wasn’t going to do it. She was going to listen to his lies and manipulations.

Christian’s entire body was tensed, waiting for this ght, and Sahara was weakening before his eyes.

“I’ve fought a tiger before.” The voice from the darkness made Christian jump. “And if I need to, I’ll challenge Christian first for the right to stand beside Sarik.”

Who the hel are you? he thought, turning toward the vampire who had waltzed into Onyx as if he weren’t surrounded by vampire hunters. It had to be Maya’s boy. Sahara had called him Jason. Christian had dismissed Jason as the plaything Sahara had picked up to replace him after she left Onyx, but if he was here now, then he had to be a good deal more.

The question was, could he fight?

Sahara’s head whipped around to look at the newcomer. She drew a deep breath, as if inhaling strength.

Christian realized that whether or not Jason could ght, what mattered was that he was the inspiration Sahara needed. Christian stepped back, yielding the title of Sahara’s “mate” to the man who actually held it.

“I am Sahara kuloka Kral,” she said, her voice gaining power, “I am your daughter, and by the blood of the sister who died in my arms, I declare jeraha. I stand with my mate beside me. Will you