Promises to Keep

“If I ask Nikolas to look into this,” Marguerite interrupted, “will you cease these questions?”

Jay trusted Nikolas to take care of the helpless people in Brina’s household, and Marguerite wouldn’t have offered anything that could get her cherished master in trouble. “It’s Brina’s slaves I’m worried about,” he said. “I have reason to believe she may not be returning home soon.”

“If she is dead, Nikolas cannot interfere with inheritance laws.” Marguerite’s voice went soft, and perfectly neutral.

It was a reasonable assumption to make, but in this case it brought a somewhat hysterical laugh from his throat. “No, not dead,” he gasped out. Quite the opposite.

“Then I will speak with Nikolas when he wakes. Can I assure him that you do not intend to do anything stupid? He and Sarah have expressed concern for you.”

“Anything stupid” was a broad, poorly defined category. “You can let him know I got home safely, and that I trust him to help Brina’s slaves so I don’t need to do anything stupid about them.”

“Ca suffit.”

“Great.”

He hung up, feeling no more comforted than before. Nikolas was fine. That was good, but what did it mean? Had the elemental targeted only her most recent captor? Or targeted only slave traders, or trainers?

Rikai. She had contacts galore, and understood sorcery.

The three-hour drive to Rikai’s home was frustrating to the extreme. He wasn’t sure she would be willing to meet with him once he arrived, but he didn’t have a phone number to call. His hopes and fears both rose as he drove into the driveway and found Rikai standing on her front step, one hand braced on the doorframe, her foot tapping. She had known he was coming.

“We need to talk again, witch,” she said, “in a little more detail.”

She sounded out of breath, and as he approached, he realized her posture was not casual at all. She was standing stiffly, as if in pain.

“What happened to you?” he asked, reaching out instinctively with his power—and then retreating as he felt her magic snatch at his hungrily.

She smiled, though the expression never reached her eyes. “Do you stick your hand in tiger cages, too?”

“Did someone attack you?”

“Right now I’m more concerned with what has happened to you,” she replied. “I have a feeling that you have had an interesting couple of days. Walk with me, and tell me, what—exactly—did the Shantel elemental say when it spoke to you?”

“Um …” He followed Rikai back to her study, trying to find the right words. Rikai didn’t seem to notice his hesitation as she walked with a tightly controlled stride, not limping but obviously trying to conceal an injury of some sort.

“Well?” Rikai prompted as she settled into one of those ominous chairs and gestured for him to do the same.

“It said it was going to destroy Midnight,” Jay admitted.

“Exactly that?” Rikai asked.

“I think—” He broke off. What exactly had it said? She will be all I need to destroy those who hurt her. “Well, it said it would destroy those who hurt her. Which is Midnight, right?”

Rikai took a deep, bracing breath, and then let it out in a slow stream.

“A few hours ago,” Jay said, trying to get all the information out before Rikai responded, “something happened to Brina. I went to her, and I heard the elemental again, and it offered to protect me. When whatever was happening was over, Brina was human.”

Rikai quirked a brow, but her next question wasn’t for Jay. Rather, she picked up her phone and dialed a number. When the line picked up, she didn’t waste time with pleasantries. She just asked, “Is Xeke all right?”

Jay couldn’t hear the reply, but Rikai nodded thoughtfully. After she hung up, she said simply, “He’s dead. Now, we—”

“Dead?” Jay interrupted, feeling his stomach drop. He hadn’t intended … And Rikai, sitting there like it didn’t matter … I have to call Sarah. If Xeke was dead, then what about—

“Still dead,” Rikai clarified, with an impatient wave of her hand, “as opposed to alive and human. He is a vampire, after all. His partner says he is fine. Get a grip.”

Trying to swallow the panic that hadn’t yet subsided, Jay stammered, “Well, um, g-good. That’s …” He took a deep breath. Had she done that intentionally? “What is going on?”

“I would like to examine Brina.”

“And I would like you to answer me!” Jay snapped anxiously.

“Of course you would, but unlike you, I try not to blather answers until I know what they are. Now, where did you leave Brina?”

“SingleEarth,” Jay answered, resigned.

“Excellent,” Rikai said. “I’ll get my tools, and then we will go.”

CHAPTER 17

BRINA WOKE FEELING disoriented, thirsty, and heavy. Sunlight was streaming in through a nearby window, and there was a rushing sound in her ears, impossibly loud. Standing up took a monumental effort, as if she were moving the weight of a small building.

Her gown started to slip off her shoulders, and she snatched at it with confusion before realizing that someone had undone the buttons down the back. She couldn’t do them back up on her own, and standing there clutching brocade was hardly dignified, so she shimmied out of the heavy gown and stood in only her chemise. She could breathe more easily that way, anyway.

Why am I breathing?

She tried holding her breath, but doing so made her dizzy, and made her chest and head hurt. When she stopped struggling not to, her body automatically kept breathing, as if it always had.

The rushing, pounding, slamming, overpowering noise in her ears, then … was that her heart?

She swallowed. Her throat was sore, and she was … hungry. She didn’t like being hungry. It reminded her of days she didn’t like to think about.

Brina stalked to the door, which was standing open. Where was she? Someone had brought her here, and made her alive, and they wouldn’t have done so without anticipating that she would need them.

The pretty witch!

She smiled, and then frowned, as she recalled him. He had been kind to her at the party, but then he had stolen Pet. Then he had agreed to help her in Pet’s place, and then—

Something had happened after that. It had been like people screaming and shoving her from all directions, ripping at her, furious and terrified. Somewhere in the chaos she had seen the witch.

He had brought her here.

He would help her.

But there was no one in the hallway to bring him to her.

Her chemise was more decent than many outfits modern girls wore, but Brina still stepped gingerly into the hallway, wishing she had another option. Her bare feet were cold, and she mentally added slippers to the list of things she wanted as she put on a proud face and tried to pretend she didn’t feel frightened, hungry, and half naked.

Most of the rooms she passed were occupied by sleeping people. Eventually, though, she found a large room that might have once been a ballroom or a gymnasium. It had been decorated for Christmas, but the unlit