He laughed.
She tapped a finger against her temple. “This is pure gold, kitty cat. I’m going to need a lot of high-quality persuasion to spill it.”
His eyes went green-gold, the pupils thinning down to slits. She shivered with anticipation as he pulled her down to him. “Good thing I’m all about high quality.” He nipped at her chin, scraping his teeth down her neck and causing her to moan. “You should probably tell me your idea now, though.”
“Why?” she breathed. She wasn’t sure which one of them was on fire now.
His deep laugh reverberated against her throat. “Because when I’m done
“Oh. Oh!
The juice coated Tatiana’s tongue with the flavors of warm honey, cinnamon, and smoke. After she’d swallowed the first bite, a gentle hum had vibrated through her body. Almost like a tiny electric shock, but completely pleasant.
It felt very much like power to her, the kind of power Lilith didn’t need. But maybe she’d been wrong. She pushed to her elbows on the ground beside Mal. “Is she dead?”
“I don’t know.” He flipped to his feet and stood over Lilith’s body. “She looks dead, but she hasn’t gone to ash.”
Panic swept through Tatiana. She stared at the apple’s small white core. “What if it kills me too?” She tossed the fruit and dug in her pocket for the little metal tin of white powder. Frantically she opened it and dumped it into her mouth. She coughed, spewing dust as she rolled to her side. It tasted like sugar. She clutched at her throat. “I think I’m dying.” She clawed hysterically at the ground. “Water. I need water.”
Mal shook his head. “You’re not dying.” He sighed, disappointment crystalline in his eyes. “Unfortunately.”
Tatiana went still. She
A gasp stole their attention. Mal turned, moving out of the way enough for Tatiana to see Lilith quivering on the ground.
“She’s having a seizure.” New fear chilled Tatiana. Death could still be coming for her.
Lilith’s body shook so badly her features blurred. She bent and bowed up off the ground, limbs flailing.
Mal swore softly. “She’s shrinking.”
She was. Right before Tatiana’s eyes, Lilith was growing smaller and smaller. Tatiana grabbed her own arms and legs and palpitated them, but they seemed to be the right size. She tried to listen to her body, to feel for anything that might be changing internally, but there was nothing. In fact, she’d never felt so good.
She glanced back at Lilith. She was no more than the size of a toddler now, and the tremors seemed to be subsiding. Tatiana got to her feet. “What’s happened to her?”
“I have no idea,” Mal answered. He looked at her. “How do you feel?”
“Good. Really good.”
He squinted at her and was about to say something when a piercing wail erupted behind him. Again they turned. Lilith was sitting up, sobbing, swamped in clothes that were now vastly too large for her. Tears trailed down her pink cheeks. She blinked, her brown eyes big and wet, and reached toward Mal like she wanted him to pick her up.
“Holy hell,” Tatiana muttered. “She’s a child again.”
“More than that,” Mal said, his nostrils flaring. “She’s… human.”
Creek stood in front of the machine shop, unlocking the big sliding door, when the familiar sound of leathery wings beating the night air reached his ears. He pushed the door back and left it open after he went inside.
A moment later, Annika joined him. She closed the door as her wings disappeared into her jacket. She walked past him and sat. “Octavian’s dead.”
“He and the mayor showed up at Tatiana’s house in Corvinestri.”
“The mayor?” Creek hadn’t expected that. “No wonder I couldn’t get in to see her. Or find Octavian.”
“None of us could,” she said. “As to how he died, Lilith figured out who he was and killed him before Tatiana could even react, apparently.” She picked at one of the holes in the fabric on the chair’s arm. “It’s all for the better. We would have had to kill him anyway.”
Creek nodded slowly. The meting out of KM justice wasn’t something he always agreed with, but in this case, he would have been totally on board.
Sighing, she leaned forward, her arms on her knees. “There’s more. Our contact overheard a conversation between Malkolm and Chrysabelle.”
“Chrysabelle’s in Corvinestri?”
“Was. We believe she’s already returned home to complete the rest of her and Malkolm’s mission.”
Now he really felt lost. “They had a mission?”
“Self-imposed. They’re luring Lilith and Tatiana to the Garden of Eden and putting an end to both of them there.”
“The Garden of Eden? That’s a real place?”
“Very. And almost impossible to get to unless you know how to open a portal. Even then, humans can’t get in.”
“But Chrysabelle’s human.”
“Mostly. And now that we believe she’s carrying Malkolm’s child, we—”
“What? Chrysabelle’s pregnant?”
“Didn’t you know?” She raised one brow. “We thought you were privy to everything that went on in the comarre’s life.”
He got up and went to the kitchen for a beer. It was better than letting Annika watch the anger on his face. “You know I’m not. Being the KM’s messenger boy has destroyed my relationship with her.”
“You sound upset.”
Brilliant deduction. “I am.” He left it at that. Any more and he’d only succeed in putting himself in a worse mood. But pregnant? How was that even possible? If the KM thought he was doing anything to help them put their hands on Chrysabelle’s child, they were dead wrong. He changed the subject. “I hope they get rid of Tatiana once and for all.”
She nodded. “Me too. But Lilith’s the real issue. If they can’t make this happen, the KM’s main focus will shift to her. After what our contact shared, we now know that she’s the greatest threat to mankind that’s ever existed.”
“Why can’t your contact there do something to stop Lilith?”
Annika stood, wing tips emerging from her jacket. “Because our contact activated an emergency message alert. Our receiving it means she was unable to stop the system from sending it, which most likely means she’s dead.” She walked toward the door.
She? But he knew better than to ask. If Annika wanted him to know more, she would have already given him the info. “Before you go…”
She stopped at the door. “Yes?”
It was now or never. “Does anyone ever leave the Kubai Mata?”
“Besides dying?”
Obviously. “Yes.”
“You can buy your way out or fight your way out.” She stared at him. “Thinking about retirement?”
He nodded. “You might say that. We both know I don’t have the funds. Whom would I have to fight?”
She snorted softly, then pushed the door open. “Me.”
Not the answer he wanted to hear. “And
The amusement left her face. “The money goes away, Creek. The mortgage on the house becomes your mother’s and grandmother’s responsibility. Una’s scholarship won’t be pulled, but it won’t be renewed next
