“Don’t!” Dante snapped. “Anara’s only fault was having too much heart.”
“She wanted to hoard the power. She didn’t trust you enough to share it fully with you, and she let Fenris sacrifice himself.”
“She didn’t mate with me because she didn’t love me,” Dante retorted. “Love meant something to Anara.”
“She was selfish.”
“She gave us the blood binding.”
“A poor substitute, one that had too high a price.” There was real anger in Vesper’s tone. “One she swore never to exact but did.”
“Her decision to keep you away from Fenris that day was to protect humanity. She ordered you not to go for that one reason.”
Vesper made a sound of exasperation. “And then she fucked off and got herself killed, leaving us powerless against the Bloods and the Jotunn to come. We can’t find the second grimoire without her, and if we can’t do that, we can’t summon the gods, so when the Jotunn come in less than nine months, we’re fucked. This unnecessary war has drained our resources, and in a few weeks the Draco will have the numbers and the technology to break our stalemate, and then what?”
“Is that why you left and got yourself captured?” Dante threw back at him.
“You know why I went.”
“There is no way in,” Dante said wearily. “We’ve searched for decades, and you know it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Vesper said. “I heard about an access tunnel. An old escape route Anara had set up for the Arc.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up until I knew for sure. A few weeks ago, with Lorance’s help, I located the plans to the Arc. There was a tunnel on them. I found it, but it was blocked off by a door made from Obrilian steel. There’s no entry without a key.” He sighed. “There’s no time to go on a key hunt, Dante. We need an immediate plan, not some flimsy hope in the form of a Skin female with a little knowledge of tech or a potential key that could be anywhere. Get your head in the game or we will lose.”
There was a long beat of silence and then a heavy sigh. “I know. I just…I don’t know what else we can do.”
But I did.
I pushed open the door and stepped into a huge room dominated by a roaring fire. Several lamps lit up the space, and standing in the center, face to face, each clutching a golden goblet, were Dante and Vesper. They looked at me with surprise. At least Dante did. Vesper just looked annoyed.
“What do you want?” he snapped. “Come to recount your epic failure today?”
Now that was uncalled for. “It’s not a failure when the student is physically incapable of mastering a task.” I narrowed my eyes. “And you know that. I heard your conversation.”
“Eavesdropping? How noble.”
“I’m not noble, Vesper. I’m a thief, an assassin, and a rogue. Eavesdropping is one of my core skills, just like being an arsehole is one of yours.”
Dante’s mouth twitched.
Vesper approached me, trying to intimidate me with his huge, lithe body. “What. Do. You. Want.”
I allowed the corner of my mouth to lift. “To be the immediate plan, not some flimsy hope.”
He frowned, confused. “What?”
I pulled the key from my pocket and held it up for him to see. “I’m going through that door into Sector 8, and I’m going to steal all the humans.”
Vesper stared at the key, his gaze lingering on the inscription, and then his face broke into a wicked grin.
“Now that is a plan I’m willing to get on board with.”
* * *
“We’ll need a way to transport them from Sector 8 to the Furtherlands,” Helgi said. “That many humans…There’s no way we’ll get away with the Draco on our tail, not without a stealth method of transport.”
“Dreki are out of the question,” Dante said. “The Draco have fighter planes, and evasive maneuvers will be impossible with fragile humans on board.”
“The Outlands are flatlands,” Bran pointed out. “The drones will find us easily.”
No escape by air or by land. Unless… “What about the leylines?”
Dante and Vesper exchanged glances.
“Oberon would never agree to it,” Vesper said. “Not without a huge trade.”
“Food.” I looked from Dante to Vesper. “His people are starving. They need food.”
“Have you any idea what most of the wildland creatures eat?” Vesper sneered. “You want to offer them a bunch of Skins on a platter? Because that’s what he’ll expect.”
“Not necessarily,” Dante said. “Oberon isn’t an unreasonable creature. The rise of the Jotunn will be just as damaging for him as it would be to humanity. This is his world now. He’s trapped here. It’s in his best interests to help us in any way that could weaken the Bloods.”
“You think you can convince him to take cattle instead of Skins?” Vesper sounded genuinely curious.
Dante nodded slowly. “I think I can.”
Vesper exhaled through his nose. “Do it. Make the deal. We can ration until our stocks stabilize.” His cobalt eyes grew bright. “If you pull this off, then we might have a real chance at striking a heavy blow.” His gaze fell on me. “We might be able to begin truly fulfilling our vow.” He inclined his head in my direction. “You did good, Anya.”
Dammit, why did that give me the warm fuzzies?
“Get some rest. We reconvene at dawn, and if Dante succeeds, we can put our plan in motion.”
Dante would do it. I had faith in him.
Helgi and I locked gazes, and I grinned. “Hey, Vesper, where can we sharpen our blades?”
Chapter Twelve
The training grounds, reserved for Dreki guards on leave, were filled with the clink and clang of metal on metal. Dreki sparred, bare-chested, bodies rippling as scales appeared and disappeared to block the scrape or stab of a blade. It was lethal, no-holds-barred training, and my blood sang with possibilities the closer we got.
“I feel the burn, Anya,” Helgi said.
“I know what you mean.”
“You won’t last a minute,” Vesper sneered. “These are
