I had to hand it to him, the Skin had honor. I looked east, squashing the unwelcome ache in my chest.
Anya had upheld her part of the bargain. She’d delivered us a solution, but now she was on her own.
* * *ANYA
The drones lapped each other in opposite directions, but there was a small window, a blind spot, and Helgi and I used it to get to the building. We crouched in the shadows by the main door as Azazel vanished into the building through the brick wall.
“What the fuck is he?” Helgi asked. “Some kind of ghost?” She gave me a self-deprecating smile. “I mean, there are no ghosts, right?”
Rats and now ghosts; my fearless friend was full of surprises.
“What?” She gave me a piss-off look. “You can’t put an arrow through a ghost.”
Point. “I don’t know what he is. I don’t even think he knows for sure.”
“Well, whatever he is, he’s damn useful.”
“Only if he kills.”
“Not a bad thing considering these Draco would slit our throats given half the chance?”
“I know, but I can’t help but feel that each kill draws him away from me a little.” It didn’t make sense and there was no evidence to back me up, simply a feeling.
The doors opened with a click and Azazel stepped out in full corporeal form. He was bare-chested as usual, all muscle and power. His eyes blazed with the energy he’d consumed, and his horns looked lethal kissed by moonlight.
“Hurry.” He ushered us in.
We ran through the empty facility past the guards’ bodies, pushing through several doors, running down a flight of steps and then another until we were on a sublevel lit by harsh light. A short corridor ended in a door that was locked using a regular bolt. There was a panel by the wall too, but it was dark and dead. I slid the bolt back and tugged on the door. It opened. I guess the panel was just for show then.
Illyrian lay on a cot in the center of the room, composed and serene in sleep. I fell to my knees beside the bed.
“Dad.” I shook him. “Dad, wake up.”
Nothing. He was out cold. Whatever they’d given him was strong. I hauled him over my shoulder and stood.
There was a sharp clicking sound.
I froze and met Helgi’s eyes.
“What was that?” she asked.
I looked around the empty room and down at my feet, searching for traps. Nothing. Weird.
“I don’t know. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Good plan,” Azazel said. “I don’t have much time left in this state.”
I studied him, noting that he was already losing substance. “You killed four Draco.”
He looked worried but then he pressed his lips together. “I know. This is new.”
He used to be able to last an hour on one kill, and now he’d taken four lives and was about to run out of juice in less than twenty minutes? Something was wrong, but his expression said this wasn’t the time to try and figure it out.
We were halfway up the stairs to the ground floor when the building began to shudder and rattle. The sound of metal jarring against metal echoed off the walls.
We made it to the ground floor just as shutters finished coming down over the windows.
Obrilian steel shutters.
Fuck.
The room was plunged into darkness as the moonlight was blocked out, and then a voice echoed around us.
“Thank you so much for coming, Anya,” Royce’s voice boomed. “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me.”
Oh fuck.
* * *JUNE
My stomach was in knots, had been ever since Anya left. I couldn’t lose her. We couldn’t lose her, but she kept doing this—saving people, putting herself in danger. I knew it was who she was. It was a part of her, but being left behind was killing me.
I watched the children playing, running back and forth across the garden designed especially for the younglings. It was high up on a ledge, but barriers were up right now. Barriers that could be lowered to allow the older ones to leap off and fly. The moon was huge and round, so close I felt I could reach out and touch it. It would be bedtime soon, but the brood mothers believed that fresh air aided in good sleep.
Talia sat on a blanket to my right, her face tipped up to the stars, while Ria planted blooms in a small flowerbed to my left.
It was peaceful here. Safe.
I tracked Stefan as he chased Pika across the grass. The youngling was twice as fast as Stefan, but that was to be expected since Pika was a Dreki. But Stefan refused to give up the game. His skills were determination and endurance. He didn’t tire mentally or physically. I guess in that way, they were equally matched. I touched my satchel containing my sketchpad and pencils and felt the small rectangular book Anya had given me to keep safe.
I’d looked inside, of course, and found Illyrian’s note, but the words in the book itself made no sense to me. The letter, however…that was ominous.
A gust of air blasted me in the face, throwing back my hair. The children squealed in delight as I shielded my eyes to look up at the sky in time to see a huge sapphire dragon soar past us and out of sight.
“Who was that?” I looked to Talia.
She sighed. “Lord Orion is back.” She stood and called the children to her. “Time for bed, little ones.” She herded them toward the tower that led down to the nursery.
Ria joined me, dusting earth off her hands. “Urgh,” she said. “Orion is such a stick in the mud. Things are about to get much stricter with him back in residence.”
Orion…The lord who needed to see the book. A sense of urgency flared inside me, and the book in my satchel was suddenly a dead weight I needed to shift.
I turned
