Shattered Spirits (32 page)

“Actually, it isn’t. The man hasn’t made the Dugga’s awareness, so he isn’t a mage.” Truth. The Dugga of the Asar Nergal had magic that made him aware of mages. But if a mage wasn’t strong enough to endanger dragon-kind, the Dugga’s magic didn’t acknowledge the mage. It was a shame, since Howard Pimm—while only having aura sight—didn’t register as a threat and clearly was.

“I can’t release Capri,” Tobias said, his tone saying he wished he could.

Footsteps clattered behind Diablo and he stepped into the office, clearing the doorway. Swipe and Gig rushed up.

“For the love of—” Tobias crumpled a paper under his hand.

“We need Jones,” Swipe said. “There’s a situation.”

“Let me guess. A mage who isn’t a mage is threatening to expose dragon-kind,” Tobias said.

“No. What?” Swipe glanced at Diablo.

“My problem,” Diablo said.

“Really?” Swipe asked.

Diablo shrugged. “Yep.”

“Well, I need her first. We’ve recovered a text message from the damaged cell phone. Someone has hired Zenobia’s mages to assassinate Barna at the gala tonight.”

Tobias threw his hands up. “You’re certain of this?”

Swipe stiffened. “This is not some ploy to get Jones out of prison. This is big. Gig has already associated half a dozen phones with the mages and they’re already at the gala. It’s happening right now.”

“Fine.” Tobias yanked out a notepad and scribbled on it. He stamped it with his signet ring and held it out for Swipe. “Don’t fuck up.”

Swipe flashed his teeth in aggression. “Have I ever?”

Tobias glared at him, and he—with Gig at his heels—rushed out of the office.

“There’s more going on, isn’t there?” Diablo asked. It was a dangerous question. Tobias wasn’t likely to open up, and suggesting any kind of trouble could put Diablo in a cell beside Capri if Regis got wind of it.

“Do your damned job, drake.”

Oh, yeah. There was a lot of trouble going on. He and Raven were going to need to keep their heads down if they were going to protect their kids. He could only pray whatever was going on would blow over soon.

* * *

Capri fought to breathe past the agony searing through her. She sat in the corner of her tiny cell, pressing as much of her aching body to the cool stone wall as she could, but it did little to ease the pain. Nothing could. Mother of All, it burned from the inside out. She’d never imagined Odyne’s earth magic, searing touch, was so powerful. Sure, she’d heard stories and watched Zenobia’s sentencing, but Mother!

A wave of agony skittered along every nerve. She had to find a way past it and get out of here. Ryan was likely soul sick, lost in insanity, and it was all her fault. She shouldn’t have shown him the truth. She should have wiped herself from his memory, prayed whatever earth magic he’d developed wasn’t too noticeable, and let him live his normal human life.

Except she hadn’t wanted to let him go. Her soul had picked him, for the rest of her life, and she was selfish. She wanted to give in to that, be with him.

Another wave of agony seared through her, stealing her breath. How long was this going to go on? Odyne wasn’t even in the cell anymore. The guards had held her while Odyne had gathered her magic, growling her power word over and over again. Capri had felt the energy building, snapping through the air, then the guards had released her, Odyne had grabbed her face, and agony had consumed her.

That had been… She couldn’t remember when that had been. It could have been minutes or hours ago, bookended by blackness and agony. The only thing still clear had been Odyne’s eyes. Hard, black. She would never forget those eyes.

The memory of Odyne’s eyes bled into Ryan’s pale green ones. They radiated light, as if he were a dragon. No, not a dragon, a mage. She hadn’t been mistaken when she’d seen his power that night while they’d been hiding from Diablo in the snow. She’d seen a glimpse of his earth magic. She didn’t understand how he could possibly have magic. Human souls weren’t strong enough to ignite the connection; only a dragon’s soul could. But his flickering aura was real. She hadn’t imagined it. And after being in his head, even if it was only for a brief moment, she knew he hadn’t shared his body with another drake.

A shiver, not of pain but desire, slid through her at the thought of sharing his body. But sorrow quickly followed. She wanted to share bodies again, like they had in her greenhouse, wanted the intimacy of lovers, of being with her inamorator. But that wasn’t what was best for him. Her world was dangerous for humans. Mother of All, her world was dangerous for drakes.

She was done with her service to Regis. She didn’t know what her people would do about keeping dragon-kind’s secret if she quit. A part of her didn’t want to care anymore if humans found out about dragons, but that kind of revelation could have disastrous effects. How many humans would become soul sick, unable to accept that magic was real? No, she couldn’t abandon her team, but then she couldn’t ask Swipe or Gig to renounce their service to the Royal Coterie.

She shifted so her other cheek pressed against the cool wall. This was a mess, and she was sure if the pain just stopped she’d be able to think it through.

Footsteps rushed down the hall. Odyne and the soldiers were returning. Guess it had been closer to hours than minutes since their last visit.

Capri drew breath to will herself to stand and face what was coming like a drake. Pain screamed through her. She clung to the wall and struggled to her feet.

Hot and cold swept over her in waves. Sweat slicked her hands and face, and down her back. Her breath cut out of her lungs and through her throat as if the air was laced with razorblades.

The door opened and framed Swipe, his broad shoulders inches from either side of the doorway, his expression hard.

Capri’s brain stuttered. “What are you doing here?”

Movement behind Swipe drew her attention: Gig peering from behind the bigger, older drake.

What the hell?

A wave of agony snapped through her. She sucked in a breath, determined not to let her team—particularly Swipe—see her this weak. “Not that I’m not happy you’re here, but you shouldn’t have risked Regis’s ire by coming here.”

Swipe rolled his eyes. “We’re not doing this for you.”

“Speak for yourself,” Gig mumbled.

Swipe shot him a dark look, then turned that glare back to Capri. “Regis is a fool for not recognizing the value of our team. The European and Asian Clean Teams won’t be able to pick up our workload, and save for the two drakes on those teams, you’re the only other one able to manipulate the minds of humans.”

“So you’re doing this for the sake of all dragon-kind?” Yeah, no love between them, that was for sure.

“In part. I’m also doing it because Regis is a dick and I know he just sent you to Odyne for his own sick amusement. I’d also be a really shitty Second if I didn’t make an effort.”

“Gee, I never knew you cared.” Another wave of agony shot through her. She bit back a gasp, but Swipe’s eyes flashed wide. He’d noticed.

“That, and you think I’d trust anyone else to watch my back while I’m tranced out, cleaning up some stupid drake’s mess?” He snorted and stepped back, giving her room to ease out into the hall. “Besides, Gig managed to get that stupid cell phone to talk, and boy, did it talk.”

“Oh, yeah?” Right now, she couldn’t care less about human mages and her job to protect dragon-kind’s secret. She needed to get to Ryan and protect him. More agony swept through her. Her knees started to buckle, and she ground her teeth, willing herself to stay upright.

Swipe’s hands twitched, as if he wanted to reach for her. “Seems like a drake has been in contact with those mages.”

“We already know drakes had been in contact with them. They were a part of Zenobia’s coup.”

“No,” Gig said. “This is after the coup. Like recently. And he—or she—wants Barna dead.”

There were so many possibilities for who and why, Capri couldn’t wrap her aching head around them. Any one of the doyens could want to kill Barna for any number of reasons. Barna’s coterie, the Major Brown, was the wealthiest—aside from the Royal Coterie—and Barna controlled large chunks of real estate in Newgate, the city with the largest number of dragons living there and with the largest number of dragon visitors. Barna had been laughing all the way to the bank after his investments in the little town of Newgate started paying off.

“We need to get to the gateroom,” Swipe said. “And we need to get to Barna’s gala. Even Diablo said something big was going down, which means it must be big for that drake to call us for backup.”

That did have to be big. Diablo never called anyone for anything.

She forced herself to stride down the hall toward freedom, fighting the agony pounding through her—although how free she really was could be debated. The moment this mess was over, Tobias would be obligated to toss her back into the dungeon. That was, if she returned to her service with the Chamberlain’s office. After she wiped Ryan’s memory and saved him from going insane, she would need the distraction of work. But returning wasn’t an option. Regis would want her head and she doubted he’d care if he permanently destroyed her soul and lost a valuable member of the Clean Team.

She rounded a corner. The dungeon’s main arch towered before her, marking the exit and the edge of the magical ward preventing dragons with the ability to gate without an anchor from leaving.

“All right.” She tried to pick up speed, but another burst of pain swept over her, threatening her balance. “Our best bet is to find Barna and discreetly protect him, use him as bait.” And then she could call Grey and see if he’d found Ryan. Please let him have found Ryan.

“That still doesn’t help us figure out who the drake is that hired them,” Swipe said.

“Once we’ve got a mage in custody, I can make him talk.” She’d rip her earth magic into whoever they caught and learn the truth. But she didn’t want to waste time fighting mages and protecting Barna. She wanted to find Ryan. To hell with her duty. Dragon-kind didn’t give a damn about her—

Which wasn’t true. It was only Regis who didn’t care. Hiro and Grey and Gig and even Swipe, they cared about her. They wouldn’t understand how she could be inamorated to a human mage—well, maybe Grey could since he and Hunter were like brothers—but that didn’t matter. They were still her friends and their secret needed to be protected. And really, humanity needed to be protected from the truth, too. How many humans would fall to the soul sickness, unable to fully comprehend the truth of their universe? How many would fear dragons and want to destroy them, like those humans who’d cast the Great Scourge all those years ago? And how many would want to control the dragons and use them for their own evil purposes?

No, for the sake of Ryan and her friends, she needed to protect their world with the magic she’d been given. No matter how much she despised Regis.

They reached the arch and Swipe pulled an
asru
bead stone from his pocket, a mini portable gate anchor. “Use this and gate to the base. We’ll meet you there.”

Before she could take it, air whooshed around them and Diablo materialized beside her.

“How about we just skip that part. She’ll meet you at the gala.” Diablo grabbed her arm and the world wrenched around her.

Air whipped at her face then her feet hit the floor, sending an agony roaring through her body. She staggered, but Diablo’s grip kept her from falling.

They stood in a dark hall. Only a hint of light bled around the cracks of half a dozen doors evenly spaced on either side of her. Her night-sight kicked in, showing the unfinished cinder block walls, open ceiling, and wires snaking around her.

“We need to talk,” Diablo said, his voice dark, his grip on her arm tightening.

Fear froze her gut, but hot rage quickly followed. Had he found out she hadn’t wiped Ryan’s mind like he’d told her? But if he didn’t know, she wasn’t going to tell him. “We never need to talk.”

“There’s always an exception to the rule.”

“No, there isn’t.” She wrenched at his grip, but he held tight. Agony roared through her, like the very first time Odyne had touched her, stealing her breath. Mother of All, when would the pain stop?

“Jesus, Jones.” Diablo’s expression hardened. “Did you give in? Did you tell Odyne about the human?”

“What about the human?” she growled.

“That you didn’t wipe his mind? That he’s a mage? Did you tell Odyne?”

Fury consumed the agony, tainting everything she saw red. Ryan was dead. He had to be. Diablo had killed him. That’s what Diablo did, he was the self-proclaimed death to all human mages.

She couldn’t breathe past the overwhelming pain and fury. He was dead. Her inamorator was dead. She grabbed Diablo’s throat, wrenched him around, and pounded him into the cinder block wall.

Air buffeted her. He slipped from her grip, no, vanished. He gated out of her grasp. She whipped around as he materialized behind her on the other side of the hall, not within striking distance.

She leapt at him. The only thing left for her was to avenge Ryan’s murder. He hadn’t deserved to die. Dragon law and Regis and anyone else who thought differently could rot in hell.

“Jones.” Diablo raised his hands.

She swung at his head. He jerked out of the way but didn’t punch back.

“Would you just listen.” He blocked another punch and scrambled to the side.

Why wouldn’t the murderer just fight back? It wasn’t fair if they didn’t fight back. Just like killing someone because they might have a magic that could hurt you. “Why couldn’t you have just trusted me to deal with it?”

Diablo snorted. “This is how you deal with it?”

She swung again. He gated away and reappeared behind her, wrapping a thick arm around her neck.

“I dealt with it the right way. The fair way.” She wrenched against his hold.

He tightened his grip. She fought to draw air past his arm, past the knot in her throat, and past Odyne’s agony burning every nerve.

“You body-shared so he’d understand you. Do you know how dangerous that is? You could have turned him into everything Regis fears.”