“Yes. No. I mean, I understand that there are conventions here, but where I come from . . .” She shook her head. “I just don’t think I can do that.”
“The position of mistress is currently vacant.” He looked at her much the way she’d seen people examine produce at the market. “You’re attractive, and I do understand not wanting to kill . . . or bed the natives.”
“You’re offering me a job as your mistress?” She stared at him with a mix of amusement and horror.
“Yes. I prefer not to frequent the brothels as I prefer not to share, especially with the natives.” Ajani made a moue of distaste before smiling at Chloe. “It’s merely a job, my dear. The lovely Miss Reed continues to refuse my offers, so, until she acquiesces, the position is yours if you want it.”
“Until Kitty . . .” Chloe couldn’t hide her shock. When Ajani smiled at her, she realized that he thought she was shocked that Kitty refused him—not that he’d thought he stood a chance of convincing her to live with him. Chloe had only known the brash woman a bit over a day, but she was already certain that Kitty was never going to accept that offer.
“I would find you another position when she accepts,” Ajani said.
Chloe wasn’t sure if Ajani was evil incarnate, but she was beginning to think he might be insane. “I’m flattered, but I don’t think I’d make a very good mistress.”
Ajani nodded. “You think on it for now. I will speak with Daniel. If he wants to keep you, I could also consider offering you a position in one of my homes if he wants to surrender part of his salary. Perhaps as a maid or something.” He stood then and nodded. “There is one other option, but you’ll need to be tested. So, until we decide what to do with you, I’m afraid it’s for the best that you stay here in the house.”
Chloe wasn’t sure she was hearing him correctly. “To be clear, are you saying I can’t leave?”
“Until we do a few little tests, I’m afraid so.” He smoothed down his already unwrinkled shirtsleeves. “We have always allowed the Arrivals to make a choice, you see, but I’m wearying of patience. You will be my guest until we determine whether or not you have what I’m seeking or if you are better employed in another way.”
Fear filled her as memories of Jason and the things he’d done before she’d killed him overwhelmed her. Chloe’s voice was a breath of sound at best when she asked, “What sort of tests?”
“Nothing scandalous. Simply reading some passages for me.” Ajani patted her on the shoulder.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t think beyond the fact that she was trapped. Smiles didn’t change the truth. Jason had smiled too. He’d smiled after he’d hurt her, smiled when he’d left her in restraints, smiled when he’d sat in front of the door with a gun. Her body shook from both the remembered fear and the current anxiety, but her legs wouldn’t move. She had thought that years of training with guns would prevent her from ever feeling this powerless again, but in that moment all of the familiar terror returned and consumed her.
“Once we see the results, we’ll decide what to do with you,” Ajani continued, seemingly oblivious to her trembling. He paused. “Just to be clear, Chloe, I had the staff remove your pistol from your quarters, and they’ve all been instructed as to the rules. It’s an unfortunate situation, but please know that Daniel negotiated the best possible terms for your stay with us. My original plan involved killing Jackson, Francis, and Cordova. They’d have woken, but I understand that it is still unpleasant to die.” He held her gaze as he added, “And there are job opportunities that will be open to you even if you fail the tests. If not for Daniel’s speaking up for you, this entire situation might have been very unpleasant for you. You should thank him.”
“I should thank Daniel,” she repeated dully.
“Yes, my dear.” Ajani smiled at her. “And perhaps ask him about the punishments that I’ve had to mete out to those who disobey me or resist. It may help you to be more cooperative.”
Chloe clutched the side of the chair, trying not to let her growing panic consume her. The man in front of her was evil, and the happy expression on his face confirmed her earlier suspicions that he was mad as well.
I survived before, she reminded herself. Today, though, that reminder wasn’t quite as comforting. She was in a new world, the captive of a madman, and the only people who knew where she was either thought she’d sided with their enemy or were themselves in his employ. Oh, and he couldn’t be killed. There wasn’t any way she could see this going well for her.
Chapter 34
When Jack and the others returned, Kitty and Edgar were sitting with a significantly improved Francis. Styrr had been standing quietly at the window, watching the street below. He looked at her, said, “They are here,” and then he resumed watching the street.
Kitty couldn’t say she was surprised. The bloedzuiger had been unfailing in his guard duties, but he was not particularly talkative. When he did speak for anything other than basic reasons, he directed his remarks only to Kitty.
Francis had slept for the majority of the time that Jack and the others were away. The medicine seemed to send his body into the opposite of a Verrot alertness, but it worked, and that was all that really mattered. Francis hadn’t recovered full sight, but he could see hazy images in both eyes, and more important, the bleeding had stopped. Healing always took far more time than being broken.
“Soanes is gone,” Jack said when he walked in.
Melody made an unhappy noise. “Nothing but bits by the time we were there. Demon-filled monk made a mess of him, and then didn’t have the decency to stand still so we could at least torture him since he killed the governor before I could interrogate him.” She huffed. “In my day, monks were monks, and monsters were on the television or in books, where they belong. Demons being inside of monks is just rude.”
While Melody was talking, both Hector and Jack looked down at Kitty and Edgar’s entwined hands. Jack nodded once at Edgar; Hector just grinned. Yesterday, she would’ve had a hard time not commenting on their reactions, but today she was too happy to bother. She rolled her eyes at Hector and turned her attention back to Melody, who was gesticulating and lamenting “the intolerably bad manner of demons and monks and corrupt governors.”
“Melly?” Hector interjected.
Melody blinked like she was trying to refocus on the world around her, and then she patted her hair, smoothing it back in case any tendrils had escaped their assigned places. “Yes?”
“We could hunt,” he suggested. “Maybe the bad-mannered monks came here.”
Melody looked as happy as a girl accepting a bouquet of freshly picked flowers. “I would like to kill something . . .” she murmured, before abruptly turning her attention to Jack. “Hector and I are patrolling.”
Jack nodded, and Hector ushered the manic woman out of the room.
Once she was gone, Styrr murmured, “She is very much like a young bloedzuiger . . . but she speaks. I am quite grateful that our newborns do not speak.”
Francis laughed, and both Jack and Edgar smiled.
“Katherine?” Styrr said. When she looked at him, he continued, “Garuda asks that I tell you that the toxin he has prepared seems to be ready for use. The pack told him that speaking to the governor did not work, so he suspects your pack will soon seek Ajani. Is this true?”
“Maybe. What is the toxin?”
“It will kill Ajani,” Styrr said mildly. “However, it cannot be administered by anyone native to the Wasteland.”
“I am not native,” Kitty said.
“True,” Styrr replied, as if he were thinking. “Perhaps, for your protection—as kin to my kin—you might like to have it if you are going to see Ajani. It’s not something we could offer to anyone not kin, but it would not be pleasing to the pack should you be injured.”
Everyone in the room was silent for a moment, and then Kitty replied very politely, “Yes, I think I would like that if it’s of no trouble.”
Styrr bowed his head.
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After a moment of stunned silence, Jack said, “If we have a way to kill Ajani, I’m going after him tonight. Tell Garuda to bring the poison.”
“This is a gift we can only offer to kin.” Styrr looked at Kitty, not Jack, as he said this.
Jack was the one in charge; he had always been the one who made decisions. It wasn’t a burden Kitty had ever wanted to shoulder, but she’d also seen how near Jack had been to falling apart over Chloe. Maybe having someone else check his decisions wasn’t an entirely bad idea right now.
She glanced at her brother, but he was staring out the window, seemingly lost in thought.
Kitty turned to Styrr. “Could Garuda bring it now?”
Merely a moment had passed before Styrr said, “He will be here shortly.”
Chapter 35
Jack knew that he couldn’t go anywhere until Garuda arrived, but he was struggling with the delay. Knowing Chloe was with Ajani made everything feel more urgent. Jack wasn’t going to leave her where she was in danger. She’d gone with Daniel and was in Ajani’s clutches because of his mistakes. It wasn’t just about Chloe, though: Jack had wanted Ajani dead for years.
Edgar went to find Melody, and Hector rejoined them, while Jack and Katherine started to plan.
“Styrr will stay with Francis,” Katherine said. She glanced briefly at the sleeping Arrival and then at the bloedzuiger, who nodded his assent.
“We should go in teams.” Jack had thought often enough about attacking Ajani over the years that he knew what he wanted without a lot of discussion.
“I’m with you and Edgar,” Katherine said.
Jack gave her a bland look. He had a different idea in mind, but he’d rather wait until Edgar was back before he said anything. All he said for now was, “Hector and Melody always fight well together.” He glanced at Styrr and added, “Maybe some of the bloedzuigers could join us.”
When the bloedzuiger in the room didn’t answer, Katherine repeated Jack’s statement and added, “Could they?”
“That is not my decision,” Styrr said.
The door opened and the three remaining members of their team entered the tiny room.
“So we’re going to get the new girl back?” Hector asked.
“And I get to kill people,” Melody added in a cheery voice. “No rules, right? I can shoot anyone but the new girl. I was cheated earlier, so I shouldn’t have to follow rules this time.”
“Not Chloe, and no servants unless they shoot at you,” Jack corrected. “But aside from that, no rules.”
Melody hugged Jack. “You’re a good boss. Come on, Hector.” She spun toward the door, paused to glance over her shoulder, and said, “I just need to grab a few things. We’ll meet you there.”
“I go in first,” Jack told Hector. “Keep her on a leash until I’m in.”
He nodded and followed Melody out of the room.
Once the door closed, Katherine leveled a stern look at him. “You meant until ‘we’re in,’ didn’t you?”
“Why don’t I go solo?” Jack started. “You and Edgar can stay—”
“Don’t even try to finish that suggestion,” Katherine interrupted. “I stayed here while you handled the Soanes trip. I’m not going to sit this out because Edgar and I are . . . together.”
“Engaged,” Edgar interjected.
Katherine blushed. “Yes, that.”
Edgar kissed her and then told Jack, “Kit’s right: we’re going with you. Killing Ajani is a good way to begin our new life together.”
Jack looked at his sister and the man he considered the most reliable of the Arrivals. He could order them to stay behind, but doing so would be foolhardy. More to the point, they were both resolved enough that he didn’t expect that they’d listen. They obeyed orders well, as a rule, but this wasn’t an ordinary situation. “Fine. Gear up.”
After Jack restocked his bullets, he headed to the main tavern room to meet back up with Katherine and Edgar. He claimed a table and ordered several items to share while they waited on Garuda. The food at the Gulch House wasn’t ever reliable, so ordering a variety increased the odds of finding a meal that was neither overcooked nor undercooked.
The three of them were more than halfway through the mess of food they’d ordered when Garuda arrived. His presence in the Gulch House tavern caused a bit of a commotion. For longer than the Arrivals had been in the Wasteland, he’d been the oldest bloedzuiger, and thus a creature of influence and power. As he made his way to their table, a hush fell over the room.
Garuda ignored it. When he reached them, he bowed his head in greeting. Jack and Edgar nodded at him, but Katherine stood and embraced him, leaning in and tilting her head as she did so. Garuda’s posture matched hers, although the tilt of his head was far more pronounced.
They both stepped backward, still in unison, and the overall appearance was that of a dance.
“Kin to my pack,” Garuda said quietly.
“And guest of my mind,” Katherine replied.
They both frowned briefly as they took their seats. Murmurs rippled over the room. Every inhabitant of the room was watching the exchange of greetings between the bloedzuiger and the Arrival.
“I didn’t know that you knew that tradition.” Garuda watched only Katherine. For all the acknowledgment he gave to the rest of the table or the room as a whole, the two of them might as well have been alone.
“Neither did I,” Katherine admitted shakily. “It was instinct.”
Garuda reached out and patted her hand. “It was a good instinct.Our kin bond was witnessed by all of these”—he waved his other hand in the general direction of the room—“beings. The word will spread that you are as my pack, and they will know that to injure you is to offend the whole of the pack.”
Jack met Garuda’s gaze. “Do you have it?”
Garuda folded his stick-thin fingers and bent his hands toward each other, creating the strange illusion of his hands as insect wings folding together. “There are rules of diplomacy.” He looked to Katherine expectantly.
After a moment, she prompted, “Will you offer aid to the kin of your pack?”
“I will,” Garuda said with a smile. He withdrew a bag from his pocket and placed it on the table. “Like so many other things, I can offer my kin a resource that I could offer no other. I offered Verrot repeatedly, but until Katherine accepted my bond, I couldn’t offer this to her. Before today, I could not ask you to cause Ajani’s heart to cease its function, but”—he smiled at Katherine—“today you are as my own pack, Katherine. That man poses threat to my kin, to the mate of my kin, and one I call friend. I give to you this resource to do as you will.”
Katherine took the bag.
Once she did, Garuda spoke again. “I already miss being connected to your mind, Katherine.” He watched her with the same sort of fond attention Jack had seen him bestow on only his most favored packmates. “Do not die. I would mourn you.”
She put her hand on his. “I will not die, but I will dispose of the man who has plagued us.”
“Can your pack fight with us?” Jack asked.
“To do so would breach etiquette,” Garuda said regretfully. “If we could have done so, we’d have removed him years ago.”
Katherine nodded. “We can handle him.”
“Be safe and well,” Garuda ordered and then was gone.
Chapter 36
For the remainder of the day, Chloe felt like she was fighting an endless panic attack. Ajani shared the evening meal with her, during which he asked her a lot of questions about magic and about the world she knew at home. He alternately studied her and ignored her.
After dinner, Ajani excused himself, and she was sent to her room to rest. A short while later, Daniel came to escort her back to Ajani’s library. On the way to the room, he said quietly, “If you fail the test, remind him that you are skilled with guns, and that Jack is fond of you. Perhaps, if nothing else, he will think he can barter for you.”
Chloe went still at t
he latter part of the statement. “I never said—”
“Even if Ajani hadn’t seen how possessively Jack watched you when you met the boss, Jack’s reaction when he heard you’d gone to Ajani’s house would’ve made his feelings clear enough. Several of the doxies and a few bystanders sent messages that he was devastated.” Daniel squeezed her shoulder gently. “Use that to your advantage. It gives you a value none of us have. I’m trying to help you, but there are only so many rules I can break.” He lifted the edge of his shirt to reveal an ugly burn. “I’m no good to Kitty or anyone else if I’m dead.”
Chloe was speechless as Daniel opened the door to the library and motioned for her to enter. He bowed to Ajani and left. She heard the turn of the key as he locked her in the room with Ajani. What sorts of tests require being trapped? The warnings Jack and Kitty had shared rushed back to her.
“You appear to be refreshed, Chloe. I trust that you’ve settled in?”
“I am refreshed, and everyone has been very kind,” she demurred.
“Sit.” He motioned.
She came to sit across from her host, who was already in a matching chair. The furniture looked like it could’ve been in any number of old-fashioned libraries at home. It was oversize and a bit ostentatious—and fit the overdressed man in front of her. He had a gold-handled cane she’d not seen previously resting against the table beside him, but other than that, he appeared as he had earlier.
He held out a piece of paper. “Read it.”
As he stared at her, Chloe held the paper in her hand and read:
I am lord of eternity in the crossing of the sky.
I am not afraid in my limbs,
I shall open the light-land, I shall enter and dwell in it . . .
Make way for me . . . I am he who passes by the guards . . .
I am equipped and effective in opening his portal!
With the speaking of this spell, I am like Re in the eastern sky,