Burn the Night (25 page)

Fully cloaked from the view of humans, we drew in our wings and settled lightly in a small opening that appeared to be a park in the middle of the city. I took a couple steps away from my companion and shook out my wings, giving them one last good stretch before allowing them to completely disintegrate.

When I awoke at sunset, he was already speaking with some of the other animal clan members while eating a quick meal. Rowe and I never spoke of what happened down by the stream, but then, I didn’t know what to say. Had it only been a splinter of time never to be repeated? Had we both suffered a moment of weakness and simply needed the physical closeness of another damaged creature? I didn’t want to consider whether there was something more. Didn’t dare to hope.

But none of that mattered now. I had to get him to Cynnia and focus on the coming war with Aurora. If either of us actually had a future when this was over, we would face those questions then.

“Where is she?” Rowe demanded in a low, rough voice. His question startled me after the long silence, causing me to flinch. Closing my eyes, I reached out—despite all Cynnia’s cloaking and protective spells, I could find her no matter where she was. After only a couple seconds her energy popped into existence for me on the other side of the city.

“She’s not too far from here,” I said, starting to walk in a direction that took us deeper into the city.

“Is she with the nightwalker?” Rowe’s voice grew harder and colder.

Gritting my teeth, I fought to keep my tone calm and even as I continued through the park. “I can’t tell, but she will be able to sense that I am back in town. She will know that it is best that we not meet with the nightwalker present for the first time.”

Rowe gave a soft grunt, which brought me to a sharp halt. I spun around and pointed an index finger at him, poking it into the middle of his chest. “You agreed to this. You agreed that you would not only hear Cynnia out with her plan, but that you could work in concert with the Fire Starter. Was that all a lie?” Something else stirred in the pit of my stomach as I wondered if there was more that he could be lying about. I knew Rowe, I knew the manipulation he was capable of, and I would not be used by him so he could get close to Cynnia.

“I can’t wipe away centuries of animosity just because your sister hopes to save our people,” Rowe snapped.

“Well, you’re going to have to find a way to handle it.” I was beginning to regret taking the iron collar off before he had his meeting with Cynnia. I was always so careful, but he had successfully overcome my methodical logic and caution in the name of . . . what? Companionship? Compassion? A connection with another creature I had never felt before?

I was losing my edge, my focus. I lived for one reason only: to aid Cynnia in any way possible.

And now I was letting Rowe distract me. Tightening my fists at my sides, I started to turn my back on Rowe and to resume walking across the park when he stopped me by laying his hands gently on either side of my face, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“Mira and I have a long, dark past. I can’t just push those emotions aside no matter how dire the circumstances,” he said as he ran his thumbs across my cheekbones.

I took a step back, away from his touch and nodded once, fearful that he was attempting to manipulate me through my emotions for him. “And I will not do anything that will allow you to jeopardize Cynnia’s life. You agreed to listen fairly and with an open mind to her argument. If you do anything that I deem a threat to her safety, I will not hesitate to kill you.” A smirk curled one corner of his mouth and he leaned in toward me. “You think it will be that easy?”

I smiled back at him as I placed my hand over where my whip was clipped to my hip. “It’s never easy, but I don’t miss when it comes to Cynnia’s safety.”

“After what happened with Aurora, your loyalty to your younger sister is . . . interesting,” Rowe said, taking a step back to allow me a little more breathing room.

“Cynnia believed in me first and she has always believed in me. I will not abandon that trust and faith.”

Rowe spread out his arms and bowed his head to me. “I will listen to what she has to say.” I believed him. If Rowe was going to attack Cynnia, he was going to go through me first, and we both knew it. After what had happened at the stream, I didn’t feel this was the best arrangement, but at least I could say it was an honest one and I knew where we all stood. The weight on my shoulders was no lighter as I led Rowe through the city toward my sister, but it was something I finally understood.

Questions regarding the two of us after the events at the stream still hung heavy in the air, but now was not the time to bring up such seemingly trivial things.

W
e finally stopped at a narrow town house in the heart of the historic district of Savannah.

There was a For Rent sign leaning up against the side of the front porch, where the owner had left it following Cynnia’s recent arrival. Her witch companion Shelly was handling all the human details of renting safe residences and procuring some basic foods, while Cynnia was supposed to be hidden at all times and guarded by her contingent of followers.

When I scanned for Cynnia, I had picked up the presence of four other naturi near her, while a larger gathering waited on the outskirts of the city for a signal from the young princess. Kane and his people would be moving more slowly through the woods, but I knew they would be there soon enough.

We needed to secure both the assistance of the nightwalker and Rowe as quickly as possible so that everything I had told the lord of the animal clan didn’t turn out to be a lie.

As I put my foot on the first step leading up to the house, the front door swung open and Shelly stepped into the doorway with a broad smile. The young human woman seemed to be a perpetual ray of sunlight streaking across the land, no matter how bleak the circumstances. Despite her constant chipper attitude, I believed in her sincerity when it came to protecting Cynnia. From what my sister told me, both of them had been through a great deal when they traveled from Savannah to Machu Picchu.

Cynnia trusted her, so I did as well.

“There you are! We were beginning to get worried,” Shelly announced, plopping both of her hands on her hips as she stepped out onto the porch. “Cynnia seemed to be expecting you a few days earlier.”

“There were some complications,” I murmured as I mounted the steps. A new weariness crept into my bones as I reached the front door landing. A breeze blew from inside the house, carrying with it the scent of wild flowers. There was a feeling of safety in that smell. I had completed the first leg of my mission and I was tired. Cynnia and I were a long way from accomplishing our goal, but at least I was back with my sister. The nagging fear of something happening to her while I was absent could fly away for the time being.

As I passed Shelly, I noticed her smile wilt as her eyes shifted to Rowe. Her shoulders stiffened, but she remained determinedly chipper as she greeted the other naturi and welcomed him into the house. I didn’t know what Mira had told her about the rogue naturi, but there was little that could have been positive.

“Where’s Cynnia?” I demanded as I paused in the foyer. The town house was sparsely decorated with a couple of landscape paintings hanging on the pastel walls. The floors were covered in a honey wood, and each of the rooms seemed to spill forth warm light to beat back the night. Dawn was only an hour away and yet I could sense people moving about. I had a feeling Cynnia and her guardians were sleeping little these days, as they not only worried about a strike from Aurora, but she was also now deep in Mira’s territory. Any truce with the Fire Starter would be an uneasy one.

“She’s sitting in the parlor,” Shelly replied, stepping in front of me to motion toward the room off to the right.

“Were there any problems?”

Shelly’s smile crumpled completely and her eyes quickly darted away from me. But as she opened her mouth to answer, Cynnia’s confident voice floated from the parlor. “Nothing that we couldn’t handle.”

“By your friend’s expression, I struggle to believe that,” I replied, following the voice into the room that held my sister. I found her curled up at one end of a sofa, her feet tucked into the side of the cushion, one arm comfortably on the couch armrest, the other resting in her lap. She wore a pair of jeans and pale pink T-shirt, making her look like a teenage human rather than the next queen of the naturi people. But for now we needed her to blend as much as possible with the rest of the world and escape the notice of anyone who could be potentially looking for her.

“We were attacked by some earth and light clan members during our meeting with Mira and the leader of the local lycanthrope pack,” Cynnia finally admitted with a shrug of her slender shoulders. “We had some troubles at first, but we were victorious in the end.”

“And the Fire Starter?” Rowe demanded as he came to stand beside me, just past the entrance into the room.

“She and the lycan alpha Barrett have agreed to side with us against Aurora,” Cynnia said with a bright smile.

Shelly shimmied into the room and clapped her hands together as she heaved a heavy sigh. “You two have got to be famished and exhausted. I can get you some food, or show you where you can freshen up or maybe just get some rest for a while.”

“We need to talk,” Rowe said in a low voice, his eyes never wavering from Cynnia’s face. I watched as my sister leaned back and folded both hands in her lap while her eyes locked on my face. It was an old signal we had developed years ago. We could speak telepathically, but we discovered early on that Aurora could also hear our thoughts since she was our sister. To protect our little secrets, we developed a series of hand gestures that signaled a variety of questions, answers, and emotions. At first it had been nothing more than a little game done to amuse ourselves as we snuck behind Aurora’s back.

Now it had become an invaluable tool as we struggled against our once beloved sister.

Without saying a word, she was asking if I had succeeded in bringing Rowe willingly to her. I lifted my right hand and grasped my left elbow, signaling that I had succeeded in my mission. Cynnia gave a little sigh and shifted position, resting her hands on either side of her body. She was open and ready to proceed with her plan to win Rowe over to her side.

“We will meet now,” I said to Shelly, barely glancing over at her.

“Are you sure?” Shelly asked in low voice. “Cynnia said that you had been on a long trip. I just thought—”

“It’s okay, Shelly,” Cynnia gently interjected, trying to soften the blow as we brushed off her offer of hospitality. “It’s best if we talk now. Could you leave us and shut the doors behind you?” Shelly gave a quick stiff nod before she left the room. I could almost sympathize with the human. She had been involved in a great deal of the protection of Cynnia and the planning to overthrow Aurora. It would be difficult to now be excluded from what was obviously an important meeting.

However, things were different with Rowe, more delicate. I had no doubt that Rowe still harbored ill feelings toward the humans, and I didn’t want one lingering about, cluttering up what was going to be a difficult discussion. Cynnia and I both knew that we needed his help if we were going to succeed against Aurora.

As soon as the door closed to the room and we were alone with Rowe, the naturi arched one eyebrow at Cynnia and demanded, “Pet?”

Cynnia calmly shook her head and looked him in the eye. “No, she’s a good friend and protector.

Not all humans are useless.”

Rowe gave a little smirk. “I never claimed that humans were useless. I’ve found many uses for them.”

“Yes,” I said with a slight hiss. “I heard of your harvest in a land east of here. I’ve heard of several harvests that you’ve led in an attempt to achieve your goal.” A harvest resulted in the slaughter of humans and the harvesting of their organs for a series of blood spells that Rowe shouldn’t have been casting in the first place. Of course, he was not the first of our people to lead a harvest, and I knew without a doubt that there would be more one day. There was power to be found in the human soul, and the easiest way for us to harness that power was through their organs.

“My task was to free Aurora and our people at whatever the cost,” Rowe said through clenched teeth. “When the regular methods didn’t work, I pushed the limits of my knowledge. I sought out new layers of power. I knew that I could not fail our people.”

“And you didn’t fail,” Cynnia said in a gentle voice. She motioned with her left hand for him to sit on the sofa beside her. The naturi hesitated, his body stiff and his expression unyielding before he finally softened enough to take a seat on the sofa. I moved opposite him, leaning up against the fireplace mantel. Despite my sister’s attempts to create a warm and inviting atmosphere, I couldn’t relax. It was my job to stay focused and protect her from any threats, even those that came from our so-called allies.

“As I was saying,” Cynnia said, shooting me a dark look for a blink of an eye before she finally looked over at Rowe again. “You have saved our people. As I am sure Nyx told you, our people were languishing within our cage. We were no longer growing; our connection with the earth had been nearly severed.”

“Nyx told me things were grim,” Rowe admitted, earning a frown from me. I thought I had clearly spelled out that our people were dying. However, before I could chime in, the evil bastard flashed me a quick grin to indicate that he was only teasing me. If I didn’t know better, I would have suspected he was trying to push every last one of my buttons.

“However, things have not gotten better with the release of Aurora,” Cynnia continued, oblivious to the play between myself and Rowe.

“I gathered that much when she ordered both your death and Nyx’s at Machu Picchu,” Rowe blandly commented while scratching his chin. A growth of dark stubble was starting to gather there, giving him an even more menacing look. “Most people don’t like to be faced with their own death.”

“It’s more than being faced with your own death,” I snapped. “It’s about being betrayed by the person you have sworn to protect and obey under any circumstances. It’s being called a traitor when all your actions have been for the good of your own people. I have no fear of death, but I will not go quietly into that dark embrace if I have not earned it.”