Fire Kin (16 page)

“Stop,” he snarled.

I looked at Ash.

He shrugged regretfully. “I can't take his voice if we need him to talk.”

I'd forgotten that part for a moment. A bead of sweat rolled down my back as distaste for what I was about to do made my stomach turn uneasily.

But I wasn't going to let them see how much this disturbed me. Because then they really would try to stop me, and that would be bad for the Beast before me and the other two in the cells. I couldn't save them from pain perhaps, but I could shield them from damage and that was what I, as a healer, would do.

One last breath and I moved back to the Beast. He stared up at me and howled defiance again. But I merely reached out and pressed my hand to his forehead.

“Tell us who sent you to set the explosion tonight,” I commanded, hoping that he might see reason. Hoping that there was some small part of him not drugged to the gills on
lune de sang
that might be able to decide that self-preservation was the sensible path to take.

No such luck, though. He just snarled up at me, sending hot acrid breath into my face.

“Have it your way,” I sighed. Then I set his nerves on fire.

Just for twenty seconds to start with.

When his scream died down. I asked him again. And again he refused to answer.

I set my teeth and sent the power down into him again, sending the message to all those delicate pathways that something was wrong. That they hurt. That they burned. Burns hurt more than most injuries, so the sensation of them was most useful in this situation. I hadn't done this before except once, when they'd shown us how to do it as part of our studies. That time, I'd thrown up afterward. I hoped to every inch of grace that any gods might wish to show me that I wouldn't do it again now. The Beast's screams rang in my ears and the echoes of his pain surged through me. Sweat slicked my back and I fought to remember to breathe as I counted down the seconds, letting him burn for longer this time.

When I took my hand away and the Beast stopped screaming as though someone had thrown a switch, I wasn't sure whether it was him or if Ash had added something to his binding to stop the noise. I twisted back toward the men behind me. Ash shook his head at me, his face set and grim. The others wore expressions that ranged from stoic to horrified to vaguely impressed. Fen's face was grimly blank, his arms crossed in front of him. His eyes had gone flat and dark. I wondered what he could see around us at this moment. What effect were my actions here having on our possible futures?

I turned back to the Beast. “Who sent you? I promise you, I can keep this up a very long time. And once the moon's blood wears off, it will hurt even more.”

I saw him swallow, saw fear and struggle swim up through his wide green eyes. I waited. One heartbeat. Two. Three.

Nothing.

I reached my hand toward his head and saw in his eyes how much his body was screaming at him to flinch away. But he was held there, chained by Ash's magic and being tortured—I had no illusions about what I was doing—by mine. “Who sent you?” I asked. I tried to keep my voice strong, not pleading.

He blinked up at me. “No one, Fae bitch.”

I heard Ash mutter behind me, echoed by a deep rumble from Guy. “That was stupid,” I said. I didn't care what he called me. In his position, I'd call me a bitch too. But he was just delaying the inevitable and making the men behind me angry. I put my hand back down and started the process over.

He talked after two more bursts. It was impressive really, how much he could bear, but I would've preferred that he had given in much sooner. Then I might not have felt so near to fainting by the time I finished.

I stayed upright through force of will as the man first named Pierre Rousselline as the alpha giving orders, then said he'd been sent to bring down the gate and didn't know more than that.

It was a name at least. But it wasn't enough. It might be all they knew, of course, but we had to be sure. I knew it as Guy moved to my side and stared down at me for a moment, as if trying to decide what to say.

I held up a hand, forestalling anything he wanted to bring up.

“I know,” I said. “Bring out the next one.”

The second Beast knew no more than the first. Pierre Rousselline had sent them. They were to bring down the gate and then return. But the third, who was the oldest of the three, was a more fruitful source. Maybe the
lune de sang
had had time to work its way out of his system a little or maybe the sounds of the screams of his companions had been enough to scare some sense into him, but he came out of the cell without resisting and let the Templars bind him into the chair.

The room reeked of fear and sweat and Beast now. It stung my nose and it had to smell worse to him. He would be able to decipher the pain in the scents too. He looked up at me as I approached.

“You've heard what came before,” I said. “Do you want the same or do you want to talk?”

His pupils flared and his throat worked. “Ask me what you want to know.”

Guy started to run though the questions again. “Who sent you?”

“Pierre Rousselline.”

“What was your target?”

“The gate.”

“Why the gate?”

The Beast hesitated. “Testing defenses,” he said. “I'm only a second-tier
guerrier
in my pack. I didn't hear all the plans. But they were talking about the tunnels. They want to get into the tunnels.”

“Who are ‘they'?”

“Pierre and the new Blood Lord. Lord Ignatius.”

“You heard them say that?” Guy demanded.

“Not them. But my alpha, Luka. He was muttering about tunnels and madness when he came to pick two of us for the job. Alain and I, and then tonight we were told we were working with the young Krueger in there.” He glared at me. “He's a brave one.”

I met his stare coolly. “None of you are brave. If you were brave you'd stop this madness with Ignatius and want the peace restored.”

“We do as our alphas command.”

“That only proves my point. Your alphas are leading you to destruction. Time to choose more wisely.”

Something swam in his eyes. Regret? Fear? Anger? “That's not our way.”

“In that case, I hope you don't have a family. War brings death. And not just to soldiers. The humans won't let Ignatius bring this City down.”

He stared at me for a few more seconds, then looked back at Guy. “Anything else you want to know?”

“Is there anything else we should know?”

“Like I said, I'm not high in the ranks. I don't know much more. The Blood are moving toward something. They're running things in the Night World now. The alphas have agreed to that.” He looked disgusted. “But I don't know what Lord Ignatius wants in your tunnels. Then again, you probably do.” He stopped then and hung his head.

Guy looked at Father Cho, who made a little gesture as though to say “enough.” The knights put the Beasts back into cells—the three of them separated now, in case they decided to turn on one another—and then we were left standing there.

There wasn't much more I could do. Father Cho and Guy knew what was in the tunnels below the hospital as well as I did. And I wanted more than anything to take a bath and sleep for a time. Maybe I would forget what I had done. Maybe I would be able to wash the slimy feeling off my skin.

Maybe.

ASH

Bryony turned away from the cell door, moving slowly.

“I'll go back to St. Giles now,” she said to Father Cho.

He nodded, patted her shoulder. “Rest, my lady.”

Rest? He'd just watched her torture two men and thought she'd be going home to sleep easily? My gut twisted.

Bryony nodded and headed for the stairs. I followed her up out of the dungeons, trailing a little behind her. I would do her the courtesy of not pressing her while we still had an audience.

She walked more slowly than usual, her shoulders almost painfully straight. Trying too hard. She wasn't all right. I could feel the ripples of discord in the usual deep calm of her power. When she stepped outside the Brother House she sighed, then stood a moment, sucking in lungfuls of air as though she could purge something from her body with each breath.

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked, moving to block her path. She looked too pale and the chain at her neck gleamed a bruised pale green that didn't ease my concern any.

She waved me away. “I'm fine. Let me go.”

“No.”

“Don't push me, Ash. I'm not in the mood.”

“And I'm not in the mood to be pushed away either. Either you're upset by what happened down in those cells or you're upset about the attack.”

“Those are my only two options, are they? I'm glad you know every detail of my life.”

Anger glimmered in the depths of her eyes. Which was good. Anger was better than her looking washed out and pale. Anger meant she was alive and fighting.

“I don't. That's true. But those are the main things that have happened since I climbed out of your bed,” I pointed out. I tried to figure out how long ago that was. I'd heard the cathedral bell toll nine while we were down in the cells. It must have been near four when the explosion had happened. Had it really only been five hours? It felt like days.

I was starting to feel desperately tired. Adrenaline wearing off compounded by little sleep. “Unless you're telling me that something else momentous happened in the last six hours.”

She rolled her eyes. “You consider yourself momentous, do you?”

“I consider you letting me into your bed momentous.” I risked a smile. “I'll let you decide the rest.”

Her mouth twitched, but then she shook her head. “Don't try and charm me.”

“So it is last night? You don't have to worry. If you tell me to go, then I'll go.”

A brief flash of vivid red ran the length of her chain, disappearing so quickly I was half afraid that I'd imagined it.

“Says the man who's standing in my path.”

“I'm concerned about you. That was difficult, down there.”

“I've done it before.”

“That doesn't mean you like it. I've killed plenty of men on the battlefield. Doesn't make it any easier.”

She straightened her shoulders. “Nor does discussing it.”

“What you did or what he said?” I asked. “Do you know why Ignatius is so curious about the tunnels?”

“He wants to be able to attack the Brother House and the hospital.”

It was a part truth. Bryony was good at dissembling, like all Fae, but I could also tell she wasn't telling me the whole truth.

“Perhaps I need to go take a look. If there are weaknesses down there, I need to know about them.”

She bit her lip.

“Problem?”

“Why can't you just leave things alone?”

“Because the Templars are paying me a nice pile of money to help them out. And I can't do what they're expecting for all that gold if there are cracks in their security that I don't know about.”

“The security in the tunnels is nothing to concern yourself with.”

“You know that for a fact?”

“I set the wards myself. And I'm not the only one who worked on the defenses.”

“Seems like a lot of trouble for some disused space.”

“The tunnels are a strategic target.”

“Yes, but you've only been fighting the Blood for a short time. You're not even officially fighting them yet. Are you telling me all those wards are new?”

“No. The Blood have always been a danger.”

“They're not likely to get in through the Brother House, and to get through St. Giles would take a major offensive. So either the humans who built the hospital were particularly paranoid or there's something else down there that you're not telling me about. Is there?”

It was a direct question. She had to answer or say nothing.

Or so I hoped.

She stayed silent. Which meant she didn't want to answer.

I folded my arms, prepared to wait her out. The silence stretched past a minute. Stubborn woman. “Perhaps I'll ask Guy.”

Her fingers stole up to clasp the chain around her neck. Worried. Or annoyed. “Just leave it alone. For now. Can't you do that much?”

“I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. You wouldn't want to keep it a secret if it wasn't important.”

“I can't tell you. Not just now.”

“Is that the truth? Or a shade of it?”

“I'm asking you to wait a little while. The sun is up. The Blood can't try anything just now.”

“Beast Kind don't need moonlight to attack.”

“No, but they're a hell of a lot more obvious during the day. And they wouldn't have the Blood to back them up if they did try anything.”

“Maybe we should just go over there now and take them out, then.” I was only half joking.

“There are children amongst them.”