Embrace Me at Dawn

Page 19

Lucan stepped forward and withdrew a terrible, serrated knife dangling from a strap around his hips that she hadn’t previously noticed. “Why don’t we grab his sewer-shit blood now and leave the carcass?”

Bram stood between him and Mathias with a raised brow. “The blood has to be from a living descendent of Nimue. Back off.”

Anka stared. Lucan had never been one for aggression or violence. He’d also never been anything less than solicitous and tender with her. But this other side of him… She watched him with open confusion. Sabelle had told her that mate mourning had changed him. Had the sudden severing of a century old bond been somewhat like losing a limb? Or more like losing a heart?

Shock lifted his head to glare at her in a stern warning. Yes, she supposed there would be punishment in her future, but if this day kept getting harder to bear, she’d need it.

Mathias merely smiled at Lucan. “So you need the blood of a living relative of Nimue and of Merlin. Sounds simple enough.”

“Not quite. Unfortunately, we also need a banshee. Know one?”

Those pale blue orbs fell on her, aglow with malicious glee, and Anka’s heart froze. “Most think they’ve been exterminated, but there must be one nearby. I’m sure of it.”

It was all Anka could do to remain still, not fidget, not leave. Not give herself away. She swallowed and stared at a bare spot on the wall across the room, willing her churning stomach to settle, her pounding heart to slow.

Bram looked to Felicia for confirmation, who nodded. Frustration crawled across the Doomsday Brethren leader’s face. “Do you know one or not?”

Anka resisted the urge to wring her hands. Mathias couldn’t lie with Felicia in the room. Would he give her away? Would Lucan look at her in horror?

Shock stood and shot her a furious stare before getting in Bram’s face. “We’ve already covered this. Banshees are in hiding, aren’t they? We could all know one and have no fucking idea.”

Bram’s expression said that he didn’t believe either one of them, and with good cause. Again, she wondered if she should confess. She tapped her toe nervously and reviewed all the reasons she’d already considered, then came to the same conclusion. She could be risking everything when she couldn’t make a difference. Unless she became a mother, her bloodline was useless to this cause.

“If you run across a banshee on the next street corner, send her this way, yes?” Bram smiled tightly, then turned back to Mathias. “No ideas where Morganna’s fatal potion might be hidden?”

Mathias shook his head. “Unlike Merlin, Nimue didn’t like to hear herself pontificate. She left almost nothing behind in the way of writings. I’ll check what I have, but I expect there’s nothing.”

Another dead end. How long would she have to endure Mathias’s presence at Brethren gatherings under this pretext of killing Morganna when no one had all the right tools? Bloody farce. And for what? So he could taunt them all? Get closer? Earn the trust of someone foolish and maybe break them apart from the inside? Was anyone in this room that gullible?

“You look at your records. I’ll keep searching through what I’ve got. You let me know if you find anything of use. I’ve shown you mine, as the saying goes, so you can show me yours. If I discover that you’ve left me with my pants down and my cock twisting in the wind, there will be hell to pay.”

Mathias laughed, so damn smug. He was using the Doomsday Brethren to help him do his dirty work while getting an up close and personal view of everyone involved. They all knew it. That they had to let the terrible scum employ them to help with a joint cause that benefited them all only made Anka angrier.

“Of course. I’ll keep tabs on Morganna so the slippery witch doesn’t get too far from us while looking for the potion’s hiding place. In the meantime, keep seeking out that banshee. She can’t be too far.” Mathias stood, his grin a bit too chipper and amused to be anything but grating. “This has been fascinating. Stay in touch.”

Bram gave him a sharp nod, then dismissed him without a word. No love lost there. Everyone else watched him leave with rage in their eyes. Shock followed, and Anka mentally screamed at him: If you care for me at all, how can you pal around with the wizard who nearly killed me? Shock turned his head sharply in her direction. Behind those shades she knew so well, she sensed him narrow his eyes. But he said nothing as he followed Mathias out the door. Once outside the manor, they teleported away. The place felt instantly lighter once they were gone, and everyone breathed an audible sigh of relief.

Except Anka.

She stormed out of the office and ran into the training room. She didn’t bother to grab boxing gloves, and it didn’t matter that she didn’t know precisely how to use the punching bag, she simply hauled back and made to punch it with all her might.

A strong hand clamped around her bicep, holding her back. Heat slithered through her body, mingling with the anger pumping through her blood and jacking up her heartbeat. Anka wanted to scream.

She turned to glare at Lucan over her shoulder. “Don’t try to stop me.”

“You could hurt yourself if you do that without gloves.”

“I don’t bloody care! I can’t hurt myself any more than he hurt me. Sitting in that room with him today, being forced to look at his smarmy face and remember everything…” She choked back a sob, then caught herself. No weakness now. When she was here, she was a warrior and she had to act like one.

She tried to punch the bag again, but Lucan threw himself in front of it.

“Hit me instead,” he demanded.

Anka reared back, staring like he’d lost his mind. “What? No!”

“You’re angry, and you have every right to be.”

Pressing trembling lips together, she tried to contain her roiling emotions. She could not fall apart, could not cry, could not scream. Drawing in a shuddering breath, she fought to bring herself under control again.

“Hit. Me.”

The snap in his voice whipped her with demand. She would never want to hurt him, but he stood there and offered his body so that she would have the means to release her anger.

“Anka, now.”