Fire Kin (2 page)

I glanced northward. I couldn't begrudge the Templars their desire for reinforcements, but the reason for the soldiers' presence and the chaos that was about to ensue made my stomach churn with resentment and fear.

I muttered a curse on Ignatius Grey's head as I reached the gate to the Brother House and greeted the knights on guard.

“Lady Bryony,” one of them said courteously as he admitted me.

He didn't offer me a blessing as he might have a human. The Templar worship a different god from those powers significant to my kind. Once upon a time, as I understood the history, the order had been a lot more hardheaded when it came to religious tolerance. But that was before the Blood had made their first attempt to take over the City.

Before the treaty and the alliance between the Fae and the humans in particular. Four centuries of that had made the Templars no less steadfast in their belief that their God was the true one, but they were no longer interested in removing the heads of those who refused to believe as they did.

The smell of men, leather, and steel hit me as I walked through the main gates. My years in the City had strengthened my tolerance to the presence of iron, but it was still uncomfortable to move amongst so many men wearing mail and carrying weapons containing the wretched metal.

I would need more than just a bath to restore myself after this. Would need to spend the time to refresh my connection to the earth and rebalance my powers.

Ah well. I was used to that.

The knights all saluted as I passed, a fact that made me want to smile. In the Fae Court the only one who was ever saluted was the queen. Or the king. Not that we had one or the other right now.

No, our queen had been murdered by parties unknown—or unproven rather, given the near certainty that Ignatius had been behind the assassination—at the treaty negotiations, bringing us to our current point of mayhem.

The Fae Court was still in turmoil, not that I had returned to the Veiled World to find out for myself firsthand what was happening. Our queen had ruled us for a thousand years, and the transfer of power wasn't simple. The strongest Fae would rule eventually, but until the backlash of magic gone wild in the Veiled World was tamed, no one knew who that person might be. There were those who already stood strong amongst the court, but the power had its own whims and fancies and it had, in our histories, chosen its bearers with no regard to their standing in the court or the rank of their Family.

My plan was to stay out of it as far as possible. I had enough trouble to deal with here in the City.

Brother Liam—I smiled to see he had returned safely—found me just outside Father Cho's office.

“Liam,” I said. “It's good to see you.”

He smiled back at me, eyes startlingly green in his dark face. “And you, Lady Bryony.”

I studied him a moment. He looked tired but, underneath the fatigue, somehow changed by his travels. He'd been bowed down with grief at the death of a girl he couldn't protect when he was sent on his mission. Apparently that hurt had receded a little. Also, he met my gaze without a blush. Which was another welcome improvement. He was growing up, this young knight.

“How is your arm after your journey?” I let my gaze fall to the shortened left sleeve of his tunic, which bared the stump of his arm. Simon and I had been unable to save his forearm—torn to shreds by the teeth of a Beast, and it was a failing that pained me.

“It's fine, my lady,” he said firmly, shifting his stance so his right side was nearer to me.

I accepted his explanation, for now. He had never admitted to pain, not even in the earliest days after his amputation. I made a note to send one of the healers to check him later.

“They sent me to escort you,” Liam continued.

“Are we to meet in Father Cho's office?” I asked, respecting his change of subject.

“In the conference room. I'll take you there.”

He led the way, though I knew the route all too well. There had been too many conferences with the Templars and the human council these last few months. I probably could have found my way to the conference room in my sleep.

A babble of noise as we approached the room told me that I wasn't the only one who'd been summoned.

But as I stepped through the door and saw the man who stood beside Guy DuCaine, tall and sleekly muscled with night-dark hair and dark gray eyes set in a face I had tried my best to forget, I only wanted to turn around and run.

BRYONY

But
running wasn't an option. Particularly not with a very solid Templar knight standing behind me and blocking any possible retreat.

I turned to Liam. “What is he doing here?”

He looked puzzled. “Who? Captain Pellar?”

Captain Pellar. Not the name I knew him by. But then again, the man I had known had left a long time ago. “Yes.”

“Father Cho sent for him. The reinforcements are his army. They're good. At least, they'd better be, the amount of gold we're paying.” He muttered the last part almost under his breath.

Shal e'tan mei
. Mercenaries. I had tried very hard not to think about what Asharic sa'Uriel'pellar might be doing to occupy himself during the long years of his exile, and I had mostly succeeded. But in the moments when I failed, I hadn't imagined that he would have taken up fighting for gold.

What had Father Cho been thinking? Weren't there other Templar Brother Houses he could have appealed to? Or, for that matter, mercenaries not led by Asharic? I turned back to watch the group of men. They hadn't looked in my direction yet, intent on whatever they were discussing. Which gave me a few more seconds before I had to face him. And, despite my better instincts, I couldn't look away. I just stood and watched. Studied the man I didn't want to study, unable to stop myself cataloguing the changes in his appearance.

His skin had always been olive, but now it was a deeper, richer color, speaking of time in harsher, hotter climes. His dark hair was shorter than the last time I'd seen it, though it wasn't cropped human short. It fell around his face unevenly, hiding half of it from view. Just as well.

Ash
.

Guy nodded at something Ash said, looking satisfied. I suddenly knew whose bright idea this had been. Not Father Cho's. Guy's. Veil protect me from DuCaines. They came up with harebrained and ridiculous schemes at the drop of a hat. Though, to give them their due, they usually managed to pull them off with aplomb. After all, Guy's brother, Simon, had managed to kill Lord Lucius, and Guy himself had braved the Veiled Courts and won a duel against a rogue Fae lord to help the woman he'd fallen for. And then there was their sister, Saskia, a metalmage who'd bonded with a
hai-salai
seer who was one of the wild-card powers of the City.

DuCaines.

And now they'd done the worst thing of all. Brought back Asharic sa'Uriel'pellar.

“My lady, is something wrong?” Liam asked.

“That's—” I cut myself off abruptly. Liam was young . . . he probably hadn't been born when Ash had entered his exile and left the City. Come to think of it, thirty years ago Guy himself would've been barely five and Simon just a baby. Maybe none of them—other than Father Cho perhaps—knew his—
our
—history.

If I had my way they never would.

Ash
. Veil take the man.

Take him far, far away.

It was a futile hope. If he was here, if he'd accepted a commission from the Templars, then he wouldn't turn away. He was unstoppable once he'd decided on a course. Stupid, pigheaded, stubborn—

The chain at my neck sparked with an irritated burst of power and then, from across the room, I felt an answering pulse of magic—bright and fierce as the flames he summoned with such ease. Ash pivoted like a weather vane spun by an ill wind, and his eyes found mine.

I stayed where I was with an effort of will. Met that startled storm-cloud gaze with what I hoped was perfect calm, calling on my power to wrap myself away from any insight his power might grant him into my state of mind.

Let him look. I would show him nothing.

His expression cycled through startled to shocked to a smile of pure delight that made my desire to run stronger than ever.

A dangerous weapon, that smile. More dangerous than his magic and wit combined. Women crumpled at that smile. Men too, come to think of it.

I thought I'd forgotten it—banished it from memory over the long years he'd been gone—but now I realized I still knew it like my own face. There was a faint scar now, above his upper lip—which was careless of him—but it didn't dim the smile's impact.

“Bryony,” he breathed, my name clear on his lips, though I couldn't hear his voice. Beside him, Guy swung around, eyebrows lifting.

“You two know each other, my lady?” Liam asked at my side.

“We did once,” I said. “A long time ago.”

“Before he was exiled?”

So he knew that much. “Yes.” Thirty years ago. A lifetime for Liam. But just a fraction of mine.

Ash said something to Guy. Guy shook his head.

“Did you know him well?” Liam asked.

“He's High Family. We knew each other,” I said, which was the most noncommittal answer I could come up with.

“Do you know why he was exiled?” Liam sounded uncharacteristically curious. Usually he was painfully polite and restrained. Maybe some of Ash had rubbed off on him in the weeks they'd spent traveling together. Though obviously Ash had not seen fit to share his history with him.

“That is not my tale to tell,” I replied. I made myself look away from Asharic and focused on Liam, who made an apologetic face.

“Of course, my lady. I shouldn't pry.”

“Don't apologize,” I said. “Just don't ask me about Asharic Pellar. If you want to know about him, ask the man himself. Though I would advise you not to take everything he says as gospel.” We Fae might not lie directly, but we can spin a tale if we choose to do so, and Ash was a master weaver.

Across the room, I heard Asharic's laugh and wondered if he'd heard me. The man always did have ears like an owl.

I ignored him and made myself walk into the room as though there was nothing remotely of interest about his presence.

“I see,” Liam said. He opened his mouth to say more, but at that moment, Father Cho lifted his hand and the assembled Templars fell into obedient silence. It took a few seconds for the others gathered in the room to follow suit.

“Please be seated,” Father Cho said. We took our seats around the huge wooden table. I took care to sit on the same side as Ash and as far away from him as possible. Liam took the chair opposite me.

“Some of you may know that we have, these past weeks, been holding our ground, waiting for additional forces,” Father Cho said. “Tonight, I am happy to announce that that wait is over. I would like to introduce you to Captain Asharic Pellar, who some of you may know by reputation. Captain Pellar and his forces will be assisting us.”

A ripple of low-voiced comments ran through the room, anticipation buzzing under the words. The Templars had been, as Father Cho had said, holding their ground. But against the Blood and the Beast Kind, there were not enough of them to win a victory if it came to outright conflict. Now that the problem of strength had been solved, it was time to decide what exactly happened next.

But as Ash stood to speak and I made sure to keep my eyes on Father Cho—I wasn't ready to study Ash too closely just yet—there was a commotion outside the door.

A female voice, demanding entry. Mail clinked as the two Templars guarding the room protested. I knew who the woman was. . . . The feel of her—or rather the strange space in the earth song her presence made—was as unique as the feel of Asharic's magic. I wondered how he would take her presence. He'd been traditional once . . . nearly a proper young Fae lord.

There was another rumble of voices and then the cool female voice came again. “I can always just walk through, you know.”

I hid a smile. Lily wasn't my favorite person in the world—I was still Fae enough to be uncomfortable around a wraith—but I respected her determination.

Hopefully the Templars were sensible enough not to try to bar her from the room or she might just carry out her threat, turn incorporeal as only a wraith can and walk through solid wood and metal. I hoped she would, if only to see Ash's face when she did so. But no, the dead spot she left in my senses stayed right where it was. That dead spot was, of course, the reason that my kind didn't like hers, even if wraiths were technically
hai-salai
, half-breeds. Born of Fae women. Our lore said they were soulless, based on the fact that we couldn't sense their connection to the earth as we could every other living thing. Even the Blood showed themselves to our senses, though they felt faded and tenuous and could almost disappear completely if they were using their powers of deception and camouflage.

But the guards outside apparently didn't want to risk the wrath of a wraith. The door creaked open and Lily stepped through, a scowl drawing her red eyebrows down over pale gray eyes. She scanned the room, hands resting on the daggers she wore at each hip. When she spotted Simon sitting near Guy, her face relaxed a little. Only a little. She still directed a glare at Guy as she walked around the table.

“I take it my invitation was lost?” she said as she joined Simon. He smiled at her—his eyes a brighter blue than Guy's icy ones—looking suddenly relaxed. Summer and Winter, some of the Fae called the DuCaine brothers. Simon's hair was a more golden blond than his brother's and his eyes were warmer, yes, but he was just as fierce as Guy when he needed to be. Like now, when he was being glared at by a wraith, which was enough to make most men—human or not—quail.

I couldn't blame Lily for feeling irritated. She had earned the right to sit in our councils. Earned it with blood and heartache.

“I take it mine was too,” another female voice came from the open door, and all of us not facing it turned again.

Adeline Louis, leader of those of the Blood who had broken from Ignatius and sought Haven amongst the humans, stood framed in the doorway, her pale skin gleaming against the black satin dress that clung to her body like a glove. She had taken to dressing somewhat provocatively since she came to the Brother House—Veil knew where she was getting the dresses—as though she wanted to make the knights—and everyone else—uncomfortable. Maybe she did. The Blood play at intrigue almost as relentlessly as the Veiled Court do.

“Lady Adeline.” Father Cho rose courteously. “I did not think you would be abroad so early.”

That was somewhat disingenuous of him. The older Blood do not have to sleep the sunlight hours away, and Adeline, while not as old as Lucius had been, had definitely seen a century or two.

“Well, I am here now,” she said. Nice of her. She could've made a scene if she'd chosen but instead was behaving. Given the tenuous nature of her position and the alliance she had barely forged with the Templars, it was a sensible approach. Though, from the little I'd gleaned of her in the time I'd known her, I doubted she would remain sensible and accommodating if she was truly annoyed or truly determined to get something she wanted.

As she moved into the room, Adeline's gaze fell on Ash and she smiled, one eyebrow arching. “I seem to have missed out on the introductions.”

“Captain Asharic Pellar, ma'am,” Ash said with a slight bow. I had to give him credit; he hadn't yet let any startlement he might be feeling at the presence of both a wraith and a Blood lord at the Brother House show.

Adeline's expression turned both amused and speculative. She slanted a glance at me and I stared back without letting my expression alter.
Veil's bloody eyes
. Adeline was definitely old enough to know Ash's history.

“Asharic sa'Uriel'pellar?” she asked.

Ash nodded, his expression turning faintly wary.

“Well, well, well. How . . . interesting. Welcome home . . . Captain.” Her eyes slid back toward me for a moment, but then, to my relief, she turned her attention back to Father Cho. “Where shall I sit, Abbott General?”

Father Cho jerked his chin at one of the younger Templars seated a few chairs down from me, and the knight rose rapidly, vacating his seat then holding the chair politely for Adeline.

“Will anyone else of your party be joining us?” Father Cho inquired.

Adeline shook her head. “Digby is outside, but I will fill him in later. Do continue.”

Father Cho nodded and turned back to Ash. “As I was saying, Captain Pellar has brought his men to strengthen our forces.”

Adeline leaned forward in her seat and stared at Ash. “And are you intending to use your men, Captain Pellar, or perhaps just burn out the warrens on your own?”

Damn. She did know Ash's history. Including, it seemed, his vaunted ability with fire. He could tame fire or call it. But I didn't think even he could control a fire the size it would take to burn the warrens—the underground realm of the Blood that stretched for miles and miles beneath the City streets—and the mansions that stood above them. And without control, such a fire could consume the whole City, and it wouldn't discriminate between Blood and Beast and human while it did.

Besides which, unless he had changed greatly from the man I knew, I didn't think Ash would agree to do such a thing, kill so many indiscriminately. I hoped the wince that had flitted across his face at Adeline's questions meant I was right. If I wasn't, I couldn't imagine that the Templars would sanction such an approach. They killed when they had to, but they didn't slaughter without reason.