“She’s safe. For the moment. But her stepfather’s hunting her.”
Creed swiped a hand down his face. “I know. Justice is already here. I’m to begin searching for her in the morning.”
Blade considered killing him to prevent it. The thought of Raven, and how much Creed meant to her, stopped him.
“Relax, assassin,” Creed said. His voice held amusement. “I have no intention of telling Justice where she is. Far from it.”
A desire to trust him tugged at Blade, and immediately made him suspicious. That, and those familiar eyes, coalesced into significance. The assassin was half demon.
“You’re Raven’s brother,” Blade said.
Shock flickered across Creed’s face, followed by caution. “Half brother. How did you know that?”
Because Creed looked very much like their shared demon father—even more so than to Raven did—but Blade did not tell him that. He did not want to reveal Raven’s ability to travel in the demon boundary and contact her father. It had to be her choice to tell Creed of it. Besides, Blade suspected he might not take it well. “It was a guess on my part.”
Creed’s expression tightened. “I’m usually very good at deflecting people’s interest in me.”
“And at instilling trust. Which was your mistake with me,” Blade said. “I couldn’t imagine why I should trust you, even though Raven does. Completely.” He hoped it was well founded. “Your ability to do both, and that you come from the same area, tells me you share a father with her. But she doesn’t know who you are, does she?”
“No one does. Not anymore.” Creed had recovered from his surprise. “Her mother knew. She saw our father in me. Her opinion of him was far more favorable than my own mother’s was, and she was always kind to me because of it.”
It was obvious to Blade that Creed’s affection for both Raven and her mother was genuine. “Your demon talents are a variation of Raven’s,” he said. “She reads people’s intentions. You control them.”
Creed grinned. “People do tend to trust me. As long as I don’t do anything to raise their suspicions, that is. It seems I went too far with you.”
He gave off such an impression of good nature and great sincerity that it was difficult to reconcile him with the formidable assassin who had pinned Blade to the wall. Blade gave him full credit. He was, indeed, charismatic.
“Does Justice trust you?” Blade asked.
The easy grin faded. “Only to a point. It would be more accurate to say that he underestimates me. He knows my relationship with Raven is close. He chooses to think it’s because she can lure men, and therefore me, and I don’t want him to examine it any deeper. That’s why I can’t refuse to search for her.” Anger frosted his eyes again. “Justice attributes his own motives to others—because he wants her, he assumes all men do.”
“What were you planning to do with her once you found her?” Blade asked.
“I suppose I would have abandoned my own plans in order to care for her. Now I don’t have to worry. She has you.”
Creed was wrong. She was not safe with Blade. Not the way she should be. Creed knew what she was and would not let any harm come to her. Of that, Blade was convinced. “She wants you, not me.”
“Do you know anything of the spawn who have invaded the mountains? What they’ve done here? That there are more than Raven and me in the world, and not all of them are harmless?” Creed rubbed his eyes with a thumb and a forefinger. “The Godseekers will want to establish laws for all spawn. They’ll want to hunt them. Someone needs to protect the ones who are innocent. Who’s in a better position to do so than me—a man who’s trusted by almost everyone?”
It spoke well of him that he saw the need for justice to be applied equally and for all. For Blade, however, Raven’s safety remained paramount, and her future was not settled. He cared little for the well-being of others while she was in danger. “So you won’t help her?”
“Not while you can,” Creed said. “Get her out of the mountains. She can’t stay here with Justice searching for her. She’ll endanger others. I’ll hunt for her, just as I’ve been ordered. But I’ll start in Goldrush, and I’ll follow several false leads. The spawn terrorizing villages are my priority now that I know Raven will be safe.”
Footsteps sounded outside the closed dining hall door. Both men went silent. The steps slowed, then faded away.
“You’d better go. I’ll see you past the gates,” Creed said.
He escorted Blade out through the lesser-used side posterns. Few people were about at this time of night, and it helped that the ones they did meet expressed no interest in their movements. If questioned later, Blade doubted they would even remember having seen him. Creed did, indeed, have a worthwhile talent.
Blade could only wish Raven’s was the same as his. She attracted, rather than deflected, far too much attention.
The night was bitterly cold, but the full moon shone very bright across the sparkling snow. Stars glittered in a deep, cobalt sky that stretched for miles. Blade swung his arms in an attempt to generate heat, anxious to be moving.
“What message should I give her from you?” he asked.
“None,” Creed said. His expression closed. “Just wish her well for me.”
Blade’s movements stilled, the cold forgotten. “Don’t let her believe you’ve abandoned her.”
“If I give her any encouragement at all, she’ll never leave these mountains.” Creed turned away, then paused and looked back at Blade. The moon cast a long shadow behind him. “If anything happens to her, I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”
For a few long, thoughtful moments, Blade watched Raven’s brother walk the narrow path back to the temple. Creed meant every word he had said, but Blade did not fear him or his threats. He only worried how this rejection would affect Raven, and in what direction it would drive her.
He chose to consider her physical safety first. If Creed were to begin his search in Goldrush, as he claimed he would, Justice might follow. Taking Raven down the mountain, then, would become a race against time.
The amulet Raven had looped around Blade’s neck spread warmth throughout his chest even as the cold bit into his heavy coat. The wind had died, leaving the night silent and bright. Leaving the mountains did not necessarily mean going back toward the desert, although he could make it seem that way.
But the goddess boundary lay in the opposite direction, on the far side of the mountain range. Blade had come here to search for it. Perhaps they both could cross through it. Raven had killed demons. That might buy her passage. It was not as if she had many options left, and it was a move that no one would consider.
Blade did not know what more he might do if it turned out that the goddess boundary could not be crossed. It was also possible that nothing of the Old World existed on the other side of it anymore. But they would never know if they did not try.
And he liked the thought of seeing the sea for the first time with Raven at his side.
…
From the shadowed enclave of the entrance to the temple’s guest quarters, Justice watched and waited for Creed’s return. He stamped his feet for warmth and blew on his numbed fingers, careful not to make too much noise. If he had not been so certain of the connection between Raven and Creed he might not have bothered to wait so long, but it had proved worth his while.
Seeing Blade inside the walls had come as a surprise. Justice had suspected he was helping Raven, but that he would dare enter the temple was unexpected.
The man had steady nerves—and a complete lack of fear.
That, or he was completely bewitched.
Whichever it was, Raven must be hiding somewhere nearby. Justice wondered if Creed would lead him to her, but thought it was more likely that he would lead him in the opposite direction. He knew Creed better than the arrogant young assassin suspected.