“There is always your failure to kill Nerian as I ordered,” Jabari reminded me.
“He’s dead now. Just a few centuries late.”
“You also failed to protect Tabor’s replacement,” he continued, his body completely still. The quiet before the storm. Apparently, Sadira had succeeded in reaching him with the news that evening.
“The naturi knew where we were. They knew.” Rowe always seemed capable of finding me easily. My voice dropped down close to a whisper. “I wonder how.”
“What are you implying?” Jabari’s fingers curled into fists, and the glow in his eyes flared, as if he was using all of his energy not to crush me. He knew exactly what I was saying.
“Not implying. Just curious,” I hedged, trying to give myself some room to maneuver. “The naturi seem one step ahead no matter where I turn. They can’t sense us, but Nerian knew where to find me. They knew to kill Thorne before I even knew who the hell he was. Rowe has come hunting for me twice now. Someone is betraying me.” I moved a step closer.
“So you turn first on your own kind, when the enemy stands at your back,” Jabari bellowed, pointing at Danaus. The nightwalker took a step to his right, moving away from the wall and closer to me.
“Not first. I’ve talked to them. I don’t think Themis has been in contact with the naturi, and they’re not the ones keeping me in the dark.” I’d reached the point where I preferred to see both Danaus and Jabari dead than give either of them another chance to carve out my heart.
“You’ve been told everything you need to know. You do as you have been instructed.”
“Bullshit!” I screamed, taking another step closer. “I stopped taking orders a long time ago, and I won’t put up with your secrets when it’s my life on the line. I was the one they were trying to kill in Aswan, not you.”
“How do you know he didn’t send for them? His people attacked you while you slept.”
“Because the naturi don’t follow orders either,” I hissed. “Not from humans or nightwalker. Or am I wrong?”
Jabari’s eyes widened before he lunged at me. I barely had enough time to jump out of the way. Pain flashed up my arm as his fingernails ripped through the sleeve and slashed my skin. I landed in a crouch and launched myself into him, colliding with his chest. He fell back with a heavy thud. Siding across the floor, he crashed into a pale blue sofa with me on top of him. A small end table went over and a ceramic lamp was smashed, sending small shards skidding across the hardwood. I sat up, hissing at him, my fangs bared. Jabari backhanded me, snapping my head around. To him, I was nothing more than an annoying fly. I tumbled backward but quickly rolled to my feet, to find him standing as well.
“You’ve been hiding for a couple of years now,” I said before he could attack again. “Why? Why hide when the naturi can’t sense you? Afraid of someone else finding you?”
“I want to be left alone.”
“Did you know about the naturi?”
Instead of answering, Jabari threw himself at me again. The haze of anger clouding my thoughts also slowed my reflexes, allowing him to catch me before I could move out of his grasp. His momentum carried us into the wall, and a grunt escaped me as my spine dug into it. Lifting my legs as soon as I hit, I placed my feet against Jabari’s chest and kicked out with all my strength, pushing him off me. Then I pushed off the wall and lunged. Jabari was just getting back to his feet when I hit him, reaching for his throat. Once again he brushed me aside.
“Did you know?” I asked again, jumping to my feet. I shoved against the sofa, sending it skidding across the room, its wooden feet screeching against the floor. I didn’t want anything in my way when I went after him again. The Ancient stood unmoving, watching me. “Did you?” My scream rattled the glass in the window.
“Mira, stop,” Sadira said. I could barely feel her tension and fear over Jabari’s angry powers. She’d stopped cloaking her presence when he appeared. Now I could feel all of her chaotic emotions, even hear some of her thoughts.
“Then tell me I’m wrong,” I demanded, never taking my eyes off Jabari. His blank expression never changed. “Tell me.”
“You are wrong,” he said, carefully enunciating each word, as if talking to an addled child.
“I don’t believe you.” The words came out choked and broken.
“That is not my concern.”
“It will be,” I whispered, straightening my stance. I was no longer poised for the attack, but I wasn’t relaxed either. The fight was over for now. “I don’t know who you’re protecting, but I hope they’re worth it.”
“It should be your life you worry over. You are the one who has failed to reform the triad. You are the one who has brought your sire to this haven for hunters,” Jabari said, his lips pulling back in a sneer.
For a brief moment I wondered if he was referring to Sadira or himself, but I let the thought drop. If it was true, Jabari obviously didn’t want me to know, which gave me a slight edge for now. “You gave me an impossible task,” I snapped. “I couldn’t protect Sadira and fetch Thorne at the same time. Not with the naturi running around. She had to be put somewhere safe and this was my only option. She has come to no harm. If anything, they’ve treated her like a queen since she stepped foot on their grounds.” Reaching up, I shoved a lock of hair that had fallen in front of my eyes behind my ear.
“You should have taken her with you. She could have saved Thorne.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it,” I said with a shake of my head. “I couldn’t have properly protected them both. But none of this matters. The triad has been reformed.”
“What? How?” Sadira demanded, springing from her chair. I could feel the hope blossoming in her chest. I clung to that light emotion against Jabari’s drowning anger.
“Me. I will be the third,” I said, my eyes darting from Sadira back to Jabari. I didn’t want to be, and if we could find someone else, I would happily hand over the position, but that didn’t seem to be an option.
Jabari laughed, the dark sound crawling across my flesh like a hundred tiny spider legs. “Where would you get such an idea?”
I glanced over at Danaus, who was standing near the door. He was returning his sword to the sheath strapped across his back. I hadn’t even seen him draw it. He paused in the middle of the act for half a breath, his eyes narrowing on me. “I spoke with a warlock,” I continued, returning my attention to Jabari.
“And what does he know about the triad?”
“Apparently a lot. At the very least, he knows more about what is going on than I do. He said that the triad has already been reformed.”
“He said you would take Tabor’s place?”
“Not exactly, but it’s not like there’s a lot of other vampires hanging around. He could have meant Tristan, but I didn’t think so since he’s still cutting his fangs.”
Jabari’s gaze never wavered from me as his smile widened and I saw his beautiful white fangs. It reminded me of Nerian’s smile, with all the grim, painful promises it held. “You fool,” he said, the words encased in a chuckle. “You believe the word of a human over your own kind.”
“I’m just trying to survive, and you’ve done nothing to help that cause recently.”
“Mira, my child, you can’t be the third,” Sadira whispered, as if trying to soften the blow. “It’s impossible.”
“Why? Because we’re of the same bloodline?”
“You’ve turned on your own kind,” Jabari snarled.
“Not yet, but I see little reason to defend them at the moment. Why can’t I be the third?”
“You’re not strong enough.”