“So I’ve been allowed to live this long so the Coven could pull my leash at any moment,” I said. Something flashed in Jabari’s eyes for half a second, a random thought I wasn’t supposed to know. “What?” I snapped. “Something about the Coven?” I watched him as his expression hardened, and I smiled back at him. “Not everyone can do it,” I slowly said. “Not everyone on the Coven can control me.” My smile widened and his expression went purposefully blank. I was right. “That must be an ugly sticking point for someone.” My mind quickly rifled through the other members of the Coven; Macaire and Elizabeth. Tabor, my other leash holder, was gone. Could I have been the reason for his final demise?
“You’re very lucky to have survived so long,” Jabari said. “Wisely, you chose to fulfill the requests of the Coven, giving you a purpose and the illusion that you would obey our wishes.”
“All the Coven asked of me was to keep the peace and protect our secret. Not an entirely unreasonable request,” I replied, with a slight shrug that made me instantly wish I hadn’t moved my hurt shoulder.
“And now we have this problem,” Jabari growled, his eyes sliding over to Danaus, who was closely watching the exchange. The hunter pushed to his feet, wincing at the movement, but at least he was standing. I still wasn’t sure I could.
“We naturally assumed that you could only be controlled by your own kind,” Jabari continued. “That’s not good, my desert flower; particularly since there are questions about your loyalty.”
“There are few who have done anything to earn my loyalty,” I replied, causing him to frown. I liked it better than his smile at the moment. “But it doesn’t matter. You will only let me live until you find a way to create another like me.”
“If you live that long,” Jabari said, moving his finger from beneath my chin. If I still breathed, I think I would have sighed with relief. The Ancient stood before me, staring down as if weighing something. “The naturi know you are the key to stopping them. Enough of them survived Machu Picchu to know that you were the one who sealed the door. You were right. They were trying to kill you in Aswan, not me. I believe they were also trying to kill you in London, but they killed Tabor’s child instead. You have always been their target.”
“If I’m so damned important, why send me to protect Sadira? Why not send someone else?”
“We needed bait.”
“Bait?”
“To draw out Rowe. We knew he would come after you again. The chance to kill you is too much of a temptation.”
I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the knot of tears that had grown in the back of my throat. It seemed I was becoming everyone’s favorite target. “And killing Rowe would end this? It would stop the naturi?” My voice trembled as I fought for control of my emotions.
“Rowe is the last known leader of the naturi,” Danaus volunteered.
My head snapped up to look at him, meeting his glittering blue eyes as he watched me. “You used me too,” I whispered.
To his credit, he didn’t look away, but continued to hold my horrified gaze. “Yes. When he tried to take you in Aswan, I realized that you must have some other importance that you either were not telling me or didn’t remember. I thought he would make another grab for you.”
“Well, you both missed your chance to end this. Rowe had me in London, threatening to kidnap me,” I said bitterly. “It would have meant destroying me, but I can only guess that you both have other plans for me still.”
“Mira…” Sadira began in a placating voice.
“I’ve heard enough!” I shouted.
“So have I!” mocked a horrible voice from behind me. I didn’t need to look around to see who had spoken. I knew by the sound, the tone, the look of complete shock on the faces of the others who had spoken. With a burst of sheer terror, I tried to lurch forward, but he grabbed me by the hair, wrapping it around his fist. Jerking me backward, he pulled me into the darkness and out of the Compound in less than a heartbeat. Rowe had finally caught me.
Twenty-Nine
The darkness gave way suddenly to a moonlit plain hugged by a desolate ribbon of road. I slowly pushed up into a sitting position so I could look around. Rowe took a few stumbling steps away from me before finally collapsing to his knees in the grass. Bent over, his fingers clutching the grass, he struggled for air. His whole body was trembling, his shirt sticking to his narrow frame as if he were sweating profusely. All this flitting from place to place was taking its toll on him.
Digging my nails into the dirt, I started to pull my legs beneath me so I could rise. My whole body screamed in pain and the world swayed slightly. I was too low on blood to pick a fight and expect to win, but at least Rowe was in ragged shape as well.
“Watch her,” Rowe bit out without looking over at me.
Until he spoke, my gaze had not drifted beyond him. Now, I lifted my eyes to see six naturi of various size and clans approaching us warily. And beyond them rose the pale monoliths of Stonehenge. They were attempting the sacrifice tonight, and for some bizarre reason, Rowe had decided he needed me on hand to witness their triumph.
“Shit,” I hissed, lowering my head. I was in no shape to take on seven naturi alone.
A wheezing laugh escaped Rowe. He was kneeling on the ground with his forearms in the grass in front of him. His head was turned toward me, his black hair partially obscuring his face, but I could still see the smirk twisting his lips.
“Oh, like you’re in any better shape than me,” I snarled.
“At least I have someone to protect me,” he said, pushing into a sitting position with pain-filled slowness.
I looked back at the naturi standing before us. A female with pale blond hair that fell to her waist stepped forward. She extended one hand and flames danced over her fingers. Naturally, one of my keepers was a member of the light clan.
“It doesn’t have to be like this, Mira,” Rowe said.
“Go to hell, Rowe,” I snapped, my gaze never wavering from the six naturi standing before me.
A harsh clutter of words jumped from Rowe that I couldn’t understand. Several of the naturi briefly expressed surprise and confusion, but after a moment they backed away, returning to the inner circle of stones.
Silence crept back over the plain. The air was still, waiting. It was only after the naturi retreated back into the shadows of the stones that I noticed the soft sounds of a woman crying. The naturi had their sacrifice waiting in the darkness, surrounded by great bluestones. Where the hell was Jabari? He could move from place to place in an instant. He should have been able to locate me wherever I was. Why hadn’t he appeared yet? If he were there, I knew we could stop this now. I’d even have settled for Sadira or Danaus, but I knew it would take several more minutes for either of them to reach me.
I dragged my fingers through the earth, digging narrows furrows in the soft dirt. The grass was moist, as if it had rained recently. Beneath me, I could feel the strange hum of power beginning to build. Had they begun the sacrifice already? I couldn’t see most of the naturi, as they remained hidden behind the giant stones, but I could hear the faint sound of movement; breathing, the soft swish of clothing.
“You can feel it, can’t you?” Rowe said. The weight of his stare was a physical pressure on my shoulders, but I refused to look over at him. “You could feel it while you were at Machu Picchu. In those last days, Nerian didn’t need to touch you, the power in the mountain was enough to have you writhing in pain.”