“Is she alive?”
Leo said, “Ava says she isn’t. That her father told her his mother died when he was a child.”
Konrad said to Malachi, “And your mate was named after her grandmother.”
“Apparently.”
“Ava is a very common Irina name,” Rhys added quietly.
Konrad sat back in his chair and looked between the three of them. He looked for a long while as a smile teased the corner of his lips. “You think this is bigger than one misplaced Irina,” he finally said, smiling at Malachi. “You think there are more.”
“If we didn’t know about Ava, maybe we don’t know about others,” Malachi said. “If one Irina had a child with a human lover and hid it, others could have as well. Maybe there are lost Irina out there. If there are, they need us to find them. They are not at home in the human world.”
Rhys added, “And if there are more Irina, if our race was not in danger of dying out, it would change the balance of the council, would it not? If there are lost Irina out there, Grigori would be drawn to them. Perhaps some unity of purpose could be sought. Contain the Grigori and find our lost sisters.”
“It would be a goal all would be able to support, even the most hesitant members of the council. An interesting theory,” Konrad acknowledged as he rose to his feet, coffee finished. “But it is only a theory right now. The more pressing issue is the Grigori problem. We don’t need our focus shifted from hunting Grigori to hunting Irina who may not want to be found. It’s foolish and useless. Find Damien. I need to speak to him. If he reported the details of the Grigori attack to someone in Vienna and the report was hidden, I need to know.”
“And you need to know whether whoever he spoke to has suppressed other reports of Grigori aggression,” Leo said. “Communication may have broken down. And if protocol isn’t being followed…”
“I will look into this,” Konrad said. “But now, I must go.”
Malachi, Leo, and Rhys stood to walk Konrad to the door.
“The scribe house in Budapest says that requests for funds are being ignored,” Malachi told him. “They feel they are fighting Grigori without support. Is he the only one?”
Konrad shook his head. “No. But I’m one of the lone voices in the wilderness on this issue.” He waved his arms around the room. “We are in Vienna! Jewel of the Irin crown. Grigori attacks are almost unheard of. They happen… elsewhere. More scribes are concerned about their empty houses and empty beds than the human population. They want mates and families, not war in far-off places.”
Leo snorted. “Budapest is not so far away.”
“Nor is Istanbul. Paris. London.” Rhys frowned. “Do Irin here really not know?”
“Some do. Some don’t. They ignore it if it’s convenient for them.”
Malachi shook his head. “Vienna is slowly being surrounded by increasingly aggressive Grigori. The Fallen are showing their face to us. Powers are shifting. Vienna will not be able to bury the truth for long.”
Konrad said, “Bring Ava and Damien to the city. Give me proof to show the council. Without proof, without testimony, I am speaking to deaf ears.”
“Has Max called yet?”
“No.”
Leo was sitting near the window, staring out into the quiet street when Malachi walked in. He felt restless. There was nothing to do in the city. Rhys was continuing his research at the archives, trying to track down the families and genealogies of other Irina who were known to have taken human mates. Gabriel was at his office, putting together more funds for their search, which Konrad had quietly approved. Leo and Malachi were stuck at the house with nothing to do and no Grigori to fight.
Malachi sat down across from him. “Ava was named after her grandmother,” he said. “It can’t be a coincidence that Jasper Reed named his daughter his biological mother’s name. He was put into the system when he was very young, but he must have known her name.”
“I’m surprised Ava’s mother allowed Reed to name her,” Leo said. “I thought she didn’t have much to do with him.”
“Lena Matheson might not have known the significance. And Ava is a common enough human name.”
“There’s no other record of the first Ava?”
“Not that Rhys has found. Or Konrad’s contact in America.”
Leo was silent for some time. Then he said, “If he knew her name, is it possible he knew more than that?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a very famous musician, isn’t he? He has a lot of money. Do we know if he was wealthy when Ava was born?”
Malachi said, “Rhys said Reed was already famous when Ava was born.”
“So he probably had money. And if he had money, he could have found his mother. Maybe as an adult, even. Reed might be the reason her records don’t exist.”
“Why would he make his own mother disappear? Especially if she was dead?”
Leo shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“But if he has her records, or knows where they are…” Malachi was starting to see where Leo was going. “There’s no way we could talk to him. He has bodyguards. Handlers.”
“But he only has one daughter.”
“He would tell Ava. Probably.”
“Maybe.”
The phone rang. The loud electronic buzz filled the silent library.
Leo picked it up. “Max?”
Malachi could hear his brother’s voice from across the room.
“Get to Oslo, Leo. Get Malachi and get on a plane now.”
Malachi’s heart raced. “Oslo?”
“I’ve found them,” Max said. “I’ve found Ava.”
Chapter Sixteen
The feeling of being watched continued into Sarihöfn. It continued during her lesson with Orsala the next day. It hung over her shoulder and she could not rest, even when she tried.
“Something is coming,” she said to Orsala, who was fixing tea during a break in their lessons.
“Have you seen something? What is it?”
“Something dark. I see it in my dreams. I’ve brought something dark here.”
Orsala narrowed her eyes, then closed them, and Ava knew she was taking a gentle scan of the emotions around her. It was part of the shields that Sarihöfn held. The scribes who lived there wrote their magic on the trees and walls of the compound. Sari manipulated the very elements that surrounded them. There were patrols and guards. Video monitoring and electronic sensors. And Orsala could feel the emotional temperature of any inhabitant when she wanted to.
“Nothing feels wrong, Ava. Except that you’re worried. For the first time in many years, our wards here are stronger because Sari is complete.”
At least one good thing had come from her visit. Damien and Sari’s reconciliation had strengthened the whole community and put both of them in a far better mood. By the time Mala and Ava had returned from Bergen, there were flowers pushing up through the snow. Playful ribbing might have reddened Sari’s cheeks, but the aura of contentment was evident all through the valley.
Except for Ava.
She could feel it. Something dark shadowed her. It lurked in the trees.
“I dream of dark things, Orsala.” Her voice was barely over a whisper. “Even when Malachi is there, there’s a darkness, too.”
The old woman put a hand on her arm as she sat next to Ava at the table. “That’s normal, daughter. I dreamed of my mate after I lost him, too. It’s normal that your dreams of him would be troubling. He was taken from you in the most violent way. Don’t hide from that. Your soul must grieve.”
“They’re not always dark.”
“Good.”
“But there’s something…”
“What?” The kettle began to whistle, and Orsala rose. “What is it?”
“I feel like it comes from me. Or it’s tied to me, but separate. I don’t want it… but it’s part of me. Like when I didn’t let go of Bruno. It wasn’t that I couldn’t. Part of me didn’t want to. I liked the power.”