“You will just go and listen to what she has to say,” Danaus said. I could hear the leather creaking beneath him as he pushed off the sofa and approached me. He laid his large hands on my shoulders and squeezed, attempting to ease away some of the tension.
“The war with Aurora is coming, and Cynnia needs our help if she is going to survive. We’re getting sucked into another battle with the queen of the naturi,” I said, my voice trembling.
“Look deep inside yourself, Mira. Tell me there’s not a part of you longing to take another shot at her.”
A slow chuckle rose from my lips as I dropped my hand back down to my side. Danaus knew me too well. Aurora and Rowe were the reasons I had been tortured so many years ago. Aurora was the one who nearly had me killed among the ruins at Machu Picchu just a few months ago. Destroying her would mean that her people would be weakened, and in time they could slowly be picked off. Destroying Aurora would be one of my most favorite kills of all.
“The cocky bitch has been causing too many problems in my domain for too long.”
“All you need is Cynnia to point you in the right direction and potentially provide you with a little bit of an army,” Danaus whispered in my ear. “It could be fun.”
“You’re a deliciously evil man, Danaus, but you’re right,” I said, twisting my head so I could press a kiss to his hand. “Killing Aurora, and if I’m lucky, Rowe, would finally cleanse me of the naturi. I could restart my life again without this shadow from my past hanging over me.”
“Just one more battle and then it will all be over with the naturi,” Danaus said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
I jerked around, a smirk twisting my lips. “I seriously hope you don’t believe that. Nightwalkers and naturi living in peace? Now that’s the stuff of fairy tales.”
“I find that idea no different than our situation.”
“Ours is different. You came to your senses. The naturi will not,” I teased, slipping away from him before he could grab me.
“I hope you are wrong,” he called after me as I headed back to the office to call Barrett.
“Me too,” I whispered. I wanted Aurora’s head clasped firmly in my hands, but I didn’t want a war with the naturi. There would be no hiding it. The humans would see it, and our world would be thrown open at last. No more hiding in the shadows, only the Great Awakening.
Thirteen
The only thing keeping me from pacing the open tunnels was the fact that both Barrett and Danaus were perfectly still despite the growing tension. Like any potential meeting, we brought along our respective seconds in command. Cooper, Barrett’s brother, leaned against the car that had carried the lycanthropes, while Knox leaned against one of the brick columns that stretched up to the ceiling of the tunnel. Danaus was both my lover and my confidant, but in the nightwalker world, Knox would always be my second in command in Savannah. However, I had a slight suspicion that Knox would just as willingly take orders from Danaus as from me. That’s why I trusted Knox so much. He was smarter than most nightwalkers.
“How do we know this isn’t some naturi trap?” Cooper suddenly demanded, shattering the silence that had filled the tunnels. His voice echoed off the stone walls, carrying deep into the thick darkness that hugged close. “I mean, we’ve got the leaders of the vampires and the lycanthropes right here. What better way to take over the city than to kill them both in a single fight and then move into the city?”
“Danaus, how many naturi are in the city?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at the hunter.
“There are four naturi approaching us, but there are at least a dozen on the outskirts of the city,” he replied a couple seconds after the warmth of his powers had swept past me.
I frowned. There had been only seven naturi in the region when we spoke to Shelly earlier. I wasn’t comfortable with how their numbers were growing, but for now I was more concerned with the contingent of four approaching our location. With any luck, that would be Cynnia and her honor guard.
“I truly doubt that four naturi is enough to kill us all,” I said blandly.
“And if they’re members of the animal clan?” Cooper shot back at me, anxiety creeping into his voice. Two of his brothers had already been killed as the result of fights caused by the naturi animal clan.
“We’ll handle it,” Danaus said.
“She’s late,” Barrett muttered.
Folding my arms over my chest, I leaned my hip against the side of my car, keeping clear of the headlights pointed toward the doors that led into the tunnels. “She’ll be here. This is too important a meeting for her to miss. She knows this is her only chance to win our support.”
Luckily, we had to wait only a couple more minutes before one of the large metal doors leading to the tunnels creaked open. Shelly entered first, raising her hand against the blinding light of the two sets of car headlights aimed at her. We wanted the advantage when our opponents entered the tunnels. For several minutes they would be blinded while we were hidden deep in the shadows that filled the tunnels.
“Mira?” she called out, blinking her eyes rapidly as she struggled to adjust to the light.
“We’re all here,” I confirmed.
Shelly slowly walked into the tunnels with her hands raised to her shoulders, open and empty, to show that she wasn’t holding any weapons. I was about to tell her to drop her hands, but I felt that the submissive stance put the others at ease. Cynnia followed close behind with her three guards. They were armed, but with their arms raised and away from their weapons, in a neutral stance. They needed to protect their princess so they had to remain armed, which was fine, because we were all armed as well. Trust was definitely thin on the ground.
Cynnia looked much the same as when I had last seen her among the ruins of Machu Picchu. She had a slight frame, while her tanned face was framed by a wealth of dark hair. She still appeared to be little more than seventeen to nineteen, but I knew her to be several centuries old. Young to take the throne, I suspected, by naturi standards. Nyx looked to be older than her sister Cynnia, and yet the younger sister was the one stepping forward. I knew there had to be more to the story behind that arrangement, but it had nothing to do with us. I didn’t care to become involved in naturi politics. It was enough that I was up to my eyeballs in nightwalker politics with the coven.
“I see that you’re keeping one step ahead of Aurora,” I called out to the group as they slowly moved out of the direct line of the headlights and into the darkness so they could start to pick us out of the shadows.
“Not exactly an easy task,” Cynnia admitted, dropping her hands limply to her sides. “But then, we quickly noticed that she seemed content to remain on the West Coast, well away from your territory. We decided to take advantage of that interesting affinity.”
“So you’ve been hanging out with Shelly in Charleston these past few months,” Danaus concluded. “I would have thought you would have remained in South America. Even I know that the earth magic is thick there. It would have been to your benefit.”
“We assumed the same thing of Aurora, so we immediately headed north to get away from her.” Cynnia shrugged her thin shoulders. “And with nightwalkers dominating most of Europe, we decided to head for some safer territory.”
I frowned, clenching my teeth slightly. “So you used me once again to act as your protector against your own kind.”
“Just your reputation,” Cynnia hedged, but a grin widened on her lips.
“Be careful or I might decide to take that protective umbrella away from you,” I warned. It was enough that she had tricked me into protecting her the first time: I respected her ingenuity and daring, but that respect only went so far, particularly when it threatened the safety of the people in my domain.
“In truth, I have come hoping to acquire the help of more than your reputation, as I’m sure you have guessed,” she said. The female naturi took a step closer, while her bodyguards stayed a few steps behind. Only Shelly remained directly behind her shoulder, potentially to help add her voice to Cynnia’s argument.