“Where is she?” Rowe demanded in a low, rough voice. His question startled me after the long silence, causing me to flinch. Closing my eyes, I reached out—despite all Cynnia’s cloaking and protective spells, I could find her no matter where she was. After only a couple seconds her energy popped into existence for me on the other side of the city.
“She’s not too far from here,” I said, starting to walk in a direction that took us deeper into the city.
“Is she with the nightwalker?” Rowe’s voice grew harder and colder.
Gritting my teeth, I fought to keep my tone calm and even as I continued through the park. “I can’t tell, but she will be able to sense that I am back in town. She will know that it is best that we not meet with the nightwalker present for the first time.”
Rowe gave a soft grunt, which brought me to a sharp halt. I spun around and pointed an index finger at him, poking it into the middle of his chest. “You agreed to this. You agreed that you would not only hear Cynnia out with her plan, but that you could work in concert with the Fire Starter. Was that all a lie?” Something else stirred in the pit of my stomach as I wondered if there was more that he could be lying about. I knew Rowe, I knew the manipulation he was capable of, and I would not be used by him so he could get close to Cynnia.
“I can’t wipe away centuries of animosity just because your sister hopes to save our people,” Rowe snapped.
“Well, you’re going to have to find a way to handle it.” I was beginning to regret taking the iron collar off before he had his meeting with Cynnia. I was always so careful, but he had successfully overcome my methodical logic and caution in the name of . . . what? Companionship? Compassion? A connection with another creature I had never felt before?
I was losing my edge, my focus. I lived for one reason only: to aid Cynnia in any way possible. And now I was letting Rowe distract me. Tightening my fists at my sides, I started to turn my back on Rowe and to resume walking across the park when he stopped me by laying his hands gently on either side of my face, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Mira and I have a long, dark past. I can’t just push those emotions aside no matter how dire the circumstances,” he said as he ran his thumbs across my cheekbones.
I took a step back, away from his touch and nodded once, fearful that he was attempting to manipulate me through my emotions for him. “And I will not do anything that will allow you to jeopardize Cynnia’s life. You agreed to listen fairly and with an open mind to her argument. If you do anything that I deem a threat to her safety, I will not hesitate to kill you.”
A smirk curled one corner of his mouth and he leaned in toward me. “You think it will be that easy?”
I smiled back at him as I placed my hand over where my whip was clipped to my hip. “It’s never easy, but I don’t miss when it comes to Cynnia’s safety.”
“After what happened with Aurora, your loyalty to your younger sister is . . . interesting,” Rowe said, taking a step back to allow me a little more breathing room.
“Cynnia believed in me first and she has always believed in me. I will not abandon that trust and faith.”
Rowe spread out his arms and bowed his head to me. “I will listen to what she has to say.”
I believed him. If Rowe was going to attack Cynnia, he was going to go through me first, and we both knew it. After what had happened at the stream, I didn’t feel this was the best arrangement, but at least I could say it was an honest one and I knew where we all stood. The weight on my shoulders was no lighter as I led Rowe through the city toward my sister, but it was something I finally understood. Questions regarding the two of us after the events at the stream still hung heavy in the air, but now was not the time to bring up such seemingly trivial things.
We finally stopped at a narrow town house in the heart of the historic district of Savannah. There was a For Rent sign leaning up against the side of the front porch, where the owner had left it following Cynnia’s recent arrival. Her witch companion Shelly was handling all the human details of renting safe residences and procuring some basic foods, while Cynnia was supposed to be hidden at all times and guarded by her contingent of followers.
When I scanned for Cynnia, I had picked up the presence of four other naturi near her, while a larger gathering waited on the outskirts of the city for a signal from the young princess. Kane and his people would be moving more slowly through the woods, but I knew they would be there soon enough. We needed to secure both the assistance of the nightwalker and Rowe as quickly as possible so that everything I had told the lord of the animal clan didn’t turn out to be a lie.
As I put my foot on the first step leading up to the house, the front door swung open and Shelly stepped into the doorway with a broad smile. The young human woman seemed to be a perpetual ray of sunlight streaking across the land, no matter how bleak the circumstances. Despite her constant chipper attitude, I believed in her sincerity when it came to protecting Cynnia. From what my sister told me, both of them had been through a great deal when they traveled from Savannah to Machu Picchu. Cynnia trusted her, so I did as well.
“There you are! We were beginning to get worried,” Shelly announced, plopping both of her hands on her hips as she stepped out onto the porch. “Cynnia seemed to be expecting you a few days earlier.”
“There were some complications,” I murmured as I mounted the steps. A new weariness crept into my bones as I reached the front door landing. A breeze blew from inside the house, carrying with it the scent of wild flowers. There was a feeling of safety in that smell. I had completed the first leg of my mission and I was tired. Cynnia and I were a long way from accomplishing our goal, but at least I was back with my sister. The nagging fear of something happening to her while I was absent could fly away for the time being.
As I passed Shelly, I noticed her smile wilt as her eyes shifted to Rowe. Her shoulders stiffened, but she remained determinedly chipper as she greeted the other naturi and welcomed him into the house. I didn’t know what Mira had told her about the rogue naturi, but there was little that could have been positive.
“Where’s Cynnia?” I demanded as I paused in the foyer. The town house was sparsely decorated with a couple of landscape paintings hanging on the pastel walls. The floors were covered in a honey wood, and each of the rooms seemed to spill forth warm light to beat back the night. Dawn was only an hour away and yet I could sense people moving about. I had a feeling Cynnia and her guardians were sleeping little these days, as they not only worried about a strike from Aurora, but she was also now deep in Mira’s territory. Any truce with the Fire Starter would be an uneasy one.
“She’s sitting in the parlor,” Shelly replied, stepping in front of me to motion toward the room off to the right.
“Were there any problems?”
Shelly’s smile crumpled completely and her eyes quickly darted away from me. But as she opened her mouth to answer, Cynnia’s confident voice floated from the parlor. “Nothing that we couldn’t handle.”
“By your friend’s expression, I struggle to believe that,” I replied, following the voice into the room that held my sister. I found her curled up at one end of a sofa, her feet tucked into the side of the cushion, one arm comfortably on the couch armrest, the other resting in her lap. She wore a pair of jeans and pale pink T-shirt, making her look like a teenage human rather than the next queen of the naturi people. But for now we needed her to blend as much as possible with the rest of the world and escape the notice of anyone who could be potentially looking for her.
“We were attacked by some earth and light clan members during our meeting with Mira and the leader of the local lycanthrope pack,” Cynnia finally admitted with a shrug of her slender shoulders. “We had some troubles at first, but we were victorious in the end.”