“And the Fire Starter?” Rowe demanded as he came to stand beside me, just past the entrance into the room.
“She and the lycan alpha Barrett have agreed to side with us against Aurora,” Cynnia said with a bright smile.
Shelly shimmied into the room and clapped her hands together as she heaved a heavy sigh. “You two have got to be famished and exhausted. I can get you some food, or show you where you can freshen up or maybe just get some rest for a while.”
“We need to talk,” Rowe said in a low voice, his eyes never wavering from Cynnia’s face. I watched as my sister leaned back and folded both hands in her lap while her eyes locked on my face. It was an old signal we had developed years ago. We could speak telepathically, but we discovered early on that Aurora could also hear our thoughts since she was our sister. To protect our little secrets, we developed a series of hand gestures that signaled a variety of questions, answers, and emotions. At first it had been nothing more than a little game done to amuse ourselves as we snuck behind Aurora’s back. Now it had become an invaluable tool as we struggled against our once beloved sister.
Without saying a word, she was asking if I had succeeded in bringing Rowe willingly to her. I lifted my right hand and grasped my left elbow, signaling that I had succeeded in my mission. Cynnia gave a little sigh and shifted position, resting her hands on either side of her body. She was open and ready to proceed with her plan to win Rowe over to her side.
“We will meet now,” I said to Shelly, barely glancing over at her.
“Are you sure?” Shelly asked in low voice. “Cynnia said that you had been on a long trip. I just thought—”
“It’s okay, Shelly,” Cynnia gently interjected, trying to soften the blow as we brushed off her offer of hospitality. “It’s best if we talk now. Could you leave us and shut the doors behind you?”
Shelly gave a quick stiff nod before she left the room. I could almost sympathize with the human. She had been involved in a great deal of the protection of Cynnia and the planning to overthrow Aurora. It would be difficult to now be excluded from what was obviously an important meeting. However, things were different with Rowe, more delicate. I had no doubt that Rowe still harbored ill feelings toward the humans, and I didn’t want one lingering about, cluttering up what was going to be a difficult discussion. Cynnia and I both knew that we needed his help if we were going to succeed against Aurora.
As soon as the door closed to the room and we were alone with Rowe, the naturi arched one eyebrow at Cynnia and demanded, “Pet?”
Cynnia calmly shook her head and looked him in the eye. “No, she’s a good friend and protector. Not all humans are useless.”
Rowe gave a little smirk. “I never claimed that humans were useless. I’ve found many uses for them.”
“Yes,” I said with a slight hiss. “I heard of your harvest in a land east of here. I’ve heard of several harvests that you’ve led in an attempt to achieve your goal.” A harvest resulted in the slaughter of humans and the harvesting of their organs for a series of blood spells that Rowe shouldn’t have been casting in the first place. Of course, he was not the first of our people to lead a harvest, and I knew without a doubt that there would be more one day. There was power to be found in the human soul, and the easiest way for us to harness that power was through their organs.
“My task was to free Aurora and our people at whatever the cost,” Rowe said through clenched teeth. “When the regular methods didn’t work, I pushed the limits of my knowledge. I sought out new layers of power. I knew that I could not fail our people.”
“And you didn’t fail,” Cynnia said in a gentle voice. She motioned with her left hand for him to sit on the sofa beside her. The naturi hesitated, his body stiff and his expression unyielding before he finally softened enough to take a seat on the sofa. I moved opposite him, leaning up against the fireplace mantel. Despite my sister’s attempts to create a warm and inviting atmosphere, I couldn’t relax. It was my job to stay focused and protect her from any threats, even those that came from our so-called allies.
“As I was saying,” Cynnia said, shooting me a dark look for a blink of an eye before she finally looked over at Rowe again. “You have saved our people. As I am sure Nyx told you, our people were languishing within our cage. We were no longer growing; our connection with the earth had been nearly severed.”
“Nyx told me things were grim,” Rowe admitted, earning a frown from me. I thought I had clearly spelled out that our people were dying. However, before I could chime in, the evil bastard flashed me a quick grin to indicate that he was only teasing me. If I didn’t know better, I would have suspected he was trying to push every last one of my buttons.
“However, things have not gotten better with the release of Aurora,” Cynnia continued, oblivious to the play between myself and Rowe.
“I gathered that much when she ordered both your death and Nyx’s at Machu Picchu,” Rowe blandly commented while scratching his chin. A growth of dark stubble was starting to gather there, giving him an even more menacing look. “Most people don’t like to be faced with their own death.”
“It’s more than being faced with your own death,” I snapped. “It’s about being betrayed by the person you have sworn to protect and obey under any circumstances. It’s being called a traitor when all your actions have been for the good of your own people. I have no fear of death, but I will not go quietly into that dark embrace if I have not earned it.”
“Aurora is the queen,” Rowe said with a shrug.
“And she’s gone mad,” I countered.
“She’s turned on you as well,” Cynnia interjected, turning Rowe’s attention to her in an attempt to keep us from going at each other’s throats. “You gave everything to the naturi. You sacrificed everything for our kind. You followed her command to free us and she turned on you. Banished you.”
I crossed my arms over my stomach and leaned my right shoulder against the wooden edge of the mantel. “You owe her no loyalty.”
“But that’s the funny thing about loyalty,” Rowe replied with another dark grin. “Once it has been won, you must stick with the one that you have sworn your fealty to.”
“She betrayed you, Rowe.” Cynnia shook her head, closing her eyes. “She has done nothing to deserve your loyalty any longer.”
“And it’s not just you that she has betrayed,” I added. “She has also betrayed the trust of our people. She is supposed to be our protector. She is supposed to lead us toward a safe and secure future, but this obsession with destroying mankind will only lead to the destruction of our own people. Our people are no longer strong enough to face such a task. The humans have grown stronger over the centuries while we have grown weaker. Their weapons have improved, while we have stagnated and lost touch with the earth and our powers.”
“A war with humanity means an end to our people,” Cynnia said simply. “We will not win that war.”
Rowe leaned back and crossed his legs at the ankles, stretching out his long, lanky frame. “So what do you suggest?”
“Peace.”
“That can only be achieved through war with Aurora,” he said.
Cynnia nodded, a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. “True. Aurora will not willingly turn away from her plans. She will not stop in her determination to destroy mankind. Our only option if our people are to survive is to stop her.”
“You seem eager to turn on your sister,” Rowe said.
“The only eagerness we feel is to finally have this ugly task done,” I commented.
“Our people are running out of time,” Cynnia said. She reached across and laid her hand on the sofa cushion near to Rowe. “We can’t afford to have a long drawn-out battle with her. And we believe that with your help, we can end this quickly and quietly.”