“Cara Liu,” a peremptory voice said from behind her, bringing her up short with an inner, Oh, shit.
Hello, worst-case scenario.
She turned back as her father stepped through the doorway leading to the winikin’s wing. He was wearing his funeral clothes and a dark frown, and at the sight of his thunderous expression all she could think was, Oh, gods. He knows. Some guilty-child instinct nearly had her blurting that it was just a onetime thing and would never happen again. She bit back the words, though, annoyed with herself because her father’s disapproval really should’ve lost its power by now. Can I get a cleanup crew in the great room, please? There’s been a daddy-issues spill.
Pressing her lips together to keep from saying something she would regret, she held her ground as he approached. She didn’t miss the way his eyes went to her unmarked right wrist. He was the one who had given her the original marks, after all, ambushing her beneath the big Montana sky. He had cut her palm and recited the spell that was one of the very few the winikin could use. And then, after it was done, he’d told her that the old family stories were real, the Nightkeepers were real, and they needed her help. At first she had thought he was saying she was one of the magi, a magic-using superhero destined to save the world… until he’d told her that she wasn’t a superhero at all. She was a member of their support staff. A sidekick at best. And he’d been bone-deep insulted by her disappointment.
That had been the beginning of the end for the shaky relationship they had built in the years after her mom died.
“Did you need me for something?” she asked, telling herself that he shouldn’t be able to hurt her anymore and doing her damnedest not to look just-kissed.
“I saw Dez a little while ago, and he mentioned wanting us to do a training run in the next day or so. I thought you’d want to know.”
The training runs—mock battles staged at a set of cement-and-rebar ruins the Nightkeepers had built beyond the firing range—had proven invaluable at getting the winikin up to speed on the fighting front. Or as up to speed as they were going to get, anyway. Given that the equinox was less than a week away and Dez wanted the entire team ready to go, it stood to reason he would want to make sure they were ready to fight, especially after everything that had happened today.
It took an effort to shift her mental gears into leadership mode, but she managed it, filed the info, and nodded. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll get with Zane and make sure we’re ready.” Thinking—hoping—that was all he’d wanted to say, she started to turn away, sketching a “gotta go” wave in his direction.
“About Zane…”
She nearly groaned. She was too stirred up and strung out to think about Zane right now, never mind discuss him with Carlos. “What about him?”
“Did you see his mark?”
“I…” She frowned, realizing that it hadn’t come up. “No. Why?”
Her father tapped his wrist. “He’s one of us.”
“Of course he’s a winikin.” But then she saw how Carlos’s fingers rested on his bloodline glyph, and a low-grade shock ran through her. “He’s a coyote winikin? But I thought… Why didn’t you recognize him?”
“The coyote winikin were spread thin. When I saw his mark I asked him who his parents were.” He named two people she had never heard of, would never meet. “They were both mage-bound,” he said, emphasizing the last two words.
“Okay.” She shook her head. “So?”
He shifted on his feet, squaring off as if ready to fight. “You should give him a chance, you know. He’s a good man from a good family.”
Under any other circumstance, she might’ve laughed at the idea of her father acting as a go-between, might’ve screamed. As it was, all she could do was sigh in heartsore exhaustion. “Did he put you up to this?”
“No. My conscience did… because as much as I hate to say it, you need to keep yourself entirely separate from the Nightkeepers if you hope to lead the winikin.” He paused. “Do you understand me, Cara Liu? If we’re going to survive the war, you need to be their leader first and foremost. Nothing else can matter.”
A chill trickled through her, not because he was wrong, but because he was the last person she wanted to talk to about this. “You saw me coming out of Sven’s suite.”
He winced, but shook his head. “I saw you with him earlier, out on the ball court. And I remember how it used to be between you two.”
“There was nothing between us back then, and there’s nothing now.”
His look didn’t quite call her a liar, but it was close. “If you took up with Zane—”
“You want me to sleep with my second in command to prove my loyalty to the winikin?” She wasn’t sure which was worse—the suggestion, or the fact that it didn’t surprise her that it would come from him.
He hesitated, then said softly, “I want you not to be alone anymore, sweetheart.”
“You don’t get to call me—” She bit it off as her eyes threatened to fill in earnest. “Damn it. That was a low blow.” It was what her mother had called her. Never him, though. Never him. And she was too damn raw to keep it from hurting.
“This isn’t a fight,” he said, and for a second, she saw the father she had once foolishly idolized in the old man who stood opposite her.
“Isn’t it?” Pressure vised her brain, making her want to run and scream. She couldn’t do this. Not right now and not with him.
“Think about it, Cara Liu. Your actions don’t affect only you anymore.”
“Fine, I’ll think about it. Now if you’ll excuse me?” She didn’t wait for his response, just headed straight across the great room for the glass doors that took up most of the far wall. Five minutes earlier, all she’d wanted was to get back to her quarters. Now, though, she wanted the open sky and storm-cleaned air.
She could feel his eyes on her as she pushed through to the deck, where the pool sparkled in the fading sunlight. Bypassing the shimmering water, she headed down the short flight of steps to the main pathway, not letting herself run. Not quite. She took the branch that led past the training hall and cottages and on toward the firing range. She didn’t have any real plan—maybe she would shoot; maybe it would be enough to walk off the frustration that churned inside her, making her head feel like a pressure cooker being run too hot. If steam started coming out of her ears, she wouldn’t have been surprised. In fact, it might’ve been a relief. As it was, it helped to be alone.
Really alone. And farther from the mansion than she’d meant to go.
“Damn it.” Realizing this might not be the best idea after all, she made herself slow down, breathe, and pay attention to her surroundings. She was near the picnic area, right where the ceiba tree rose a hundred feet and spread its enormous canopy to shade the cacao trees, which stirred in an almost imperceptible breeze. The rain-forest microcosm shouldn’t have been able to survive in the desert, but it had grown up from the ashes of the winikin and mage children who had died in the massacre. The air was moist and warm, the sound that of moving leaves, the vibe one of peace.
For a second she paused and let the tranquillity remind her that running—or even walking—away wasn’t going to fix her problems. She wasn’t going to hook up with Zane for her father or the winikin, and Sven… well, there wasn’t a decision to be made there. Sparks alone just weren’t enough, and—
Brush crackled, jolting her with brutal suddenness. She pulled her nine-mill and thumbed her wristband to arm the panic button, though she didn’t hit it yet. Heart drumming against her ribs, she moved off the path and angled toward where the noise had come from. “Hello?”
There was a jangle of discord in the air, a prickling awareness that said someone—or something—was out there.