Gideon's Promise (Sons of Judgment Book 2) (48 page)

“Stop manhandling me, Maxwell!” she snarled and wrenched herself free.

“Then you should leave!” he snapped back. “You don’t belong here.”

“Because you said so?” she volleyed back. “I do not take orders from you!”

“Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris!”
he snarled at her viciously.

Valkyrie narrowed her eyes at his outburst. “Well, Caesar isn’t alive, so I’m not overly concerned about being chained to any oar.”

The anger continued to spark behind his eyes, but he didn’t throw anymore Latin insults at her.

“Whoever it was, they got away,” Magnus was saying to his father.

“And damn quick,” Reggie added. “It was like they melted right into the shadows.” He stepped up to Reginald’s body and knelt down. “I’ve only ever seen one other race move that fast.”

“Draconian,” Magnus mumbled.

Reggie looked up at his brother. “No, the fiolos.”

Magnus frowned. “No one’s seen—”

“Exactly.” Reggie leaned close to Reginald’s neck, eyes squinted as he examined the exit wound. “They also didn’t use bows and arrows. They preferred their talons, up close assaults. What is that smell?”

Magnus moved around Reginald’s chair and bent over the dead demon’s back. “Sulfur?”

“No, it’s...” Reggie shook his head. “I know I’ve smelled it before. I just can’t...”

Liam stepped away from the group. To anyone not paying attention, it would have seemed like nothing, but it was the unfocused look in his eyes that caught Valkyrie’s attention.

“What is it?”

The others turned towards their father.

“Dad?” Reggie straightened. He got to his feet. “Do you know what it is?”

Liam rubbed a hand over his jaw. His gaze swayed to where the creature by the door stood, unmoving despite the death of his master. The light sliced along the curve of his sword, sparking off the jagged points.

“Why didn’t he try and stop the attack?” Valkyrie wondered out loud. “When Reginald was threatened, he seemed prepared to defend his master, but when his master was shot, he doesn’t move.”

“Reginald knew he would die,” Magnus said. “The creature must be here for another purpose.”

“Yeah, but what purpose is that?” Reggie asked.

“We should find out.” Gideon marched to where the creature stood. “Zane.”

Zane lowered his head a notch.

“Can you speak?”

The creature didn’t.

“Do you know who attacked your master?”

Again, it remained unmoving.

“Liam!” The kitchen door slammed open and Kyaerin burst through. Her blue eyes jumped straight to her husband and her hands flew like pale birds to her chest. “Darling.” She rushed across the room and straight into his waiting arms, uncaring that there was another man’s blood on his shirt. “Are you hurt?”

He held her as though she were made of glass and the most precious thing in the world.

“I am unharmed.”

Kyaerin pulled back enough to touch the side of his face. “Octavian said there was a shot and I...” She noticed Reginald and her eyes went even rounder against her pale complexion. “Liam? Who is this?”

“His name was Reginald.”

“He finds things,” Gideon piped in. “Or, I guess, used to find things.”

Kyaerin frowned. “What?” She caught sight of Zane and gave a small squeak of surprise. “What on earth...”

“He followed us home,” Gideon said. “Can we keep him?”

“Gideon.” His father shot Gideon a dry frown before focusing on his wife once more. “I will explain everything, but please stay at the back of the house until I have sorted this out. The diner is no longer safe and Imogen needs you.” He eyed Reginald. “We are shutting the diner down. Those doors will open for no one else until I am satisfied my family is safe. In the meantime, hunts will be done in pairs.” He looked to Kyaerin. “Can you please get everyone in the family room? There are things we must discuss.”

Kyaerin sighed, but she nodded. Her hand lightly touched her husband’s chest, but her eyes roamed over her sons. “Be safe and I will see you upstairs.”

She left the room. Once she was gone, Liam turned to the others.

“We must dispose of the body,” he instructed. “Then we must seal the doors from the inside.”

Valkyrie frowned. “Sealing all the doors will leave you trapped and vulnerable.”

Liam offered her the ghost of a smile. “This is our home. We are never trapped.” With that, he went back to speaking with his sons. “Magnus, ask your mother for a seliant jar and gloves. The thickest pair we have. Reggie, you and Octavian will take the body as far away from the manor as possible and burn it. Gideon, you’re in charge of getting rid of your new friend. I will get the book.”

Valkyrie waited to be given instructions, but everyone was moving to go about their jobs, including Liam.

“What about me?”

He turned to her. “There has never been a time that your abilities have been put into question, Valkyrie. You have always been a brave warrior. But I ask you, for the sake of my grandchild, to please wait at the back of the house with the others. Kyaerin will assign you a task.”

Irritation and humiliation darkened the coloring on her cheeks. It was this very reason why childbirth was for the weak. It turned strong women into cowering creatures who required the protection of a man. The implication that she was now too delicate to handle a simple assignment infuriated her. But for the sake of any possible child she may have been carrying, Valkyrie pivoted on her heels and stormed from the room. Her heels cracked, echoing the tempo of her rage all the way into the back and up the stairs.

The other women were already in the family room. Valkyrie half expected them to be sitting with knitting needles, or some other trivial past time entertainment.

Only Imogen was sitting. She was no longer crying, much to Valkyrie’s relief. Weeping women were a nightmare. Riley and Kyaerin were leaning over the desk in the corner, pouring liquid silver into palm-sized jars. Other jars, canisters, and boxes littered the tabletop. Most of the powders and liquids, Valkyrie recognized on site. Others were harder to identify. The one Riley was gingerly pouring from bottle to bottle, she did.

“Quicksilver,” Valkyrie said.

The two glanced up. A drop of the deadly concoction dropped onto the desk and immediately began sizzling. Riley cursed and drew her hand back.

“Don’t worry,” Kyaerin said hastily. “Keep going.” She turned blue eyes towards Valkyrie. “Does Liam need something?”

“If he does, he hasn’t divulged as such to me,” Valkyrie replied tartly. “I have been shunned to the woman’s circle.”

“Because you’re a woman, maybe?” Riley muttered, concentrating a little too hard on her task.

“I am a warrior,” Valkyrie growled. “I do not belong here cowering while the men fight to protect me. I belong out there.”

“We are not cowering,” Riley said. “We are making sure we are prepared in the event that we must fight.” She raised her head and fixed Valkyrie with a sharp smirk. “Isn’t that equally important?”

“Perhaps for those who do not fight.”

She stalked deeper into the room, her battle mode thrumming. She paced to the window and peered out into the dark. In the distance, she could just make out the faint glow of city lights and knew the humans were still out about their business. It never failed to baffle her how they were so utterly oblivious to the dangers that followed at night’s heels. They trotted out of their homes and prowled the streets at all hours with such disregard to their own safety. Casters did the same, but they were the hunters, not the prey.

“Keep the aceae powder away from the quicksilver,” Kyaerin told Riley. “The two cannot touch until the very last moment. Make sure your hands are also clean.”

Riley gingerly placed the vials into a box and set them aside.

“What are we going to do with these?” Riley asked.

“Whatever we must.” Kyaerin said simply. “No, that is too much.” She settled her small hands over Riley’s and shook some of the purple powder off the measuring spoon. “Too much is as effective as not enough,” she said. “Only the perfect balance will make this work.”

Nodding, Riley poured the aceae powder into a small, leather pouch the size of Valkyrie’s thumb. The top was knotted with a string and set aside.

“How does this work?” Riley asked, scooping more powder onto her spoon, more carefully now.

Kyaerin turned away to drag a small, wooden box off the filing cabinets behind her onto the desk. Phials clinked noisily in the silence.

“The quicksilver is laid in front of the enemy and then doused with the powder.” She blew a curl off her brow. “It’s like a bomb.”

Riley’s eyes widened, but she never strayed from her task.

“Aceae and quicksilver are equally dangerous on their own.” Kyaerin rifled through the bottles while she spoke. “Thrown into the face of an enemy, aceae powder can blind and sometimes inflame the throat to the point where the inhaler chokes to death.” She either didn’t notice or ignored Riley’s slight pull back away from the powder. “Quicksilver burns upon contact.”

“Shouldn’t we be wearing gloves, or masks?” Riley wondered apprehensively.

“There isn’t enough to cause us harm.” Kyaerin said. “Ha!” She pulled out a bottle filled halfway with a thick, clear liquid. She set it aside and reached for a small, disk off the desk. “Finish with the powder and I will show you how to make Greek fire.”

Riley’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “Is that safe?”

Kyaerin squinted at bits of black shavings rattling around at the bottom of a jar. “Only if we are careful.”

Valkyrie watched the pair with a touch of something sharp and bitter in her throat. Her own mother hadn’t taught her children much of anything, except how never to be like her. Childbirth had destroyed the fierce warrior she had once been, turning her into a weak, mindless husk. Her last sane act before her death had been to elect Valkyrie’s father as her replacement to rule the kingdom and even that had been cowardly. There had never been a male ruler, and despite leading them to countless victories, her father was still just a man. By all rights, Serinda should have taken their mother’s place as queen. Electing a man had been a dishonor to their people. But he was king. To say anything against her mother’s decision was grounds for treason.

“The kander roots need to be shaved down,” Valkyrie heard herself say without thinking.

Kyaerin glanced down at the flaky, brown roots in her hand. “I am certain they need to be chopped.”

Valkyrie crossed to the table. “The consistency will overwork the elixir. Chopped is too coarse. It needs to be fine to dissolve quickly and only about a quarter of the amount you have.”

She took the roots when offered to her and pulled a dagger from her inside jacket pocket. Carefully, she ran the blade over the tuber.

“Have you done this before?” Kyaerin asked.

“I wasn’t always permitted to fight,” Valkyrie answered simply. “During the war, my sisters fought. I was in charge of the preparation.” Task complete, Valkyrie grabbed a piece of paper and gently swept the shavings onto it. She passed it to the other woman. “Sprinkle lightly,” she instructed. “And stir.”

Kyaerin eyed her a second before doing as instructed.

Valkyrie searched through the vials for the next ingredient. “You are out of brimstone.”

“Bottom drawer,” Kyaerin said, shifting her body away to allow Valkyrie to pry open the bottom drawer of the desk.

“Brimstone?” Riley arched a brow at them. “Like fire and brimstone?”

The bright, yellow powder sat hidden amongst an arsenal of other powders and liquids, all in jars. There were baggies of herbs, roots, and other items, but Valkyrie shut the drawer and rose. She held the bottle out to Riley.

“Brimstone is the archaic term for sulfur.” Valkyrie told her. “No more than a pinch.”

“Maybe you should do it,” The redhead suggested warily. “You clearly know what you’re doing and I might set us all on fire.”

Valkyrie frowned at her. “You won’t learn if you don’t do it.” She stalked around to stand at the other woman’s side. “Pretend like you’re cooking and this is salt.” She pressed the vial into Riley’s palm. “You only require but the smallest pinch between your thumb and finger.”

“What if I grab too much?”

“Small pinch,” Valkyrie repeated.

Riley’s apprehension was a solid force wafting off her as she uncorked the bottle and reached inside. Her hand trembled and Valkyrie had to set her own overtop to keep the powder from flying everywhere.

“That is good,” she said when Riley pulled back her hand, the tips of her thumb and finger dusted with sulfur.

“Is it safe to get on my skin like this?” Riley wondered.

“You are immortal,” Valkyrie reminded her. “This will not kill you. Now sprinkle.”

Extending her hand, she spun her hand over the bowl, letting the fine powder coat the surface. Kyaerin quickly stirred it in.

“Look at that,” Valkyrie said, stepping away. “You didn’t catch on fire.”

Riley glowered at her. “Ha-Ha.” Her lips bowed into a grin. “Thank you.”

Valkyrie moved away, uncomfortable with the appreciation. “You should wash your hands.”

No sooner had she spoken when footsteps rang through the hallway and Liam strode in followed by Octavian, Magnus and Reggie. Valkyrie waited for the final Maxwell, but the doorway remained empty.

“Where is he?” her mouth asked before her head could tell it to keep quiet.

“Barricading the doors,” Liam said. “He should be joining us in a moment.”

Despite the reassurance, Valkyrie’s gaze kept straying to the door. Her ears perked with every rustle, every scuffle of feet. Whatever concentration she’d possessed moments ago lay in ruins around her as her mind kept shifting between measuring ingredients and watching the door. After a moment, when she nearly mixed gale powder with base oil, she backed away from the table and let the other two finish before she set the place on fire.

He arrived almost ten minutes after everyone else. The sight of him calmed the tension stiffening the length of Valkyrie’s spine and she allowed her mind to return to the rest of the room.

“
Mo chroí
?” Liam unfurled his fingers towards his wife.