The Staff and the Blade: Irin Chronicles Book Four (39 page)

“I know you like to think of the world as black and white, evil and good, but can we accept that it’s not that simple, Damien? Our sister is not Irina,” she whispered.

“I know what she does is not traditional magic, but—”

“Damien, no Irina would seek to bring anyone back from death. It is anathema to us. To ask for any soul to leave heaven when that peace has been granted them would be forbidden.”

“But is it impossible?” he asked. “Clearly not. There has to be a will behind the magic, Sari. You and I both know it. Perhaps we think it impossible because we know it is forbidden.”

“Or we think it impossible because it is,” she whispered. “For us. Perhaps her magic is not from the Forgiven at all.”

Damien fell silent.

“The Fallen don’t teach their offspring magic,” he said after two more exits had passed.

“They don’t. And an Irin scribe could never mate to a human with Grigori blood,” Sari said. “And fallen men don’t return from the dead.”

Yet suddenly all those things were possible.

“If it is truly Malachi,” Damien said, “if he is truly alive and Ava was the one to do it, then everything has changed.”

“I know.”

Damien took her hand and held it in his own. “Your quiet war has ended, my love. What this war is, I don’t think any of us can know.”

CHAPTER NINE

T
HEY
met with the scribes from the Oslo house, and it had never been more apparent to Sari that the Irina needed to return. The young men of the house were in awe of her singers and even more taken with Candice’s daughter, Brooke. Some of them, their watcher told her, had never seen an Irin child.

They’ve come back. Do you think they’ve really come back?

“What have we done?” she whispered to Damien in the quiet of their room. “They’re like little boys.”

“Most of these men never had mothers,” Damien said. “Wait until you meet Leo, Maxim’s cousin. He is both the fiercest and the most gentle man you’ll ever meet. Ridiculous around women.”

“Of course he would be,” Sari said. The scribes did not socialize with human women. What would be the point when prolonged contact would only hurt the humans? “The boys here, they were so excited to think that we’d returned.”

“This is a young house.” Damien took a deep breath and pulled her closer, drifting toward sleep. “Other than Chelsea’s mate and a few of the older men, none of them have seen singers.”

Tears came to her eyes. Her sisters had become myths in their absence. Sari had known it would be a long road to bring the Irin race back together, but she’d had no idea just how rough it would be.

Damien was almost asleep, but Sari could not quiet her mind. “
Reshon
, I’m going down to the library,” she whispered, kissing him.

“Not too late,” he murmured. “Malachi in the morning.”

“I have not forgotten.” She slipped out of bed, covering him with the blanket before she pulled one of Damien’s sweaters over her comfortable leggings and shirt.

She passed the library, intending to get a glass of water from the kitchen, but she halted when she saw the watcher of the Oslo house, Lang, leaning over a map spread on the large wooden table.

“Good evening, Watcher,” she greeted him.

“A good evening to you, sister.” Lang’s smile was polite, but weary.

“I had intended to read for a while, but I don’t want to disturb you. Perhaps I should find a book and—”

“Please.” Lang waved a hand. “Take anything you like. You won’t disturb me. I’m accomplishing nothing here; I simply cannot sleep.”

“I know the feeling.”

He nodded. “It sounds like reports of the evacuation have been favorable.”

“I’m only waiting for word from a few yet. The rest have checked in.”

“Remarkable.”

“We have had practice in hiding.”

A tinge of bitterness to his smile. “I know.”

“Did you lose your mate?”

“No. I had been pledged…,” he said. “We were not yet mated. She left after her village was attacked. I believe she is still alive, but I have no idea where she is.”

And though Lang looked as if he still longed for his lost lover, Sari had no intention of asking after her or even inquiring about her name. It was an unspoken rule of the havens. Those who wanted to be found were found. Those who wanted to hide were given their privacy. No one had the right to expose another.

“You have tended your fire well,” she said. “I have been a watcher’s mate for many years. I know a well-run house when I see one.”

“Thank you.” His cheeks tinged red. “I was worried you would think my men untried boys by their reactions earlier. They are fine warriors, each one of them, and will protect your sisters who shelter here as if they were the last Irina on earth.”

“Damien tells me we have made ourselves myths and legends,” Sari said. “I can hardly judge them for our absence.”

He nodded, then turned back to the map.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” He frowned. “Grigori attacks in the city indicate an increased presence, but I cannot find a pattern to their attacks. We don’t have anyone stationed at the house right now who can hack into the police computers.”

“Ask Rhys, Damien’s archivist. He’s very good on computers. If my sister Marie were here, she could do it, but she’s meeting her mate somewhere in Southern Europe right now.”

“I’ll ask Rhys first,” he said. “Thank you for the advice.”

She examined the map. “You have some marked.”

“A few I’ve been able to confirm, but I know there are more.”

“And this is an increase?”

“Yes.” Lang glanced at her. “You seem… familiar with strategy.”

“I wasn’t simply a watcher’s mate, Lang. I was one of Damien’s warriors in London and Paris.”

“Truly?”

“Trained by Damien of Bohemia himself. But my sister Mala is more dangerous than me in the field.”

“I look forward to seeing her fight.”

“Only since you are fighting on the same side.” Sari leaned over the map. “I may be shit at polite conversation, but I’m quite good at chess. Now tell me more about the attacks you know of, and let’s see if a new pair of eyes can tell us anything.”

※

Her eyes were bloodshot when Damien found her before dawn, but an edgy, irritable part of Sari had eased. Damien came into the library, kissed her cheek, and handed her a cup of coffee.

“You stayed up all night.” He eyed the notes she’d scribbled on sticky notes at the edges of the map.

“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry.” She sipped the coffee. “But can you call Rhys? We need him to hack into the police computers.”

“You will be his favorite person today. That’s like handing the man a new toy.”

Lang rubbed his eyes. “You have meetings this morning, and I have monopolized your time. My apologies, Sari.”

“I’m going to go take a shower,” she said to Damien. “That will wake me up. When Rhys gets here, can you—”

“I’ll have Lang brief me,” he said. “We need to leave for Maxim’s soon. Maybe after we’ve confirmed… Maybe after, you can try to grab some sleep.”

She nodded. Damien started walking away, but she grabbed him and whispered, “You know, I’m far better at planning attacks than reuniting lost lovers who think their mates are dead.”

“I am glad your romantic heart beats only for me,” he said, kissing her nose. “But you’re not getting out of this.” His eyes softened. “And I need you with me when I see him. If there has been some mistake or deception…”

“I’ll be there,” she said.

He pulled her into an embrace. “One of my lost come back to me,” he whispered. “I cannot conceive of it,
milá
.”

Sari tried to think of how many of Damien’s brothers had been lost in battle over his eight hundred years of life. She couldn’t imagine it. To have even one returned to him felt like a gift, no matter what the circumstances.

“I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes,” she said. “I’ll try to sleep later so I don’t hit Ava.” The girl’s morose attitude was starting to get to Sari. Not that she could blame Ava for it. She only hoped this revelation went according to plan.

※

Nothing, of course, went according to plan, especially Ava trying to flee the apartment before she could even see her miraculously resurrected mate. But by the next evening, when the reunited pair walked into the Oslo house, Sari wasn’t quite as worried as she had been when she and Damien left them that morning.

It helped that, for the first time in her memory, Irin scribes and singers were standing around a field map, strategizing over how and when they’d go after the nest of Grigori that had descended on Oslo.

“I’ve still got a call to London for help,” Lang said, glancing at Malachi and Ava as they hovered on the edges of the room, talking with Orsala and Rhys. “But I’m thinking about calling them off.”

Damien said, “If we wait too long to strike, there could be even more.”

“Is that a deterrent or an incentive?” Sari asked.

Both the men stared at her.

“I’m just saying. If we wait and there are more of them, we’ll still defeat them. But we’ll have rid the world of more Grigori. That’s not a bad thing.”

“Your confidence is encouraging.” Damien kissed her forehead. “But I have a tendency to side with Lang on this. These numbers are disturbing. If we wait longer, victory is not assured.”

“I disagree.”

“Let’s ask Rhys about it,” Lang said. “Once he runs the numbers, I’ll feel more comfortable making a decision to wait or strike.”

“Fair enough,” Sari said. “It is your house, Watcher.”

Damien narrowed his eyes. “You know, she was never this agreeable with me.”

“Do try to follow what I’m trying to say, Leo.” Rhys’s annoyed voice broke into their banter. “The red is a confirmed attack and kill. The yellow is for attacks that were stopped, but the Grigori wasn’t eliminated.”

“So many,” Sari said, walking over to study the map that Rhys had marked up. “Lang, this is far more than average, correct?”

“Yes. Activity has picked up over the past year, but the majority of these attacks have been in only the past couple of weeks.”

Damien asked, “Do we think there is any chance this increase in activity and the exposure of Sarihöfn are not related?”

No
.

No one said it, but it was obvious they all thought the two were connected.

“There are few coincidences in the world.” Malachi’s deep voice caused Sari to turn. “It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s likely.”

He was a curious creature to her. He reminded Sari of her mate, but the Turkish scribe was far more raw and untested. It was clear he adored his mate, but just as clear that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. Insecurity marked his steps when he drew closer, but Sari could tell it was not natural to him. He had the bearing of a man very sure of himself who’d been planted in a completely unknown world.

“Tell me more about Volund,” Malachi asked.

Yes, what was the mastermind of the Rending up to these days? Sari leaned closer.

“As far as we know, Volund still has one of his primary bases near Göteborg,” Lang said. “Which gives his soldiers easy access to the continent and a steady stream of tourists, whom his men usually target. He’s been building in power for centuries. We believe he took out the major power in Russia in the 1920s, and he appears to have connections with the lesser Fallen in Spain and France.”

“Have you talked to Maxim about what he’s heard?” The question came from Leo. Sari had already warned the giant scribe that Damien had stolen her heart long ago. He was as sweet as Bruno, but far more innocent. And lethal.

“Your brother has been an unexpected font of information over the past few years. I don’t know who he knows—”

“It’s better you don’t ask,” Damien said. “I never did when he was in my house.”

No wonder Maxim and Renata constantly circled each other. It sounded like they were two of a kind.

Lang returned to the topic of Volund instead. “The sudden absence of Grigori last summer fits what you and Maxim have said about him making a move in Istanbul.”

They continued debating what the Fallen could be planning. Then Malachi turned the world upside down when he mentioned Ava seeing Jaron in a dream.

Damien’s temper spiked. “When? At Sarihöfn? Was he able to find you there? Is that why—”

“I don’t know.” Ava’s guilt was written across her face. “I haven’t remembered the details of my dreams about him until the one last night
,
though I’m fairly sure I’ve seen him before He was… cryptic.”

Sari grabbed Damien’s hand, trying to calm him down. “It’s not her fault that she can’t remember,” Sari said. “We both know how obscure visions can be.”

“She is not Tala,” Damien said.

“But she is a seer nonetheless.”

“—talking over the vision with Malachi to try to make sense of it,” Ava was saying, “but a lot of it is confusing. I… I can try…”