Alterant (Belador #2)(101)

She trusted Tzader to know who his allies were.

She couldn’t spend forever in here thinking Quinn had betrayed her to Kizira.

Tzader stepped away, looking back once more before he walked out.

The door swung shut and dissolved into a rough-cut rock wall again.

Her heart dropped with the sudden empty ring. Her watch emitted a loud tick . . . tick . . . tick every time a second passed.

Sen’s doing, no doubt. He wanted her to be aware of every second she spent in this cage.

He’d made sure she’d spend all those seconds in agony thinking about Storm and everything she’d lost in one day.





THIRTY-SIX




The watch had become Evalle’s nemesis. She tried to stomp out the noisy thing, but the timepiece was indestructible, so she put it beneath the thin mattress on her bed.

The blasted thing ticked louder.

She finally gave up and put the watch back on her arm, where the sound of each second ticking returned to a normal level that echoed off the hard walls.

Energy began forming inside the chamber.

Evalle backed up to the wall facing where the door had appeared last time, but no door took shape.

The energy gathered power until an explosion of light ended with a woman who glowed from head to toe in an angelic dress of sparkling white pearls.

But that was no angel giving her the death stare.

Evalle hadn’t expected another guest so soon, and never this one. “Good morning, Goddess.”

Macha slid a perturbed look down her narrow, but perfect, nose. “You have caused our tribe a great deal of trouble, Evalle.”

The Celtic goddess over all the Beladors took time out of her busy schedule to come here and state the obvious?

Or had Macha dropped by to turn Evalle into a smoldering block of charred Alterant for getting Brina in a jam?

Macha started to pace, took one look at the cramped cell and shared her disgust in a loud sniff. “I should destroy all the Alterants as they become known, and I would if I thought that would solve my problems.”

Not feeling the love right now.

Evalle considered everything that had happened and decided that if Macha wanted to toast her for speaking up, she had nothing left to lose. “What’s the point of this visit, Macha?”

The goddess studied her as if Evalle had surprised her and proven more interesting than a wounded roach. “My point is simple. If I challenge the Tribunal’s ruling against Brina, I put the entire Belador tribe in conflict with VIPER. The risk is too great for that.”

Evalle noted that Macha hadn’t mentioned the ruling against her. “I understand the predicament we’re in.”

She probably shouldn’t have used “we” in that sentence based on the way Macha’s gaze scolded her.

The goddess said, “Tzader came to me and shared everything he’d learned by Quinn probing a possible traitor’s mind, as well as what you told him.”

Had they decided Conlan O’Meary was a traitor?

Or had Macha decided Evalle was a traitor after she’d dispersed the fog?

As Grady liked to say, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

Evalle said, “I assume you heard how I used a gift given me by the Tribunal to destroy the fog, too.”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe I’m aligned with the Medb?”

“If I did, we would not be having this conversation.”

That sounded like confirmation that Evalle could have ended up as Alterant charcoal briquettes.

But the goddess had more to say. “More importantly, I believe what you told Tzader.”

That was good, right? “About what specifically?”

“That the Medb are trying to bring these half-breed Belador Alterants into their fold and use them to harm Brina. I can’t allow that, nor can I allow Brina’s hologram to remain in Tribunal custody.”

The goddess said nothing about throwing her help Evalle’s way, but if she freed Brina’s hologram form, Evalle would be thankful for one blessing. “I’m glad to hear you can fix some of this.”

“Some? I’m a goddess. I don’t fix some of anything. I will not be held at the Tribunal’s mercy for any reason.” She touched her flowing golden-auburn hair with a beautifully manicured nail, and her hair shifted into an even more perfect shape. “Listen carefully, as I do not repeat myself.”

Not a lot inside this box to distract me, but whatever.

“Only a deity can approach the Tribunal regarding the viable status of a race. As such, I will open a dialogue with the Tribunal to formally decree that you have given me cause to believe Belador Alterants should be recognized as a viable race. That once the Alterant origin is clearly established and proof of their loyalty to my pantheon has been delivered to the Tribunal their race will be established and protected under the laws of our world.”

Evalle’s jaw hung slack.

“Do close your mouth.” Macha paused, then continued. “In the interim of establishing this race, I will offer amnesty to any Alterant who comes forward willingly to swear allegiance to me and does not harm a coalition member, a Belador or a human while the origins are being researched.”

Evalle cut her eyes around the room, searching for this to be a trick.

“Are you paying attention?” Macha snapped at her. “I will not return again if we do not come to an agreement.”