Alterant (Belador #2)(74)

As if he was more familiar with pain than happiness.

She pushed again. “And the reason you can’t get them out of the cavern on your own is . . . ?”

“Because the Medb got here before me. Kizira found the other three Alterants and is holding them.”

Of course the Medb had found the three Alterants.

Evalle rubbed the back of her neck. “How did you find this out?”

“From the spirits of a young Civil War soldier and old man who plays checkers. They live in the chamber where I left the three Alterants. After running into dead ends in this place all day—pun intended—I returned to their chamber. That’s when the two spirits revealed themselves and told me where the Alterants were.”

“So the spirits are working with Kizira?”

He shook his head. “Not even.”

“Then how did Kizira get involved?”

“When I asked how I could find her, they said they told her to leave.”

Evalle would have enjoyed watching Kizira sent packing. “She didn’t blast them into Never Never Land?”

“This place is loaded with supernatural power that could cause a catastrophic chain reaction. Not even Kizira would want to be down here if it blew. She made them an offer. If they’d act as messengers if and when someone showed up looking for the Alterants, she and her men would leave as soon as she got what she wanted. The spirits are liaisons for now, but they don’t like her being down here.”

Evalle muttered, “I’m not so crazy about that myself. What does she want?”

“A specific Alterant.”

She waited for him to say more, but Tristan liked to feed out one small piece of information at a time. “Who does Kizira want?”

“Me.”

“She knew you were coming back for them? Does that mean she knew you’d escaped again?” Which would lead Evalle to believe that Tristan might have been playing her for sure and leading her into a trap. But it was too late to find a way out.

“No, she didn’t know for sure I would be back, not until today. I figure she’s had someone squatting here to see if I caved and told VIPER where to find the three escapees to keep them from starving to death, or maybe she thought I’d cut a deal with Macha or VIPER to trade the missing Alterants for my freedom, which I would never do.”

Evalle flinched at the unfair strike to her conscience. “You said Kizira didn’t know for sure that you would be back until today. How’d she find out?”

“Thanks to your friends at VIPER probably.”

She had him now. “How do you figure that?”

“With VIPER hunting Alterants and word of me escaped, Nightstalkers would hear about it.”

Grady hadn’t known about Tristan escaping, but Grady had been laying low while working through his new ability to take human form on his own at times.

Unease squirmed along her neck.

If VIPER knew Tristan had escaped, did that mean the Tribunal would send Sen after her before her time ran out? No, gods and godesses were slippery as eels to maneuver around, but their word was law. They said they’d send Sen only when her time was up.

If they wanted her, they could find her. She shook her head at him. “Way to go, Tristan. You use me to escape and now I’m an accessory to your jailbreak.”

“Oh, give me a break. Like you wouldn’t have escaped if you’d been in my shoes? I had three lives at stake.”

She ignored his question, because the truth was, she’d have probably done the same thing. “If I help you get those three out of here, then I want you to agree to let me take them into the Tribunal so they have a chance at freedom, or no Alterant will ever be safe.”

“My opinion won’t matter much if you have to get them out of here for me.”

He had no expectation of leaving here with her and the other three. She didn’t want to admire him for being willing to trade himself. “How do you know Kizira wants you?”

“Because the soldier spirit gave me a message she’d left with him specifically if I returned looking for them. Kizira said she’d trade me for those three. I was going to wait to go into all this until we were closer—”

“—or until you had me so lost in here I would go along with anything.”

“Same difference. If you get those three out of here alive, then just assure me they get a chance to plead their cases.”

She’d considered everything that might have been driving Tristan’s actions up until now except a selfless motive. “That’s my plan. How long have you known these Alterants?”

“A week. The witch that opened the portal for the Kujoo was a freelancer, not Medb. I’d heard rumors about other captured Alterants and traded her some of my blood to find them. When I did, I released those three and found this place to hide them. I was coming back for them once I got my hands on the Ngak Stone . . . you screwed that up, too.”

“I’m not going there again about the Ngak Stone. Why did Kizira let you go after those Alterants in the first place?”

“She didn’t know. Once I had the ability to teleport I had freedom to pop in and out as I needed.”

She still didn’t trust him. “Why are you willing to take the place of those three Alterants?”

Tristan’s wintergreen eyes turned hard as rock ice. “Because they trusted me to watch out for them and not use them. I’m the only one standing between them and death or cages. And, if they win their freedom, they’ll watch over someone important to me.”