Blood Double (God Wars #1)(76)

I'll never know whether it was foresight on Gavin's part or something else, when he decided to bring me along, but prescience kicked in and I had Teeg, Gavin, Tony, Rigo and the Starr brothers turned to mist and hauled out of the holding cells when CSD Headquarters blew up, taking everything down around it as well.

*

Cheedas made his excuses and left the party early. He wept, too, as he used a claw to pare down the limb he'd stolen from a tree in the arboretum. Almost as thick as his wrist on one end, Cheedas worked to make the limb's point as sharp and deadly as he could. He couldn't ignore the obsession he carried, as much as his former self might wish it.

*

"Ashe, you caught it early enough. She didn't lose a lot of blood," Franklin sighed after he and Shane placed Kay in a healing sleep.

"She's terrified of Q'Ind Ribalo, Q'And's brother. I wish she'd tell me why," Kevis raked fingers through his hair. Ashe had called him after Shane and Franklin showed up and managed to handle Kay's self-inflicted injuries. "We'll just have to watch her from now on," he sighed. "And go through the house to remove anything she might use to hurt herself."

"I'd like to get to the bottom of this," Ashe growled.

"That makes two of us," Kevis agreed.

*

Lissa's Journal

"Gavin, Tony, Rigo and Gavril are fine," Kiarra assured me. I hadn't felt it coming, and that was unusual for me. "I can't say the same for the others at CSD Headquarters," she sighed. "They're all dead, and at least one prisoner managed to escape."

"How could this happen? That nobody saw it?" I turned to her.

"Somebody saw it, apparently, because your four and the Starr brothers were hauled out before everything was destroyed."

"This isn't making any sense at all," I said.

"Things aren't happening as they should," Kiarra agreed. "Everything is out of balance. Is this how it'll be—that nothing will make sense anymore?"

"Since the Dark Worlds were attacked," I nodded and rubbed my forehead in an attempt to hold off a threatening headache.

"And all this time, I was hoping the Great Battle would be the end of it. The battle was just the beginning, as it turns out."

"Do you think it's taken eighteen years for the enemy to regroup and regain strength?" I turned a worried frown on Kiarra.

"It's possible. They may have taken that time to recruit others to the cause, too," she said.

"That's not good," I shook my head, attempting to clear it. It was futile to apply logic to anything I'd seen in the past few months, and it only looked to get worse. I was afraid to imagine how much worse things might actually get.

"This is not your concern; I hear from the twins and Winkler that Gavin and the others are fine," Merrill walked into the room. "I know you want to go back early, but consider your health and the level of your strength," he added, his bright blue eyes frowning into mine.

"Let me know when they get back to Le-Ath Veronis. I'm going anyway," I said.

*

Breanne's Journal

Gavin cursed in every language he knew. I understood all of them. I'd always been able to do that, even when people employed their native language instead of English in my past. It didn't matter—whatever they'd said or felt or experienced, I already knew from reading them. Understanding the language was a distant second every time.

Teeg, too, was furious, his eyes a deep red and fangs evident as he smashed a fist through the window in his study. I could still see the smoke and burning in the distance—where CSD Headquarters had once been. Only a large crater, smoldering clouds and debris filled the area, now. The Campiaan City Fire Department had arrived not long after I'd made my rescue, and water applied to the flames made more smoke billow into the air. Astralan and Stellan weren't saying anything, but Astralan used his power to repair the window after Teeg destroyed it.

"Why?" Gavin rounded on me next, finally speaking in English. "Why was I not made aware of your misting ability?"

"Huh?" Of all the things to focus on, that was the most unexpected. My response was obviously unprepared. Most might have concentrated on what—or who—had caused the blast and at least sixty deaths. Not Gavin. He focused instead on what my (in his opinion) shortcomings were in the entire incident. It didn't matter, either, that I'd saved his ass. Even my breathing likely displeased him on a molecular level.

"Teeg, you might consider letting your Alliance know you survived," Astralan suggested softly.

"In a moment, we have information to gather, first," Teeg rounded on me, too, stepping forward to stand beside his father.

"I didn't know at first," I backed away a half step—it was all the distance I had between me and the wall at my back.

"You didn't tell me," Gavin snarled, his eyes going as darkly red as his son's.

I wanted to tell him he hadn't asked. I wanted to tell him that he'd shown little interest in me and had no desire for me to tell him anything, most of the time. I didn't.

"Misting and mindspeech. What else might that mean?" Gavril lifted an eyebrow, lending a demonic expression to his face.

"Are you susceptible to compulsion?" Gavin's words were a low, dangerous growl and compulsion laced his words. I read it easily in his face—even someone without my ability could see it plainly. He wanted to kill me if I answered truthfully. Well, he could try.