The Curse (Belador #3)(31)

Kizira levitated a couple of inches off the floor, smiling indulgently as one would at a na?ve child. “Evalle will never see your letter. I took it when my warlocks delivered Petrina and those Rías to T?μr Medb … right before I left to come here.”

“No,” Tristan roared, lunging against the invisible bonds that sliced his skin. “I’ll kill you!”





TEN




It’s almost one thirty. Evalle’s not with you?” Quinn slowly closed the door to his suite behind Tzader.

Why did Evalle have to be late this time? What could she still be doing this time of night … morning?

He’d waited long enough to confess his betrayal to her. Guilt, and the potential for losing a friend, were eating through the lining of his stomach.

“No, haven’t heard a word from her,” Tzader called over his shoulder. When he reached the living room, he went straight for a cushy side chair and sank into it. “Glad to have your help at the cemetery, but why didn’t you let me know you were coming back?”

“I made up my mind at the last minute, as soon as I felt ready to return.” And I hadn’t planned on seeing you until tomorrow, but that would only have delayed the inevitable. “Should we be concerned about Evalle?”

“Any other time I might be, but with her on some errand for Macha I’m thinking she’s just running late or I’d probably have heard something from her or the goddess.”

Quinn detoured to his wet bar, pulling a Guinness from the refrigerator for Tzader and pouring Boodles on the rocks for himself. He handed the chilled brew to Tzader, who wasted no time cracking it open.

Where to start?

Quinn had gone over this conversation in his head a hundred times and it never improved. “I would prefer for Evalle to be present so I only have to say this once, but now that I think about it, talking with you first may be better.”

That brought Tzader’s head up, his brown eyes sharpening. “You still having issues from probing Conlan’s mind?”

“No noticeable residual issues.”

“Then, what’s bothering you?”

“We do have a complication. When I went into the precognitive area of Conlan’s mind and accessed the future … I ran into a problem.”

Tzader leaned back, shaking his head. “You think I’ve forgotten how you bled from your eyes, nose and every other place blood could get out? Just glad you survived. Hate that you had to be the one to see Conlan joining up with the Medb. I know you had high expectations for him as a Belador warrior.”

“We both did.” Quinn swirled his drink, staring at the ice. “I condemned a good man to being hunted as a traitor.”

“Not your fault, Quinn. You were doing your duty. And Conlan did more damage to himself by escaping from VIPER and running.”

“We gave him no other option. He’d worked double time to prove he was not his traitorous father. Conlan came to the probe session willingly. Why would a traitor allow me, of all people, to search his mind?”

“I don’t know, but nothing will change popular opinion right now.”

Hearing resignation in that comment, Quinn asked, “What about you, Z? You thought Conlan was innocent at one time. Do you still think so?”

“Until I see hard evidence, I’m not willing to convict any person based on a vision of the future.” Tzader twisted his neck, stretching it, then settled back against the chair. “You and I may be the only two who believe in that kid. Best way we can help him is by keeping our game faces on when we’re around VIPER and Brina. Act as if Conlan’s on the top of our most wanted list at all times. That way when we find the real traitor, they’ll listen.”

“I see your point.”

Tzader’s arm dangled off the side of the chair, beer loosely clasped in his fingertips. “Right now we have to come up with a plan for the Svart trolls and find out what they’re after in Atlanta. I met with Sen and the other teams at headquarters—”

This was the part that Quinn had been dreading. He interrupted by raising his hand. “Stop. Before you go any further, there’s something I need to tell you.”

This time, the drink Tzader took clearly allowed him a pause to think. “Okay. Shoot.”

“I did experience problems that lingered after the mind probe, but thought I’d heal like I had in the past.”

“You didn’t?”

“Yes and no. My mind has healed completely and I’m strong enough to handle a threat or a probe, maybe even stronger than before, but right after the probe while I was in my hotel room, I thought I was having hallucinations of Kizira being in my room.”

That raised an eyebrow on Tzader’s grim face. “What do you think caused that?”

“When I was in Conlan’s mind and found the vision of the future where I saw him at a Medb meeting with Kizira, I got distracted and … dropped my shields.”

“What?” Tzader put his beer down and sat forward, feet on the floor, hands on his knees.

Quinn circled the mustard-yellow sofa and sat down, placing his drink on the glass end table and propping an arm across cinnamon-red pillows. “The spirit of Conlan’s dead father showed up, but he didn’t interfere. At first, he asked me to protect his son, then later he taunted that we were all fools. When Kizira didn’t see or hear him, I took that as a positive sign. But when she started talking about the attack on Brina and Treoir Castle, I was caught off guard and allowed my shields to fall. Kizira saw me when I did.”