The Curse (Belador #3)(34)

Tzader nodded. “That’s good enough for me. You aren’t going to tell anyone what happened with Kizira, but you will tell me immediately if she makes any unexpected appearance in person or in your mind.”

“I can do that. What if I’m wrong and—” Quinn couldn’t imagine what might happen because he’d put his mind up against the powerful druids who had trained him and they believed Quinn to be stronger than before. He still woke at night with what ifs pounding his skull.

“I’ll stop you before you can do any damage, Quinn.”

Quinn would trust that vow only from Tzader, who, Quinn knew, would do whatever duty demanded, no matter the personal loss. “This changes everything … except for still having to confess my betrayal to Evalle.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I have to, Tzader. I have been tormented for weeks with guilt.”

“Hate it for you, bro, but she can’t know about what happened with you and Kizira. No one can. Telling Evalle would put her at risk and implicate her down the road.”

That put only Tzader in the position of losing everything he’d lived for his whole life if anyone found out what had happened between Quinn and Kizira.

Quinn could still turn himself in.

Tzader must have picked up on his thoughts. “This isn’t really any different than the agreement you, I and Evalle made after the night we were caught by the Medb in Utah. We’ve all protected each other’s confidences out of honor and friendship. Nothing’s changed. Brina and the future of the Beladors will always come first, but you and Evalle are right behind them.”

“I will do my best to assure that your trust is not misplaced.”

“No chance of that.” With the decision of Quinn’s death apparently settled, Tzader drew a deep breath and changed subjects. “About the Svarts.”

“You were going to tell me about a conversation with Sen.”

“If you want to call Sen’s rant a conversation. He’s popping off about not having time to constantly come out to clean up our battle messes.”

Quinn pointed out, “He tends to only complain about the ones involving Evalle.”

“I know. That’s why I’d like to get dickhead out of our hair if I can. We need a weapon that will kill something like a Svart without harming a human or drawing unwanted attention. Something that can be used at close range.”

“There’s only one person who would have something of that nature. Isak Nyght.”

“Yeah, I thought about that, but I haven’t figured out how to get one from him without Isak’s bunch realizing these battles involve nonhumans.”

“Nyght sells to the military. Any chance your government contacts could get the weapon?”

“How? They’d have to tell him they needed a weapon for nonhumans, which would expose our Beladors in the government since humans aren’t supposed to know about us.” Tzader ran his hand over his head, thinking. “That’s all we’d need to draw Isak’s attention. He’d have been in the middle of these gang battles already if he’d known trolls were involved and had any idea of when the battles were going down, but the fights erupt with no warning. There’s no way to approach Isak without alerting him to VIPER, and that would turn his sights on our people.”

On his way to get Tzader another beer, Quinn had an idea how to acquire a Nyght weapon. A suggestion Tzader would not like. “There is one person who can ask Isak for a weapon without drawing his attention.”

“Who?”

“Evalle.”

“Oh, hell no.”

“She knows him better than any of us, and he likes her.”

“That’s the problem.” Tzader started pacing again. “Isak likes her a little too much.”

Quinn pulled another Guinness from the small refrigerator. “She’s a big girl who can take care of herself. And Isak would give her a weapon if he thought she needed it for protection.”

Tzader stopped at the massive window, looking out at Atlanta twinkling against the night sky. He turned around, accepting the cold brew, and leaned against the windowsill. “He won’t hurt her as long as he doesn’t know she’s an Alterant, but Isak and his men drew down on Evalle once already.”

“When did that happen?” Quinn hadn’t seen that in in any e-mail briefings.

“After I left your hotel room that night you were out of it. Isak and his men saw Tristan’s green eyes and wanted to blast him and his group, but Evalle protected them.”

“Of course.”

“Then Sen showed up out of thin air, which didn’t help.”

“So Isak realized Evalle was an Alterant?” That changed everything. Quinn had missed a lot.

“I don’t know if he knew for sure that night or not, but his entire team fired when Sen just appeared.”

“Bad move. Did Sen vaporize them?”

Tzader chuckled, a dry, sarcastic sound. “Not even Sen is going to kill a human and face the Tribunal. He stopped the bullets with his hand.”

“He teleports, vaporizes bodies, materializes whatever he wants out of thin air, wipes minds and probably hasn’t even shown us all that he can do. What is that guy?”

Tzader lifted the bottle when he shrugged. “Wish I knew.”