Unbound (The Captive #7)(54)

Lord help Daniel tonight, Max thought and couldn’t stop himself from chuckling as he drank the wine and poured himself another glass. At least the wine made Katrina’s laughter in his head die down some.

“Is it helpful information?” Daniel prodded.

“It’s helpful,” Max replied.

“Well…?” William inquired.

“It is Sabine,” Aria confirmed, drawing all of their attention to her. “Whether she did die and rose again or not, we don’t know, but that is the woman’s name. I’m sure there have been many Sabine’s over the years, but judging by her vast amount of power and her looks, she has to be Atticus’s mother.”

“You’re sure that’s her name?” William inquired.

In his head, Max could hear them repeatedly asking the vamp for the woman’s name. In the beginning, the vamp had claimed not to know it. Then he’d claimed he’d never reveal it. In the end, he had sobbed Sabine’s name repeatedly. Never once had they suggested the name to him before he confessed it on his own.

“We’re sure,” Max replied when Aria remained silent, probably recalling the man’s cries too. “She has about ten to fifteen thousand troops.” The vamp had told them twelve thousand. They’d agreed he was most likely exaggerating, but it was better to be safe than sorry. “Right now, they’re divided into three different towns until they’re ready to go after the palace. She has some of her followers traveling in smaller groups, circulating through areas and acting as scouts who report back to her. She moves often, sometimes in extremely large groups, sometimes in smaller groups as she always deviates her patterns. We were lucky she was in a smaller group the night they discovered us.”

“There’s easily ten thousand within the palace walls right now. If Melinda was able to evacuate the border towns before Sabine got to them, there will be more,” Daniel said.

“Including those we are gathering, our numbers are about equal with hers,” Xavier said. “Our source could have been lying about their numbers, most likely was, but it will be close.”

“You have a source?” Tempest asked.

“We did,” Aria confirmed. “He no longer lives.”

Max drank another glass.

“She’ll be ready for the palace soon,” Daniel said.

“She’s moving on the palace within the week,” Aria replied.

“Your source told you this?” William asked.

“No, he said they wouldn’t be moving until next week. We believe he lied.”

“Won’t she seek out more followers first?” Tempest asked.

“Arrogance is one of her biggest weaknesses,” Aria murmured. “I think she believes she can turn some of those within the palace to her side.”

“She may be able to,” Xavier said as he stopped his pacing. “Fear is a powerful motivator.”

“Are we going to warn them?” William asked.

“We’ll figure out a way to do so,” Aria said.

“Should we bring our troops in sooner than planned?” Timber inquired.

“No,” Aria replied. “The palace is going to have to defend itself for a few days if she moves before we’re ready. The Council will be able to keep it together for a few days, especially if they have the better position and the walls to defend from. It will also take time to bring Jack here.”

Blood spilled from Aria’s palms as her fingers tore into her flesh with those words. It dripped onto her pants, but she didn’t notice it and no one commented.

“I don’t think we can get Jack here before she marches on the palace. There simply isn’t enough time,” Aria continued. “When he does get here, we’ll send the runners to the safe houses to start gathering our troops.”

“We will return for Jack tomorrow,” Daniel said. “If all goes well, it will only take us a day to get there.”

“Yes,” Aria said.

“Did you learn anything else?” William inquired.

“Goran may be her other big weakness,” Max said. Their informant had let that one spill in order to keep his other eye. “They’re rarely apart.”

“Is that it?” Timber asked.

“It’s more than we had before,” Aria said defensively as more blood fell onto her pants. “And we also learned that Goran is her son.”

A pin dropping would have been heard from a mile away. The chair Timber had been leaning back in hit the floor to finally break the silence. “You’re kidding!” Timber blurted.

“No,” Aria said. “I’m not sure when he was born, it must have been while she was in hiding, but he is her son.”

“Judging by the power I sensed in him, I would say he is younger than Braith and Jack, but not by much,” Xavier said.

“Holy…” Timber’s words trailed off. “This just gets more and more messed up.”

“Yes,” Xavier said. “She has also been in this country for at least five hundred years, possibly longer.”

“How do you know that?” Daniel inquired, his face paler than normal.

“Our informant told us she is Croatoan,” Xavier answered.

“What the hell is Croatoan?” William demanded.