Shadow's End (Elder Races, #9)(61)

He was Grace’s lover Khalil, a second-generation Djinn. Graydon’s mind clicked through a mental Rolodex, until he had placed the Djinn’s connections. The most important one stood out. Khalil’s father was Soren, the head of the Elder tribunal.

Rune had followed the direction of his gaze and said telepathically, You do know they work for us too, right?

I know, Graydon said. He didn’t like any surprises at this late point in the game. I just wasn’t expecting them.

Trust me, Rune told him. Khalil has valuable experience to bring to the discussion. And both Khalil and Grace are every bit as reliable as Claudia and Luis.

Graydon relaxed slightly. He had known Rune for as long as he had known any of the other sentinels. Rune had been Dragos’s First sentinel for centuries, before he met and mated with Carling. Graydon did trust the other gryphon—with his life, if necessary.

With several people’s lives, if it came to that.

Claudia nudged Luis, who rose to step into the kitchenette. Returning, he carried two dining chairs, which he placed opposite the couch. Murmuring a thanks, Bel sat.

Choosing to stand, Graydon reached for one of the Diet Cokes and popped the tab. He had a feeling the caffeine would come in handy.

“I guess that’s everybody,” he said. “Thanks for coming.”

By the window, Constantine stirred. “Now that we’re all here, why don’t you tell us what the hell is going on?”

Graydon took a deep pull from his Diet Coke before he answered. “Some of you already know, or at least, I’m pretty sure you must suspect,” he said. “We’re here to discuss how to kill a Djinn.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted, as if everyone had drawn in a collective breath.

“No shit?” said Constantine. The other sentinel coughed out a laugh. “Now things have gotten really f*cking interesting.”





FOURTEEN


Khalil spoke. His voice was deep and pure, like a bell. “I want to be clear from the beginning about Grace’s and my involvement. We might attend this discussion, but I will not take part in a war against another Djinn again. Small children rely on me. Grace relies on me.”

Grace turned to look up at Khalil, and the expression of love on her face turned her into a luminous beauty. Khalil rested a large hand on her slim, tanned shoulder.

Out of the corner of Graydon’s eye, he noticed Constantine turning thoughtful. While Khalil held his Power in tight control, it was still evident in the nearly invisible shimmer surrounding his physical form that he held a great deal of it. If Khalil wouldn’t participate in any action against Malphas, it underscored just how dangerous an undertaking killing the Djinn was going to be.

“Khalil brings up a good point,” Graydon said, as he met the gaze of each person in the room. “Just because you’re here right now in this room doesn’t mean you’ve committed to doing anything—and going against this particular Djinn will be hard. He’s a first-generation pariah.” He paused a moment to let that sink in. “We have a lot of information to share. If anybody needs to see documentation, we’ve got it. Just remember, this is only a discussion, okay?”

“Let’s hear what you’ve got,” Julian said. He looked sharp and totally engaged. At his feet, Melly nodded to herself. Shifting, she reached up and back, and laced the fingers of one hand with his.

Graydon didn’t have to overhear any telepathic conversation they may have had. Her body language said it all—whatever Julian might choose to do, she would support him.

Graydon started talking. He used the kind of format that sentinels used in meetings.

Subject: Malphas, first generation pariah Djinn.

Issue: Trafficking and enslavement. Collusion, fraud. Suspected murder. Documented crimes against the Elder Races, along with crimes against humanity.

Danger level: Extreme.

After he had summarized, the silence in the room was so deep, he could hear each individual’s breathing. Then came the questions, and almost everybody had several.

With a nod to Luis and Claudia, Graydon gave the floor over to them, and instead of leading the conversation, he became an observer.

Khalil’s expression remained so studiously impassive, Graydon suspected he was cloaking strong emotion. The Djinn’s hand never left Grace’s shoulder. She had shifted so that she could lean against his hip.

Julian, Melly and Constantine had the most questions, while Rune asked a few and interspersed the conversation with his own observations.

Of the group, Carling and Bel remained silent. The quality of Carling’s stillness was entirely different from Khalil’s. She was like a river rock that had been worn smooth over time.

Bel’s attentiveness showed subtle engagement. The skin around her eyes tightened at some of the information, and her lips compressed, a quiet sign of inner turmoil.

He wanted to reach out and touch her, like so many of the couples who were present did with each other. Instead, he adopted a pose much like Constantine’s, leaning against a wall with arms crossed.

While he maintained a physical distance, he couldn’t stop himself from watching her profile. He felt like he could never get enough of simply looking at her and feeling a sense of her presence.

Eventually the questions over the details of the investigation slowed, and that was when the conversation turned challenging.