“Stop,” I whispered. I let go of him with my legs and dropped lightly to the ground. “Someone’s coming.”
Tristan groaned quietly. “Are you sure?”
I listened for a moment and didn’t hear anything—in my head or with my ears. I shook my head.
“Just wait a sec. Maybe she stepped into range and out again.”
After maybe a minute that felt like an hour, I still didn’t hear anything and neither did Tristan. He pulled me back into his arms.
“She’s more powerful than expected.”
I pressed my forehead against Tristan’s chest and concentrated. The mind signature felt strange, unlike any of the others. She definitely wasn’t a shifter or a vamp. The texture was similar to the mages’ signatures, but not quite the same. I thought maybe distance distorted it, but that didn’t make much sense, since I could hear her thoughts clearly. Another moment of focus brought recognition—it was the same signature I’d noticed in the village earlier today . . . and the same voice I’d heard at the council meeting.
I picked up my bra and pulled it on.
“Seriously?” Tristan asked, barely making a sound, but I could still hear the defeat.
“Sorry,” I mouthed. Shifters and vamps had super-human senses and could hear the tiniest sound a mile away, so I explained telepathically. I think she’s coming closer. Let me listen.
He nodded reluctantly, disappointment filling his eyes.
“But is she powerful enough? Is she as intelligent as they say?” I could almost hear what felt like a snort. “Nah, she is nothing. We have our leverage over her. Over Katerina and Sophia, too. We’ll take care of them easily, and the plan will go perfectly. We just need to keep the girl hidden long enough.”
My hand flew to my mouth, and my eyes practically popped out of their sockets. I stood frozen until the thought was long gone. Then nothing. The signature traveled out of range again. I plopped to the ground, dumbstruck.
Tristan sank to his knees in front of me and placed his hands on the sides of my face, tilting mine up to his. He whispered only loud enough for my keen ears to hear. “What is it?”
I told him what I heard. “And it was the same council member. The same voice.”
“But she still didn’t say a daughter, just a girl.”
“What other girl would anyone want to hide? And both times she’s mentioned it, she paired it with my name.”
Tristan shrugged. “At least we know for sure this is the traitor, and there’s some kind of plan.”
“I need to figure out who it is so I can learn as much as possible. And I need to let go of this freakin’ shield so I can give Rina proof.”
“We can try again . . . return to what we were doing . . .” No enthusiasm filled his words, though, as he gave me a half-hearted smile.
I frowned, and he nodded with understanding. Our moment ruined, he took my hand, and we flashed back to the suite.
I couldn’t sleep. Visions of Sheree and how I’d almost killed her while trying to save her soul flashed in my mind, mixed with images of an auburn-haired, brown-eyed young girl trapped in a jail cell. With Julia’s suspicious behavior and the voice I’d heard tonight, I couldn’t help but think that’s whom they kept in the Council Hall cellar. My daughter. Taken from me at birth and hidden away.
Tired of tossing and turning, I slid out of bed and tiptoed into the bathroom, closing the door behind me before lighting the candle by the sink. Tristan surely couldn’t have slept through my restlessness, but I didn’t want to wake him in case he had. I stood in front of the mirror, pushed my fingers through my hair, and pressed my palms against my temples while staring into my own eyes.
“What if . . .?” I whispered to myself. And the answer came right back. I have to know.
I grabbed my workout leggings from the hamper and quickly pulled them on, along with the T-shirt Tristan had taken off before our trip to the gym. It hung to my knees, but I didn’t care. No one would see me. No one but . . .
Without any further thought, I flashed to the Council Hall cellar. Darkness filled the corridor, now that the door upstairs and the one at the end of the hall were both closed. My eyes adjusted quickly and skimmed the five doors lining each side of the hall. I was only interested in one. The last door on the left, the one imprisoning the only nearby mind signature.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I crept down the corridor. No handle, no indication of a lock or anything interrupted the stone face of the door, except a small opening toward the top with bars and a metal screen covering it. Magic probably kept the door closed and locked the prisoner inside—magic I wouldn’t be able to break through. I stood on my toes and peeked through the barred window.
A girl with stringy, matted blond hair and eyes such a pale gray, they were almost no color at all, huddled in the corner. She must have been about twelve years old—not my daughter—but looked younger, so pathetic and harmless.
“You can open it,” a girl’s voice sounded in my mind. “You’re royalty. And you can help me get out of here. If that vampire comes back . . . I can’t take it again. What she does to me . . .”
I blanched. She couldn’t have known I could read her mind, so she simply thought words she couldn’t bring herself to voice, but her fear of what Julia did to her alarmed me. She flipped her arm out, and red indentions marked her skin in the crook of her elbow. I sucked in a breath. Bite marks. That was enough for me. I flicked my hand, and as she’d expected, the door slid open.
The girl sat motionless for a long moment, as if she wasn’t sure what to do. I stood perfectly still, not wanting to frighten her. When she still didn’t move, I took a step and crossed the threshold.
A high screech rented the air.
A blur of motion flew at me.
Her ears suddenly pointed up beyond the top of her head. Her eyes glowed pink. Her lips disappeared, exposing rows of pointed teeth filling her mouth. Hairy claws stretched out in front of her, aimed for my face. I noticed all this in a fraction of a second as she sailed toward me.
My hand flew up, and an electric jolt shot at her, throwing her to the corner she came from. She flew at me again. But a force jerked me out of the cell, and the door slammed shut, her body crashing against the other side. She let out a feral wail, muffled by the stone. Strong arms engulfed me, trapping me against a hard body.
“Damn it, Alexis. Don’t you listen?” Tristan growled. His voice was full of anger, but his hand gently stroked my hair.
“What was that?” I whispered. My heart still pounded against his abs.
He flashed us to the suite before answering. “Remember the potion Jordan and the witch created, the one that mixed the qualities of all the Daemoni creatures?”
I nodded.
“And you remember no one knew the exact recipe for it after his witch-lover died—”
“Yes, but the Daemoni continued trying to recreate it.”
“Exactly. They’ve been experimenting all this time. For centuries. They finally came close with Lucas, but he was a grown man when he drank it. They thought giving the potion to a man and a woman before conception would allow them to create the strongest, most powerful warrior ever. And they did.”
“You,” I whispered.