Ice trickles though my veins, because I know what she’s about to ask, and I’m powerless to stop her.
“Keon,” she purrs up at me. “I want you to kill her.”
No.
The noose is around my neck, tight and unforgiving.
No, please no.
“Make it look like an accident. Do it in the heat of battle. End her. You will end her.”
The order settles into my mind, into my soul, and I am bound.
I will kill Fee.
I have no choice.
Chapter Forty-Five
Fee
Esmael left and Uri and I decided there was no point going back to camp. By the time we got there, it would be time to fly back, and we’d be exhausted. Instead, we retreated closer to the forest where we were shielded from the cutting breeze and built a small campfire. We sat with our backs to a thick tree trunk to wait for Esmael’s return.
Uri was quiet and reflective, so I gave him space to think with my silence. Long minutes passed.
“I feel different,” Uri said softly.
The knot in my stomach was back. “How different?” I turned my head to look at him. “Talk to me.”
“I feel…whole and…” he ducked his head. “I feel like I may have finally found my purpose.”
I’d given him the beta role with Rising Pack. I’d kept him with me, a part of the pack and the Dominus team, but I finally understood the conflict he must have felt.
“Uri…”
“I know,” he said. “I know you never felt I was any lesser than the others. But losing my role as a Grigori, even though I’d never fully felt at home in it, made me feel even more afloat. You and the guys…you made me feel welcome, a part of the team, but I never felt whole. I always felt as if I was the weak link and now…”
“You’re complete.”
“Yes. I finally know who and what I am. I finally feel I can be the man you deserve.”
I cupped his face and stared deep into his beautiful ember eyes. “There was never any doubt in my heart or mind about that. I love you, Uri. I love you whatever role you choose to embrace.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth. “I love you, Seraphina Dawn.”
He kissed me softly, lips molding to mine in a lingering caress. Heat bloomed low in my belly because if I opened to him, if I parted my mouth and tasted him with my tongue I’d be lost. I’d want him, all of him here and now, and now wasn’t the time.
He pulled back before I could break the kiss and pressed his forehead to my temple. “When this is over…”
“Yes, please.”
He kissed my forehead “Get some rest. I’ll keep watch.”
I snuggled up to him, listening to the steady beat of his heart and the even rise and fall of his breath.
It was a companionable silence, and with the soft crackle and pop of the fire, and Uri’s solid form to brace me, my eyes drifted closed.
I was in darkness that reeked and clawed at my throat, and water sloshed around my boots. There was a door up ahead, blue and rusty in the light from my lantern. I pressed my hand to it.
Not my hand.
A male hand
His hand.
Cain.
I came to with a start when Uri shifted suddenly, and the dream slipped into the deep, dark recesses of my mind, leaving my heart pounding way too hard.
What had that been? The dream… What was it?
“Esmael’s back,” Uri said, his tone tight.
The sky was gray with predawn light, and there was a speck high in the sky, getting larger as it hurtled toward us.
Esmael.
We stepped into the clearing as he landed neatly and shook his powerful head, dislodging sparkling dewdrops. Steam rose off his mammoth form, and his wings flexed, spraying more dew.
“What happened?” Uri asked.
Esmael bowed his head. “I was unsuccessful in my efforts. They will not fight, not for an absent general.”
Uri’s body seemed to swell—larger, broader. “No. No this will not do.”
There was only one thing for it. “You need to go with him, Uri. You need to speak to them.”
“I can’t leave you,” Uri said.
“You can. I’ll be fine. This is more important. Fuck. I should have made you go with Esmael the first time. I…I should have pushed, but…I was scared.”
“Scared?”
“That I’d lose you.” I shook my head. “You’re different, and what if the changes haven’t stopped. What if, while you’re away, you forget me.”
He cupped my face. “Fee, you’re in my heart, in every fiber of my being. I may forget myself, but I will never forget you.”
God, I was such a twit. “I know. Please go. Get us the help we need.”
Uri nodded and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I love you, Fee, I’ll see you soon.”
“It will be easier if you ride,” Esmael said.
Uri climbed onto Esmael’s back, and I locked gazes with him and blew him a kiss just before he and Esmael made for the skies.
Be safe, Uri.
Be a fucking general.
I entered the cavern to find Samael and Azazel barking orders to the troops.
Mal caught sight of me and broke away from the guards he was speaking to then wove his way toward me.
I looked up at him. “What’s going on?”
“Our scouts reported back that Mammon has sent emissaries out already. He’s mobilizing, spreading the word of his conquest. He’ll demand their allegiance and if they sign, they are bound to aid him against any attack we make.”
“Aren’t they bound to aid Lilith right now?”
“Yes, and they did, by providing us with troops, but since Lilith no longer has control of the Keep, the contract is void. Those troops, what’s left of them, will belong to Mammon, and we’ll have no chance of getting back control.”
“So, the contract is all about who controls the Keep?”
“The Keep sits on a nexus,” Mal said. “It has power of its own, and whoever claims it controls that power and the fertility of the regions connected to it. Crops, cattle, you name it.”
Fuck. “So, what do we do?”
“I’m assuming we don’t have a Seraphim army?” he said.
“Not yet.” I quickly filled him in on what had happened.
“Wow.” Mal said. “Uri…shit. Let’s hope he can rally them, but we don’t have time to wait. We need to move now, and we need to use what we have.”
“You have a plan?”
He gave me a wicked grin. “Don’t I always?”
“The sewers?” Cora said. “We’re taking the underground shit pipes?”
I loved the way she put things.
“Yes,” Conah said. “Mal’s idea.” He looked almost put out about that.
I guess, being the information guy, he probably expected to come up with that idea.
We were huddled together as Mal relayed the plan he’d come up with. “I did some grunt work a few decades ago which involved the sewer access.”
Conah snorted. “You mean the punishment for your illicit liaison with a visiting ambassador’s wife?”