Giovanni frowned. “It’s hard to say. As twisted as it may seem to us, she saw herself as repaying a great favor when she engineered your human death. I think the fact that you’re a human descendant of Mithra was convenient and exciting to her, but I don’t know that—even if you were not—she would have allowed you to have a typical human life or death. Remember, Saba cares about humans, but she doesn’t see them as equals. The man who saved her son deserved immortality. At least in her own mind.”
In the distance, a loud boom reverberated. Giovanni and Ben rushed to the door and saw a distant puff of smoke far in the hills on the north side of Lalibela.
“Is that near the airport?”
“No,” Giovanni said. “I am going to guess that explosion is a fire vampire having a small temper tantrum.”
“Small?”
Giovanni nodded a little. “Knowing Arosh… quite small.”
“Great.” Ben stuffed his hands in his pockets. “This meeting should be super fun.”
Saba sat in the middle of the leather couch in the living room like a queen, nodding graciously as blood-wine was opened for her, frankincense was lit, and coffee was roasted. No one accompanied her but a single vampire of her line, Gedeyon, who stood behind her at attention.
Tenzin sat in the chair across from her, trying her best to remain civil after everything Ben had shared earlier that night.
Ben had shrugged and moved on, but Tenzin still felt the scrape of her knees against stone in a courtyard half a world away.
Saba looked up, her eyes piercing in their brightness and clarity. “You’re angry with me.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yes.” Saba sipped a glass of blood-wine. “What were you forced to give, daughter of Zhang?”
“That is not for you to know.”
“Isn’t it?” Saba’s eyes never left hers even as she drank the blood in the goblet. “I know the answer already. You were forced to give nothing. Everything you offered was given willingly.”
“I would have given anything to keep him alive.”
Tenzin heard silence fall around them, and all the polite murmurs of company fell away. Perhaps some immortals wouldn’t want to speak of such personal things among others, but Tenzin knew she wasn’t saying anything that Ben, Giovanni, Beatrice, Sadia, Dema, and Chloe didn’t already know.
They were her family.
Saba smiled softly. “You bare your secrets in your actions, daughter, even as you keep the truth in your heart.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do.”
“Tenzin.” Ben put his hand on her arm. “Learning to love it, remember? I’m not angry anymore. Let it go; we can’t change the past.”
She finally looked away from the arrogant queen and to her mate. “You are more forgiving than I am.”
“Anger…” He shrugged. “I’ve learned that it doesn’t accomplish much.”
Tenzin turned back to Saba. “You have given the scroll to Benjamin as the blood and immortal heir of Mithra.”
“I have.”
Ben leaned toward Saba. “I know you told me to learn to read Ge’ez—and I will do that—but you should know more than anyone else.” He gave her a level look. “The scroll… is it real?”
“You’ve held it in your own hands,” Saba said. “You’ve felt its power.”
“But that doesn’t tell me if it actually will let me control all four elements,” he countered. “Do you know—?”
“I told you, I do not know if it works.” She spoke carefully. “I do know that Mithra spent two thousand years writing the scroll. I know that he claimed to have mastered the discipline of a practice that would give him control of all four elements.”
“He claimed?”
“Mithra was… an interesting friend.” Saba’s eyes drifted away from Ben. “If anyone could train their mind to master the four elements, it would have been him.”
Tenzin wondered what kind of obsessive vampire would choose to spend thousands of years trying to master all four elements.
She was a little bit afraid she was going to find out.
Ben persisted. “So this isn’t a… spell? Or some magic—”
“It is a map, Benjamin Vecchio.” She glanced at Giovanni. “I believe you have learned to read maps, have you not?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a map quite like this.”
Her eyes returned to him. “Oh no. You definitely have not. But as Tenzin stated, I have named you as Mithra’s heir. The scroll is yours to study for as long as you may need to study it to discover its secrets.”
Ben sat back in his seat. “That sounds like the project of a lifetime.”
“Indeed,” Saba said. “Of many lifetimes. Which you have now.”
Tenzin was still focused on practical matters. “You have named Ben the heir of Mithra. And have you have made this clear to your fellow elders?”
Saba nodded. “Arosh and Ziri are on their way back to Alitea. They have matters to attend in court that have no bearing on my personal territory.”
And Arosh hadn’t told Saba anything about Desta’s belongings. Apparently.
This presented an opportunity in Tenzin’s opinion. An excellent opportunity.
“Being that the scroll was in your territory for centuries,” Tenzin said, “and left in the safekeeping of your human kings, it is yours to give. And you have done it.” She turned to Ben and smiled. “So she has no need of an exchange.”
Ben’s expression told her he didn’t approve. “That’s not what we agreed to, Tenzin.”
“My daughter has told me of the recovered items you gave to her,” Saba said. “On behalf of my people and their history, I thank you.”
“Good.” Ben was still staring at Tenzin. “That’s great to hear. Tenzin, did you want to add anything to that?”
She shook her head slowly. “I think we’re settled. Like you said, let it go.”
Ben pursed his lips. “I don’t think that’s what I meant.”
“Literal meanings can be so limiting, don’t you think?” She glared at him. Think of the pretty crown. Think of the beautiful book. “I think if you consider everything we returned to Hirut, we’ve given far more than we’ve been given, and that’s always a good place to be.” Tenzin tried to make the most virtuous expression she was capable of.
She wasn’t sure she succeeded, and Ben was clearly not convinced.
“A better place to be is a place without secrets.” He turned to Saba. “Saba, Tenzin and I have found Desta’s crown.”
Damn it!
Well, it was almost worth giving up the beautiful crown to see the shock on Saba’s face. Almost. Tenzin offered her a smug smile as Ben explained more.
“We also found one of her illuminated books in a private collection in San Francisco,” he said softly. “We confirmed the authenticity of the book with Lucien. He says he remembers his sister painting it. I promise you, I would not claim these things if we weren’t sure we had the right pieces; that would be cruel.”