Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night (Immortals After Dark #4)(15)
Author: Kresley Cole

"What’re you doin’ here, lass?"

Casting Bowe a sympathetic glance, she said, "I had to come when I heard all the commotion at Val Hall."

"Commotion?"

"I had better let my aunt Nïx explain it." Emma’s beautiful blue eyes grew troubled. "She’s on her way here. Said Bowe was going to want to speak with her now?"

Bowe scowled. "Eerie, bloody foresight. I’m weary of it, and of magick – and of the whole bloody Lore!"

9

When Nïx blithely entered the room minutes later, Bowe said, "You told me that if I entered the Hie I would get my mate back. What reason would you have to deceive me?"

Ignoring his question, she unabashedly crawled onto the foot of Bowe’s bed. Her T-shirt read: It’ll only hurt for a second. Promise… Weird bloody Valkyries – and she was one of the weirdest. As the firstborn of her kind, she was likely over three thousand years old, though she looked not old enough to buy liquor in the States.

Other males saw Nïx as exceedingly comely; all Bowe saw was a powerful being made mad as a hatter from her foresight.

She lay on her side, bending her elbow to casually prop her head in her hand. With a sigh she said, "Bowen, I took you on as my pet project because I like to ogle you. Due to your rowr factor." Her distracted gaze flickered over his face and the bandaged end of his arm. "If you’re not going to keep yourself up, well – "

"Answer me."

"Sooooorry, I didn’t see that you’d be enthralled to love another, or, more correctly, ensorcelled – "

"I knew it!" Bowe cast a look at Lachlain.

"You’re aware of it, then?" Nïx asked.

Bowe annunciated, "Brutally."

"Mariketa will remove it from you, you know, in time," Nïx continued. "As well as that pesky mortality spell. Which is convenient since you must go for her and return her to her coven."

"Return her to the witches?" Bowe gave a humorless laugh. He’d had his suspicions confirmed, and now he really wanted to throttle Mariketa – not do her a sodding favor. "After I force her to fix me, I might just strand her in the jungle for this."

Nïx shook her head. "Not quite possible. There’s a contingent on their way here. Regin the Radiant is in a… snit. She and several of Mari’s witch friends – including the ever-vicious Carrow – arrive forthwith."

Bowe let her see exactly how bored he was with this news. Regin was a young Valkyrie he could take even in his present condition. And no witch would dare cross onto Lykae territory without permission.

Emma said, "Nïx, can’t you stall Regin?"

When Nïx shook her head, Bowe asked, "What did I do to that glowing little freak anyway?"

Nïx answered, "Because of your cousin Garreth, Lucia is gone. Everyone knows she’s Regin’s BFF, fellow hoodlum, partner in crimes both foreign and domestic – "

"Yes, yes, we get it," Emma interrupted.

"But then for Mari to disappear on top of that?" Nïx asked. "She, too, is one of Regin’s friends. They’re poker buddies, sisters of the Wii, and Mari is a vaunted member of the karaoke contingent. Regin has long acted as the witches’ designated driver."

"BFF?" Lachlain asked, brows drawn. "Sisters of the what?"

Emma supplied, "Best friend forever and a video game."

Lachlain muttered to Emma, "Your relatives are just no’ right."

Emma blinked at him. "Lachlain, I thought we were going to agree to disagree about this."

Bowe snapped, "She’s no’ friends with a Valkyrie. I heard her at the Hie assembly asking the most basic questions about your kind."

Chapter 6

"Was she doing it for someone else’s benefit?" Nïx asked.

Bowe thought back… The vampire had in fact been eavesdropping on her at the time. She’d bloody known it and had been feeding him information about the Valkyrie – about Kaderin! "Your friend Mariketa willfully sicced a vampire on your half sister Kaderin during the Hie. Still so ready to champion the devious little witch?"

"Please," Nïx scoffed. "Kad would have plucked Mari’s knees from her legs to slow her down. All in good fun. Besides, it’s not just Regin and her cohorts you have to worry about. There are others concerned that you took out the future leader of the House of Witches, one of the largest factions of the Lore." She tilted her head at Bowe and said softly, "My pet, you had to know there would be ramifications from your actions."

Nïx had begun calling him her pet and thinking of him as such, and he’d let her because she helped him on occasion – yet another indignity he’d endured to get to his mate. "If Mariketa is so sodding powerful, then why has she no’ used her magick to escape?"

"She lacks control over her volatile powers – and there are so many of them. We keep watching and waiting, but she’s just too young to harness them."

Bowe’s patience was nearing its limit. "Then the witch should no’ have entered the Hie in the first place!"

"Regardless… The House demands Mariketa be delivered safely – or your head. The Lykae won’t give up your head, so that means war. In that conflict, the Valkyrie will show allegiance to the House. And that means our allies must pony up some ill will toward you as well. The wraiths will happily, of course. The rebel Forbearer vampires will be pleased for a chance to show their loyalty to the Valkyrie – as will several Demonarchies, who coincidentally aren’t thrilled that you’ve entombed the true king of the rage demons, as well as his sole heir."

Bowe was well aware that Rydstrom was the true king, but damn it, he’d thought they’d find some way out.

"Four mighty wizards and thirty-seven covens of witches unite and arrive here this week." Her tone grew grave. "A nest of a dozen furies rise from sleep for this," she added, making Emma swallow nervously. "Don’t even get me started on who the elven archers know – let’s just put it this way: Their daddy’s bigger than your daddy."

"They all ally with those witch mercenaries?"

She nodded. "Naughty Lykae, creating an interspecies incident like this. Six immortals you trapped. This is a Charlie Foxtrot of epic proportions."

At Lachlain’s irritated look, Emma supplied, "Charlie Foxtrot is code for, well, a cluster ."

"Why dinna you tell me this was developing?" Lachlain asked Emma.

"I only knew about Regin and some growing rumblings within the House. I’m friends with the witches, but they’re very secretive and keep their plans close until they’re ready to act."