First Apprentice

Chapter 30 Part 4

"Terry is a living ghost, Alannah. All he cares about is joining his mate and daughter in the afterlife."

Clouds swirled around us and the trees melted into the basalt walls of my testing chamber.

"Tylar leaned against the wall beside Maria's cot with her hand clasped in his as he scanned the room with weary eyes. Brian slipped his arm under Dev's shoulders and helped him sit up enough to swallow a few mouthfuls of broth before Dev passed out again. All while Mael's raspy breaths echoed off the walls.

"Why am I seeing your candidates inside your study?"

The truth hovered on the tip of my tongue. I laced my fingers with his, absently rubbing my thumb over a ropy scar on his hand while I contemplated my answer. My instincts urged me to tell him. They whispered promises that he wouldn't betray us, but my rational mind recalled Joel's warning about assassins. Whether he genuinely believed the candidates assassinated each other or not, I doubted he'd be pleased that I ignored his warning. "Were any of Luis's poisoned?"

"Two. They were there on personal business when the call went out."

"Where are they?"

"The Healers." He nibbled on my ear and pressed his nose against my neck. "Don't change the subject."

"If you value their lives, get them out. Take them to a healer you trust, preferably one who's sworn to you personally."

Joel's arms loosened as he pushed me back. He searched my face. "Why?"

"Because lethal aura poisoning kills within twelve hours and aura poisoning doesn't progress unless it's left untreated. I currently have five sealers kept alive by cruju. Three who showed up on my doorstep with fatal poisoning nearly a week after they were poisoned and another two who turned fatal in the time it took to brew it."

Feathers sprouted along his cheekbones, shiny black with white tips. He growled, flexing his talons. "Is their healer capable or should I send one?"

"Li's one of the worst off. I offered a guardian contract; Mei accepted."

"Mei's with you?" When I nodded, the tension bled out of his shoulders as his feathers merged with his skin then disappeared. "When I became chief, Mei was the first to reaffirm her oaths. If I had to choose between her or Diane, I'd pick Mei every time. Do you need anything? Food, elixirs, blankets."

I laid a finger over his lips. "Already taken care of." Nibbling on my bottom lip, I peeked at him through my eyelashes, wondering if I dared ask for what I really needed.

His arms tightened. A pile of green silk pillows appeared behind Joel. He leaned back, pulling me with him until I lay with my head pillowed against his chest. The pillows were so soft they felt like laying on a cloud. Rather, how I imagined clouds felt until Uncle Manfred took me flying and flew through a puffy one. Wet gryphon perfume, run off any suitor satisfaction guaranteed.

Maybe I didn't need to ask.

A smile flitted across my lips as I let sleep take me.

Six hours later, I woke well rested despite my oddly vivid dreams. Strange dreams.

A red-haired man, swaddled in the Seven's black, laid on a funeral pyre. Polished moonstones covered his eyes and a sword hilt peeked out from beneath the wrappings. Only the Dracon covered the eyes with moonstones. Two stones, one to throw north and the other south as distractions for the ferryman. Real warriors swim then fight the Mother's guard for their place. To the Dracon, death was more brutal than life.

Terry dragged a middle-aged man dressed in healer green with his hands bound behind him to the pyre, doused him with oil, and hit him with a fireball. The dream cut off mid-scream. I should feel horrified.

I didn't. The healer, a Shedu dae whose daughter died during a Dracon raid, refused to treat Terry's apprentice because the apprentice was a Dracon. Left untreated, his wounds turned septic. The apprentice died shortly after Terry arrived. The healer shared his apprentice's fate.

I frowned. How did I know that?

Snippets of memories chased each other, round and round like children playing a singing game. Not that I ever played them. Grandfather deemed my magic too out of control to play with non-daes and Martha considered them unladylike. I always wondered if she knew the deportment lessons Grandfather arranged used swords.

A ganglier Terry dropped a haunch of beef on a conference table and explained in a deadly whisper exactly what he would do to the supplier if the next shipment arrived reeking of decay. A curvy woman with brilliant green eyes sat across from Terry, Joel, and two men and a woman all wearing the army's blue coat and red trousers, discussing how the army could report to Terry as Katia's laws required without him spending every waking moment handling their affairs. He should be a sealer first and foremost, not a general. The memory skipped over the debates to the solution. Terry's office had double the administrative staff, divided into different departments with the department head authorized to handle day to day tasks like outfitting my sealers. Most of the paperwork I saw in his office concerned the Gates, clan requests, and guardians. All things he couldn't hand off to his battalion of secretaries.

I chuckled when I realized the common thread. Joel was present in every memory. Rather than debate whether Terry knew about the situation and his possible motives, Joel shared select memories while I slept. All of which suggested Terry didn't know about the situation.

In the last dream, a courier handed me an officious envelope bearing the Seven's stamp. I recalled the smoothness of the parchment, the slight odor of wax and leather. I slid a talon under the edge, sliced through the wax, and unfolded the missive. My eyebrows rose to my hairline as I read the notice. Due to pressing concerns regarding the gates and recent negotiations with the Shedu, the Seven's next full meeting would not be postponed until all members were available.

Terry called Endellion's second cousin Krishna — Selim's father — brother. Krishna helped raise him. Like me, he was raised on stories of the first war and how Uncle Manfred took out three Dracon war chiefs by intercepting a courier bearing a meeting request. After reading the document, he wiped the courier's memory, released him, and set up an ambush. Terry would never send a notice in such a public fashion. He always used the amulet for such things.

Amit would though.