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I moved, blocking him with my body. “Dianna. As much as I want him dead, we can’t. You can’t.”
She paused, her smile turning lethal as she shook her head. “Oh, yes, I can. Do you want to watch?”
I raised my hand. “Think about it. He knows where Kaden is and where they are shipping this. He said Azrael is alive, Dianna. Do you know what that means?”
She closed her eyes briefly, her shoulders sagging as she tipped her head back. I saw her lower the blade, but her grip tightened.
“That’s all you fucking care about,” she said, her voice but a whisper.
“What? No.” I shook my head, dropping my hand. “He’s valuable, Dianna. That’s it.”
“No,” She looked at me, and for a second, I saw the hurt and pain flash in her ember-filled eyes as she pointed the blade at me, “she was.”
“She was, and he is going to pay for that. Do you really think I care if Santiago lives after everything he has done to you?” Dianna tipped her head, listening. I had her attention, and I hurried on. “I need information, and I plan to extract that the same way I have done for centuries.”
Dianna folded her arms, the sword held lazily in her hand.
“So, that’s your plan? Use the energy you did on me until he talks and tells you where Kaden is?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“And then what? Kill him after?”
I waved a hand. “He will pay for his crimes. The Council of Hadrameil will see to his execution as they have done for eons.”
“For his crimes? Such a hero.” She stifled a laugh. “You’re adorable, always so kind to help the monsters, but we could skip all that, and you could let me have him. You don’t even have to get those perfect hands dirty.”
“Or,” I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, “we could come to an agreement and work together as we once did.”
“Been there, done that. Didn’t work out for us, did it?” She frowned and shrugged. “So, I’ll pass. You have to do everything by the book, and I’d much rather maim, you know? I mean, he would be what? A captive for you and this mythical council?”
“He would be a prisoner of war, yes.”
She tapped her foot on the floor as she glanced down for a moment. “Well, your prisoner of war is gone, so…”
I turned behind me and saw nothing but an empty hall. The small lights down the corridor still spinning. I cursed under my breath and placed my hands on my hips, before turning back to her.
“How did I not hear him?”
Dianna unfolded her arms, her long wavy hair bouncing against her shoulders as she shrugged. “You were really into your speech. Honestly, I didn’t want to interrupt you. Santiago is a creep and likes to spell his feet so he can sneak around. He’s a weasel like that.”
“Ah,” I said. A part of me missed this, and all of me missed her. It felt so right being in her presence, hearing her voice, bantering, the way we had worked together, all of it. Even if she denied our bond, I still felt it with razor-sharpness. Gods, I missed it all, but my nostalgia was short-lived.
“Did you see him leave?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“And you let him.”
She nodded again. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
She blew out a slow breath, her cheeks puffing from the air as she strode forward. “To be fair, I was going to come for you after I finished Santiago, but since you’re here now,” her voice dropped an octave, her eyes blazing a shade brighter, fangs lowering to grace the edge of her bottom lip as if the Ig’Morruthen inside of her had risen to the surface, “I have a better plan.”
Dianna lunged, swinging her sword over her head and toward me. I sidestepped, calling a blade from my ring and raising it to block her. Her attacks were hard and brutal, making even me grimace at the sheer force behind them. She was strong before, but now her strength was damn near terrifying.
I pushed away from her second blow, forcing her to step back. It was only a second before she came forward again, so quickly I didn’t even see her bend the shadows around her. One minute she was in front of me, the next behind me, just like when we fought in Zarall. My sword swept behind me, knocking away her blade as she tried to slash my back. I spun toward her, but she was gone again. Pain shot across my shoulder blade. Another brush of air and fire slid along my side, followed by a deep sting and a rush of blood from my arm. She was so fucking fast. I tried to block her, but another slash hit the back of my knee, dropping me. Her heels clicked across the floor as she walked around me and stopped, facing me. A smile graced her lips as she forced my chin up with the flat of her blade. “Look at that. Gods do know how to bow.”
