Myanin knelt down and placed her finger under the elder’s chin and turned her head so that she was looking into her eyes. “Now, your mind is mine. There is nothing you can do to stop me from taking everything out of that head of yours.” Part of her wished Lyra could speak because she really wanted to hear the other woman freak out. But it was better if she couldn’t make any sound. Drawing attention would seriously put a damper on Myanin’s plans.
She placed her hands on either side of Lyra’s head and closed her eyes. Her mind drifted back to a time when she and Thadrick had been so close that he’d shared secrets with her—secrets she knew he wasn’t supposed to reveal. She specifically remembered the day he told her how to access information in an elder’s head, something that only the historians were supposed to know how to do. She could recall it as if it were yesterday.
“Why would you tell me that?” Myanin asked him.
Thadrick starred out at the lake. “Because I don’t think any one group of people should have that amount of power. There needs to be some who can have an advantage if the elders ever became corrupt.”
Myanin frowned. “You think our elders could go dark?”
He shrugged. “Everyone has the capability of evil. It’s simply one choice away from being good.”
She pulled herself from the memory, not wanting to dwell on those words. Her current choices were based on the fact that her own race had turned on her. What was she supposed to do? Myanin pushed those thoughts away and then drew up the spell that Thadrick had taught her in order to access the memories. She spoke in the ancient language of her people, one that was only used during elder meetings. They spoke every language because they were the history keepers, but because of their time in the human world, they’d adopted the English language as the one they most commonly used. Many of the other supernaturals had done the same thing.
But Thadrick had made it clear she needed to use the old language to invoke the power that lived inside of the elder. Once she was able to reach Lyra’s magic, she would be able to remove the protection around her mind. As Myanin spoke, she felt Lyra’s magic weakening and her own getting stronger. It took a little longer than expected, but suddenly she was inside of Lyra’s mind. She could see everything the elder had seen over the course of her long life.
It was overwhelming, and Myanin had to force herself not to get caught up in all of the information. Instead, she focused on the most recent happenings. She pushed her will into the elder, seeking the knowledge she required. Myanin couldn’t stay in her own realm, so she needed to know what was going on in the supernatural and human realms before she just waltzed on out there unprepared.
When she saw the history of the past couple years, she was shocked. The vampires and the Order of the Burning Claw … and the freaking elf king risen from the dead. Geez, she hadn’t realized how boring her life had been with all this going on outside the djinn realm.
When Myanin obtained the information she needed, she released Lyra’s head. The woman’s eyes were barely open, and her breathing was shallow. Lyra stared up at her through the small slits.
“You’re going to die,” Myanin said. “Just to be clear. I don’t want you laying here hoping that the toxin will wear off and you will be able to skip off to the rest of the elders.”
Lyra, of course, couldn’t respond. She just laid there, barely breathing. Myanin, maybe a little twisted, stood up and watched as the elder continued to breathe slower and slower until, finally, the air wheezed out of her, and Lyra’s chest didn’t rise again.
Once she was sure that Lyra wasn’t going to suddenly get up, Myanin walked over to her corner chair and picked up the pack she’d hidden behind it. She had food and some human money that she’d found in Lyra’s safe. The elders kept many different types of currency in case of need. But the money Myanin stole was United States currency because the veil she planned to take would lead her into an American city and straight into Thadrick’s home.
It hadn’t been easy, but Myanin had managed to escape