Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,6

families. I wouldn’t have thought they’d be so sure of their position and strength at this point to risk it.”

I motioned to the sword. “She was bearing what I think is a revamped version of the soul swords. Maybe they intended to sow confusion and doubt.”

“Unlikely, given no one who knows anything at all about soul blades would ever mistake that thing for one. Whatever the hell it contained, it certainly didn’t follow the light.”

“Most of those in soul blades didn’t either. They were placed in the sword as penance for fraternizing with Darkside.”

A smile twitched her lips. “I think it safe to say they were doing a whole lot more than merely fraternizing. But still I don’t believe a soul inhabited this blade. I think it was a demon.”

My gaze darted to the sword. “An actual demon? How in the hell is that possible?”

“Anything is possible when it comes to the right spell, and dark elves do have a history of subjugating others to their will.”

No doubt. “But what use would an actual demon be? It’s not like that can impart any sort of magical energy to help with a kill.”

“No, but it’s not beyond the realm of feasibility that they could imbue the user with physical strength. There were plenty of such items in ancient times.”

I frowned. “I was under the impression that the means of creating soul blades—and whatever this thing is—had been forgotten.”

“We did. They obviously didn’t.” She rose. “I’ll keep an eye on our captive. You might want to grab her keys and go see if you can find her car. And call Luc on your way. He can organize for the preternatural boys to come and pick her up.”

The Preternatural Division was a part of the National Crime Agency and had both witches and psi talents on their books to help investigate supernatural and magical crimes. They’d gotten involved in this whole mess after a number of possible heirs for the Witch King’s crown had turned up dead.

Max, eliminating the competition and ensuring he was the only one able to draw Elysian.

My eyebrows rose. “And you can’t call him because …?”

“Because I’m an interfering old bird who has a vested interest in seeing you and him hook up.”

“Do I want to know what this vested interest might be—aside from the satisfaction of proving you were right about him being my destiny, that is? Or should I just ignore the whole thing as per usual?”

She grinned. “Luc knows. I’ve gone into great detail with the man.”

I gave her a long look. “About what?”

“Grandbairns, of course. I want lots of them.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be expecting babies from me anytime soon—especially when we haven’t even had sex yet. And, besides, you already have two.”

Which had been an utterly surprising revelation and no real cause for celebration. Max’s only intention in having kids had been to secure his line of succession. His twins—a boy and a girl—were currently under our guard, and while Max had made no attempt as yet to get them back, I had no doubt he would.

Mo’s amusement faded. “Yes, and I suspect it’s going to take years for us to unpick the damage Darkside has done to them both.”

I frowned. “Riona seemed relatively untouched by darkness.”

“Reign is not. But that’s a problem for after we’ve stopped your brother and Darkside. Go.”

I picked up the keys, dragged on a coat, and then headed out. The wind whipped around me and the rain hit hard, blowing me back a step or two before I caught my balance and trudged on.

There were double yellow lines down most of the street, so unless you had off-street parking—we did, thanks to the old blacksmith building Mo had bought quite a few years ago—there was no legitimate place to stop. Not that those in league with Darksiders would be all that worried about rules. I headed in the same direction the man-mountain had been running. There might be no parking this side of the old bridge but the other side did have several out-of-hours sections. I couldn’t imagine the Blackbird would have risked allowing man-mountain to walk too far, dead of night or not. His size and shape made him not only easy to spot but also signaled to anyone who knew anything about demons and Darkside exactly what he was.

I ran over the bridge and spotted a Ford Transit van sitting in front of the small café just down from the corner intersection. I clicked the remote,