Hour of the Dragon - Heather Killough-Walden Page 0,37
sovereigns. And the last, the Great Black Bantariax… well, Maze had unwittingly seen to his temporary demise.
The Legendary Black had been shattered in the wake of Victor’s escape, his essence and power cast to the four winds. Little bits and pieces of him now existed here and there, scattered across the face of the planet. And as for humanity’s last defense… the Traveler sages, the genii mages of time and space that were the only thing in the multiverse as ancient as Maze himself, well… he could only think of one that still existed.
She was strong. Katrielle was a worthy opponent. But he had plans for the chosen love of Bantariax. He had something special in mind for the mate of the one who had imprisoned him. In fact, the redheaded guide of magic and men was at the very crux of revenge.
“I take it by your silence that she is, in fact, thinking of a man?” the human male beside him interrupted again. His voice was soft, but there was a building fury lacing the torn edges of his words. Normally Victor would appreciate the evidence of humanity’s slow and careful loss of emotional control. But right now, the man was irritating him.
“If we already know where she is, why don’t we just take her? Why do we not act? What are we even doing here?”
Well, you’re here getting jealous and impatient, and I’m in turn feeding off your delicious inner chaos, Victor thought. “We’re observing,” he said.
The man fell silent, but he turned to look out the window, effectively hiding his face and what Victor guessed was an expression of infuriation.
Victor smiled because he knew that the most effective way to make the man suffer for his pestering insolence was to simply answer his questions. “As a matter of fact, she is thinking of a man, Mr. Price. Two, actually. Both are handsome and powerful, and you would do well to pray you never encounter either.”
Randall Price stiffened a little on the luxury leather seat beside Victor. Victor’s soft laughter, he felt from deep inside; if the man hadn’t wanted to know, he should not have asked. “She just finished thinking about her warden clan leader. I’m sure I’ve told you about them. And at the moment, she’s remembering her first meeting with her sentinel,” he continued freely. “A man who can be harmed by neither human nor inhuman means, and one who will always be there for his lovely violet-eyed charge.” He paused for effect and finally spared his companion a cut of his gaze. “Would you like to know what he did to her the first time they met? Alone in a public restroom?”
Price swallowed hard, and Victor thoroughly enjoyed the wave of tasty emotion that rolled off the human and blanketed the car’s interior. But Maze wasn’t finished with him.
“However, I sense your restlessness Mr. Price. You’re eager for things to progress. Since I can’t enact my plan before I am at full strength and I only gain that strength through certain, qualifying acts of methodical bedlam, if you’d like I can hurry things along by sending her Jeep careening from the clifftops. Vehicle accidents are perfect when they occur through a driver’s attempt at engaging in a good deed. One thing leads to another, step by ill-fated step, and almost inevitably, the organized process results in pandemonium.” He shrugged and gestured to the scenic view through the window. “Besides, I’m certain the vehicle would make a breathless spectacle highlighted against the backdrop of that early morning sun, sand, and surf.”
Up ahead, a small animal darted in front of the white Jeep, and the driver swerved to miss it. The sound of screeching tires rang out loud enough that they could hear it several cars back. The animal barely escaped the encounter, and the top-heavy Jeep put more weight on two tires than was comfortable. It was a close call.
But then, Maze had known it would be. He’d orchestrated it to play out as it had, also knowing that the object of their attention had protected herself and her friend against mortal damage, such as the kind you would sustain in a car accident. He’d done it purely for show, and his efforts were rewarded when he saw that his young human companion had gone as white as paper.
“No! No,” Price interjected frantically, lifting a hand in placation. A beat passed, the Jeep leveled out to drive straight again, and the young man at once