Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles #4) - Ilona Andrews Page 0,95
always make more children, but it was vital that he be allowed to eat me.”
Arland swore.
“He raved about it. My father was worried that they wouldn’t be able to contain him, and he appealed to the Innkeeper Assembly. They sent the ad-hal and the ad-hal took him away. That’s why the Mukama are barred from inns.”
Maud sighed. “I didn’t tell you because I had forgotten it. I’ve had nightmares about it every night on this planet, but I must have repressed it. It was just too scary. All of my energy was spent either tending to your wounds or trying to not throw myself at you.”
His eyebrows crept up.
“As to why nobody told the Holy Anocracy, the vampires are just one of the thousands of species who come through Earth’s inns. We maintain our neutrality and we keep the secrets of our guests.”
Maud frowned. “What is it about the children? The Mukama and their relatives seem uncontrollably drawn to them. Three creatures who had survived on a vampire world all this time burst out of hiding just to eat my daughter. Why now?”
“I don’t know,” Arland said. “But we will find out.”
They lay together in a comfortable silence. Maud basked in it. Warm and safe and…
“Tell me something. When I was running to you, I could have sworn the Mukona froze in mid-move. Was it you?”
She groaned and pulled the covers over her head.
Arland peeled the blankets back. “That’s not an answer.”
“It was me.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
He pinned her with his stare. “It reminded me of Tony. The ad-hal Tony. When he walked into the battle at your sister’s inn and froze the attacking Draziri.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why do you have to be so observant?”
“A lifetime of training and a few moments of fear,” Arland said. “When you see the woman you love and your daughter about to be eaten alive, it sharpens your senses a bit. Why do you have the magic of an ad-hal?”
“I wish I could tell you. I’ve never done that before. Nobody knows how the ad-hal are made or trained. When a child is chosen to become an ad-hal, and the family consents, they are taken away for a while. Sometimes a few months, sometimes a year. The older you are, the longer the training takes. They don’t talk about it, even with their families. Sometimes they come back, like Tony, sometimes they choose not to.”
“Are the ad-hal highly prized? Are they rare?”
“Yes,” she said.
His expression hardened.
“Are you formulating a battle plan in case the ad-hal show up here and try to take me or Helen away?” she asked.
“They will not take you away. You are the Maven of House Krahr. Nobody comes to take you away. They would have to kill the entirety of our House. You said it yourself, their numbers are few. Should they try, there would be a lot fewer of them.”
She gave a mock shudder. “So bloodthirsty.”
He flashed his fangs at her.
“It doesn’t work like that,” she explained. “Becoming an ad-hal is strictly voluntary. If I go back to Earth and demonstrate my new time freezing ability, assuming I can do it, because I don’t know how I did it and I’ve been trying to do it again with no success, the Innkeeper Assembly may want to ask me some questions. But I am not an innkeeper. They have no authority over me unless I break the treaty. But I like the way you think, my lord.”
Arland kissed her shoulder. “That’s excellent news.”
The kissing made it difficult to carry on a conversation. “Mhm. So when did you know your mother made me the Maven?”
“She informed me after the fact.” He nuzzled her neck. “Do you like being the Maven?”
“I’m thinking about it. What are you doing?”
“Since my wounds don’t need tending, I am seeing if I can get you to throw yourself at me.”
“Already?”
“A knight always rises to the occasion, my lady.”
The three of them were eating breakfast on her barren balcony. She and Arland sat at the table, enjoying mint tea and a platter of meats, cheeses and fruit, while Helen had taken her plate and sat cross-legged on the stone wall, contemplating the dizzying drop below. Every time she shifted her weight, Maud had to fight the urge to leap into action and pull her back from the edge.
“The child is completely fearless,” Arland said quietly.
“Karhari was flat,” Maud said. “I’m not sure if she understands