Boundary Born (Boundary Magic Book 3) - Melissa F. Olson Page 0,87

me—not what he’d said, but the fact that he’d answered so candidly. “What does he want with me?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” he said with a broad smile. “You’re the new keeper. And if all your reproductive organs work correctly, the new surrogate. You’ll bear his child.”

I gaped at him, but he just gave a little shrug, unapologetic. I shook my head in disbelief, taking a step back. “No. No.”

“Is it the incest thing?” he said, putting on a sympathetic expression. “Don’t worry. These days we use artificial insemination, so you won’t actually need to sleep with him. It’s all very modern. If it helps, we don’t think his offspring are susceptible to the same genetic defects caused by interbreeding, say, Dalmatians.”

“Why?” I practically screamed.

“Because,” Emil said, as calm as I was upset, “he needs a minder, and he needs to reproduce. Otherwise the boundary line will fail.”

“Let it,” I spat. “And you’re his minder.”

“Not for much longer,” he said casually. It brought me up short. He pointed to the cigar dangling between his lips. “I’ve got six months, maybe a year. He was going to find you eventually, of course, but it forced us to move up the timeline.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the best,” he said. He was trying to keep his voice light, but there was an edge of resentment there. “The strongest. Like your mother. He was pissed when Valerya got away. You’re like a second chance at her.”

“I won’t do it,” I whispered, taking a step back.

“Your choice. But, of course, we’ll kill the good officer. And I doubt Lysander will stop there. He’s just dying to be let off the leash. So to speak.” He smiled at his own joke. “He’s had to be so careful since the Concilium fell. If you anger his sponsors, they’ll let him have this city.” He waved a hand dismissively. “They can always make up a story. Bird flu. Airborne Ebola. Zombie apocalypse. You know.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked him. “You’re not a true believer. Do you even care about the bloodline?”

He paused at that, and the look that passed over his face was dark and complicated. “It’s not that I don’t care,” he said after a moment. “It’s that I care about other things more.” His voice quieted. “My mother, for instance.”

My anger stuttered to a pause. What had Sam said about Emil? That he was basically a good guy who’d done some bad things? “Lysander threatened her,” I said, understanding. “You have to help him. What will they do to her if you don’t?”

He was obviously trying to appear nonchalant, but the anger was showing through it. “They’ll make her try again. She’s too old, of course, but her body doesn’t appear that way. They’ve made her try for the last five years, going through the process over and over. I need to find her replacement before I die.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, and I actually meant it. “Sorry for what they did to you both. But I am no one’s fucking concubine. Leave my town now, and I won’t come after you. I promise.”

He studied me, and for about two seconds, I actually thought he was tempted to listen. But then he tossed the cigar on the ground, stepped on it, and pointed to me. “Take her,” he told the vampires.

When they stepped forward, Opal was in the lead.

Chapter 35

One of the six stayed near Emil, making sure I couldn’t harm him, but the other five slowly stalked forward, spreading out so they could surround me. I gritted my teeth. Now what? I made eye contact with Opal, who was closest. Lysander hadn’t warned them to avoid my eyes, and unlike Ford, Maven didn’t train her people to evade me. I’d never tried to undo a press before, but there was no time to think about it. If they got me into a car, I would never return.

I closed my eyes quickly, dropping into the mindset of my magic. The vampires appeared to me as glowing red embers, brighter and more vibrant than the blue of Emil and Elise’s humanity. I darted forward and placed my tattoos on either side of Opal’s face. More quickly than I’d ever done it, I opened a connection between the two of us and locked her into it. “I’m not your enemy,” I said softly. “I’m your ally. Remember me.”

She halted, and in her body’s stillness I could feel the confusion. Instinctively, I realized that Lysander’s press had gone