“I love you,” he said. “All of you.” He released me. “Take care of her,” he said to Uriel. “The rest of you, let’s clean this fucking place up.”
With a final look at our trashed home, I headed out the busted front doors.
I had a phoenix to send.
Chapter Twenty-Six
It was strange entering the Dominus quarters, knowing it would be empty of the guys. But Iza was there to greet us.
“Fee, you’re back.” She looked so happy to see me that I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t staying. “I put fresh sheets on your bed,” she said. “Will Masters Azazel, Malachi, and Conah be back soon too?”
“I don’t know, Iza. I think things will be…quiet around here for a while. In fact, I think you and the others should take some time off.”
Her eyes went wide. “You want us to leave?”
“Just for a few days. Go see friends and family. I’ll send a message to the tavern when things are…normalish.”
“So, the rumors are true…” She wrung her hands. “Lilith has been taken.”
Oh shit. Now was the time to lie to her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. “Iza, can I trust you?”
She looked offended that I’d asked. “Have I ever given you cause to doubt me?”
I bit back a smile. “No, which is why I’m going to tell you the truth.”
She held her breath.
“Lilith was taken.”
She let out a sharp cry and staggered slightly. Uriel caught her, and she shook him off indignantly and flung herself at me.
I hugged her to my thigh. “It’ll be okay. Azazel, Mal, and Conah will find her, and everything will be fine, but you cannot tell anyone, do you understand? We can’t add fuel to the rumors, or it will incite fear and panic.”
She tipped her head up, eyes brimming with tears. “Our poor queen. Taken by the usurper.”
Oh, God. I hadn’t realized how dramatic imps could be. “I promise you we will fix this. But you need to keep this to yourself. You’re in the circle of trust now. You mustn’t break it.”
She shook her head vehemently. “I vow it.”
“Okay, good. Gather the others and take a holiday, tell them…tell them it’s a boon for doing an excellent job. You’ll be paid, of course…double pay.”
She nodded. “Yes, Fee.”
“Good. But before you go, do you know where the guys go to send a phoenix?”
She stared at me in surprise. “Please don’t tell me the Masters haven’t shown you the aviary.”
We had an aviary?
The aviary wasn’t an enclosure, it was a garden on the other side of the quarters set on a ledge below the roof. It was a huge space with a dome over the top to keep out the elements. It was heated with windows here and there to let in the phoenixes, and what wondrous creatures they were.
Majestic birds that came in shades of red-orange and black, they ranged in size from the size of my forearm to the size of my thigh.
I stood amidst the blooms and the flora, staring at the creatures whirring up ahead. One moment they were there, the other, they winked out of existence.
I gripped Uriel’s forearm, my gaze still on the spot where the birds had just been. “What just happened?”
“They cloaked themselves,” he said. “They can do that. Wait. Watch.”
A gust of air brushed my cheek, and then a phoenix landed a meter away from me. It stood watching me.
“Wait,” Uriel said softly. He crouched and made a soft tutting sound.
The phoenix opened its beak, and a low whistle echoed around us.
“What does that mean?”
“It means it’s ready for your message. There should be scrolls and ink here somewhere.”
I found the items laid on a table to our left, which was almost obscured by plants, and wrote out a simple note asking Conah to come to the pack house if he could spare the time. There was a metal container designed for the scroll, so I rolled it up and pushed the paper inside.
“Now what?”
“Now you feed it to the phoenix and tell it who you wish it delivered to. A phoenix is a messenger, with the unique ability to find anyone whose essence it has tasted at least once. Every phoenix here has been fed essential essences.”
“Even yours?”
“Even mine,” Uriel said. “I’ve been the contact for the Dominus for a while. Hold out the scrolls to the bird and say the recipient’s name, and the phoenix will find him.”