The Rebel Queen (Outlaw #1) - Lexi Blake Page 0,155
hours to wake. Chad had taken mere moments. Chad had been reasonable for a few minutes before the blood lust took over. Maybe I could talk to Lee. Maybe I could reason with him.
I’d turned Daniel. My blood had stabilized Danny.
I knew I should run, but he was my child.
As carefully as I could I stepped around the blood and started toward the book. I would use the bag of holding to find it. Lee had given me a place to start. I would slip the bag over that spot and close it and then I would have the book.
It would give me leverage in case it all went to hell. Went to hell? It had already gone there, but I might be able to salvage it.
I’d made it almost to the outside when I realized all really was lost.
Five witches stood in the hallway, staring my way. I recognized a few of them. Once these women had been friendly, had waved at me as we passed each other in the halls or met up at some school function. Now they belonged to Myrddin.
They all wore black robes, and there was some kind of symbol on their foreheads. Their eyes were vast night, a vacant black that told me they were being controlled.
And then the one in the center, the tallest of them, began to smile. She held her hands over her heart as though clutching something to her breast.
I would bet the book was no longer on the ground. He’d found a way.
“Hello, Your Highness. I wondered if you would make an appearance.”
“Myrddin?”
“Not in the flesh, of course. My body is back at the park. I’m listening to your husband drone on and on about how we should be careful around demons. He’s talking a lot. That told me he was probably covering for you. So the turncoat witch took my book and hid it here. Tell me—where did she go?”
He was still looking for Sarah. “I don’t know.”
“Of course you don’t, dear. Is the boy dead? I should have known that butcher couldn’t properly handle a job. I’m surprised at Christine. I guess she actually did love the old boy. She seemed so eager to learn. A pity, but we move on.” Those eyes stared behind me. “Sharpe used the Dark Dagger on the boy?”
“If that’s what you call it.” A numbness descended over me. I was so overcome, I couldn’t handle the emotions. The horror. The pain. The shame. The guilt.
The fear.
I shut down and went into survival mode, though I’d started to worry I wouldn’t survive. Not at all.
An almost sympathetic expression crossed the witch’s face. “Then it’s over for his human life. That’s your human son, right? Not the faery? If you brought the faery son along then I’m sorry. He’s gone, and I’m going to have to spin that with the Fae in some way. Tell me that idiot didn’t kill the Green Man?”
“Why would you care?”
“Because I don’t need the Fae involved,” Myrddin admitted. “But I don’t think you brought him. You brought the other one.”
“His name is Lee.”
“The latent vampire.” The witch Myrddin spoke through sighed. “Well, that could get messy. Come along then, Zoey. There’s nothing that can be done for him. My witches will take you to a secure location. I promise you’ll be treated well. We’ll deal with…well, we’ll handle what happens next.”
I knew exactly how he would handle my son. They would wait for him to come out and then he would turn to ash alongside Alexander. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“He will not care that you’re his mother,” Myrddin said. “He’ll see your light and rip you apart.”
And then maybe he would have a chance at the long life that should have been his. I knew I should think about the baby I was carrying, but Myrddin wouldn’t care about her. I knew what he would do to us. That safe place he offered was a prison he would keep me in until he killed me. “He doesn’t have to remember that I am his mother to make it true.”
The witch stopped for a moment as though Myrddin was shocked at the turn of events. “Zoey, come out. I know you feel for the child. Come out and perhaps we’ll negotiate with Daniel for his release.”
“You would let Lee go?”
Pure calculation lit the witch’s expression, and I could see Myrddin thought he could get even more out of this situation. “In exchange for the boy you brought back.”