such time as the Soul of Night, the Son of the Screaming Darkness, the Son of Shadows, the Flayer of Mithrans, should rise from his recent rest and announce he was coming for you. We knew it would not take long for his hubris and narcissism to send him after you.”
“So I was bait.” Again, I thought. And always.
Ed shrugged, not a human movement, but as if his shoulders writhed like snakes. “Shimon was always one to speak loudly, to make grand gestures. When he did so, our plan was to strike, kill him, and bring his body to you to dispose of as you did his brother. Once he was dead, accepting the crown of emperor would be a simple thing for you or for me, should you still wish to retire. But Shimon did not announce. He attacked first. An unexpected new ploy for the eldest among us. I was not prepared for him to act out of character, in opposition to millennia of recorded and witnessed actions and reactions. I was caught unaware.”
Something flashed through my back brain, half-remembered and then gone. Trying to tease it back, I said slowly, “In Shimon’s time, names had meaning. I understand why he’d be called Soul of Night, Flayer of Mithrans, and even Son of the Screaming Darkness. But why Son of Shadows on top of Soul of Night?” I sat a buttock on the table edge. “I mean, he’s old enough to be a daywalker, but there’s no evidence he pops from shadow to shadow or anything.”
I thought about the vision I’d had of the shadow that had been trying to infect Ed’s mind. Of the way Ed’s hands had moved when Shimon had controlled the minds of his scions and humans. “The shadow inside your vision? Did it . . . possess you totally?”
“Control of my mouth was not true possession, my mistress. True possession is when there is no longer resistance.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed with that answer. I wasn’t sure it was a statement of truth either.
Ed opened his mouth as if to speak again. Closed it. Carefully, he turned to Evan and Molly and said, “I pledged my honor to your family.” He swung his eyes to me. “Sabina told me that my life is bound with theirs and with yours. When you accidently claimed me”—he smiled slightly and breathed out like a human, releasing tension—“you put a protection over my soul. The shadow of the Flayer of Mithrans was not able to penetrate that shielding.”
I still didn’t know what the names really meant, but I had a feeling that they were all important. That they all told me something about the creature we fought, if I could only figure out what. I gave a truncated nod. Because what if the FOM told him to say that?
“Sabina told me that there would come a time when warriors would gather against warriors,” he said. “And that I should tell you to remember the Bubo bubo.”
I didn’t tense, but it was a near thing. Conundrums upon enigmas upon dilemmas. Sabina in the longhouse with the warriors and my grandmother. Sabina smelling of owls. Sabina seeing my owl form once and speaking Mithran prophecy.
“Your hair needs braiding.” His fingers twitched as if to reach for me, but he halted, unsure, as if reading my almost-distrust.
I felt like a traitor to suspect him, but . . . “Ummm. I’m good right now,” I said.
His eyes moving back to the witch couple, Edmund said, “Shimon recognized the power of Molly and her husband, Evan. Like his brother, he wants to kill or possess all witches. Your friends, the family to whom I swore fealty, are in grave danger. Keep them close to your breast and beneath your wing.” Which seemed an un-Eddie-like thing to say.
“Go to bed with a few blood-servants and drink,” I said. “We’ll have a plan in place soon.” But we might not tell you what it is.
He turned and left the room. For the first three steps, it was like watching a reptile walk, not Edmund. Then he slid into Ed’s smooth gait. Over his shoulder, he said, “I will bleed and read and partially heal your Mithran prisoner, and turn his loyalty to me. We will know all he knows.”
I hadn’t noted that my detainee was lying in the front entrance where someone had dropped him like the undead body he was. “His name is Klaus,” I said.