The Warrior King (Inferno Rising #3) - Abigail Owen Page 0,34

after she’d escaped. Who’d been caged and held by Pytheios most of his life.

An aura hung about the man, a knife’s edge of danger. Granted, he’d been the son of Meira’s father’s beta, which meant royalty did run through his veins. In fact, other than the phoenix women themselves, he should be the one on the White Clan’s throne by right. That said, Samael didn’t think Airk could ever shift, not after so long without. His animal would go mad, was probably already there. No dragon shifter would follow a man who couldn’t lead them in the sky.

Angelika smiled, kindness and sadness both mingling there, seeming undaunted. “I don’t know what part he has to play yet.”

Jedd paced the room. “I’ve seen the way you watch him. Like you’re studying him. I guess it makes sense in a warped way. Another phoenix mated to another dragon shifter, and four out of six clans with one of the Amon sisters at the helm if you put him on the throne. No way will the other two clans stand against you after that.”

Angelika dropped her hands to her sides, though Samael could see in her expression that she was still hoping Jedd would come to understand. “It’s not about our family ruling all the clans, Jedd. It’s about taking out the man who destroyed things in the first place.”

Jed whirled on her, urgency in the taut line of his shoulders. “That’s not fate. It’s politics and strategy.”

She shook her head.

The wolf shifter studied Angelika’s face, and what he saw there must’ve convinced him. His head dropped forward, a sign of total defeat. If he’d been in his wolf form, he might’ve dropped to his belly, nosing at her ankles.

Then he pulled his lips back, baring his teeth in a wolfy way. “If you think I’m going to stand by and watch you make the biggest mistake of both our lives, then you aren’t the woman I thought you were.”

Jedd prowled from the room, though he closed the door behind him with a quiet click at odds with the anger vibrating around him.

At the sound, Angelika sighed, then slowly lowered herself to sit on the chest at the footboard of the bed. “That could have gone better,” she murmured to herself.

“Angelika,” Meira called softly.

Her sister stilled, obviously listening.

“In the mirror, baby sister.”

Angelika’s head snapped around, and she gasped as she looked directly at them. She jumped to her feet and rushed to the mirror, flattening her hands on the surface. From their side it appeared as though they were talking to her through a sheet of glass, her skin smashing up against it.

“Let me through,” Angelica practically begged, pushing at the reflective surface.

Meira shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Where are you?”

“You know where.”

Samael lifted his eyebrows. So, she had told her sisters where she’d been hiding. Just not Gorgon, her intended mate. What kind of trust did that show? Though, now he knew why. She was protecting the gargoyles. This phoenix apparently couldn’t resist the urge to protect any and everyone around her.

“What do you need?” Angelika asked. The sisters showed no questioning or hesitation with each other. Though, surviving for centuries with only them and their mother, he wasn’t all that surprised.

“Get Skylar and Ladon and bring them back here. I wish Kasia could be here, too, but that would draw too much attention. Meet in thirty minutes.”

Serafina Amon had trained her daughters well. Angelika didn’t quibble or question. She merely hurried out of the room even as Meira shut off her own fire then turned to face him. “That’s my backup. Now for yours.”

This next part was trickier. As part of her analytical walk-through of options, she had convinced him that rather than just his beta being informed, the only way to get his people on their side was to appeal to the entire Black Clan. Two people searching for the king could only get so far.

But if they were going to address everyone, they couldn’t do it from here. Not when they had made a promise to the gargoyles. Especially not after Maul had breached that edict.

“Let’s go.”

Meira’s fire crackled beside him, casting a pleasant glow around the cool castle room. Different from his black fire, which both illuminated a space even as it stole the light directly around it. Would her fire change once she was fully mated to a black dragon?

Again, the mirror in front of them changed, showing a new reflection this time. Samael studied the image, which