It took at least five minutes for the headache and shaking to subside to acceptable levels, and I was finally able to move. Azriel appeared beside me, one hand half outstretched, obviously ready to catch me should I fall back down.
“I’m okay,” I said. And wondered whom I was trying to convince—me or him.
“Of course you are.” His fingers caught my elbow as I walked up the steps to the heavy metal door.
I gave him a somewhat amused sideways glance. “You sound disbelieving, reaper.”
“Maybe that’s because both you and I know the truth.”
“But what good is admitting the truth? It’s not like it’s going to help any.”
“Being stubborn or refusing help when you need it is not overly helpful, either.”
“It’s not like I never accept help, Azriel.”
“It is interesting that you make no comment about being stubborn.”
I smiled. “That’s because I fully acknowledge it’s another of my failings.”
I looked into the scanner, waited until the retina reader did its business, then typed the code into the keypad. The door slid open and we stepped inside. I dumped my bag on the couch, then moved into the kitchen to raid the liquor cabinet.
After a large glass of bourbon and Coke—heavy on the bourbon—I grabbed a knife, then sat down in the middle of the living room floor and placed the ward in front of me. The rainbow colors seemed to run faster through it, as if it knew what was coming. Which was daft, because it was an inanimate object.
At least until I dropped some blood on it, anyway.
Azriel sat opposite me and placed Valdis across his knees. Blue fire dripped from her blade to the floor, then ran around us, creating a living barrier.
I raised an eyebrow in silent query.
“It is not a protective circle,” he said, “but there will be few able to get past the burn of Valdis. Your astral traveler certainly won’t.”
Something within me relaxed just a little. “So why haven’t you used her like this on other occasions?”
“Because it taxes us both, and it is generally better for you that we remain fighting ready.” He nodded toward the ward. “Activate it.”
I picked up the knife and jabbed the point into my finger. As blood began to well, I turned my finger upside down and let the blood drip onto the ward. As the droplet hit, the rainbow stopped moving, and everything was still. Silent.
Then light erupted from the center of the stone and briefly blinded me. When I was able to see again, I was encased in a cylinder of white. I couldn’t see Azriel, and Valdis’s fierce blue flames were little more than shadow. Which meant I hadn’t actually been transported anywhere, even though I’d half expected to be.
“Now what?” I said it out loud, though I wasn’t sure Azriel could hear me.
“He cannot,” my father said.
I jumped and looked around wildly. Normally I could sense my father’s presence the second he entered my vicinity, so why the hell hadn’t I this time?
“Because I am not in your vicinity,” he answered. “This is little more than a communication sphere. It allows you and me to talk without interfering with the energy of the device within your heart.”
I snorted softly. So my father was once again ahead of the game when it came to the Raziq. “Where the hell are you, then?”
“It is unwise for you to know.” He paused. “I see you have been in Malin’s presence. She plays a dangerous game.”
“No more dangerous than you, apparently.”
“Ah, so she has outlined my intentions. Or what she knows of them.”
“She did. And I have to ask, why lie? Why say you wanted the keys destroyed when the opposite is true?”
“I thought a gentler approach might be wise.”
I snorted. Yeah, that whole throwing-me-around-the-bathroom episode could definitely be described as gentle. “So can the keys be destroyed? Or was that also a lie?”
“It is not a lie, but it is also not possible. Not unless you wish to destroy existence.”
Of course, I thought wearily. Why on earth I’d actually expected the destruction of the keys to be a simple thing with few repercussions, I have no idea.
“Why would destroying the keys destroy the gray fields and earth?”
“Because blood was used in their creation, and it now links the keys to the structure of the portals. Destroy the keys, and you will more than likely shatter the power of the portals.”
“How is this different from the sorcerer forcing the gates open or the Raziq wanting them closed?”
“In either event, the link shared between portals and keys is not altered or disrupted. But destroy them, and the portals—which are woven into the very fabric of existence—are endangered.”