Seducing Destiny(90)

                “We need to buy time. I’m sure some of those Fae were planning to leave, but I know how they can feed, and be merry while we deal with this problem. Danu is going to create food, and other things to give us the time we need.”

                “…That’s genius,” Zahruk said as he turned to look at me. “Fuck, she’s ruthless,” he grinned and winked at me roguishly. “Maybe there’s hope for her yet.”

                “Oh admit it, Zahruk, you like me. I just have that effect on creatures.”

                He laughed and shook his head as he turned and moved forward to help them carry Ristan to the infirmary. I wasn’t sure why we were still walking, only that I was glad, since sifting wasn’t my strong suit right now.

                I’d no sooner thought it, then the entire Elite Guard sifted, and I was no exception. Ryder had gripped my arm as we sifted to Eliran, who immediately took in Ristan and then looked up at me.

                “What did you do this time, hide in a closet? Normally if someone’s hurt, you follow their lead and then almost die on me,” he snapped with frustration and ran his fingers through his hair before he started shouting off orders.

                I stood still and watched as Ristan was carried into one of the small rooms and a curtain was closed around him. Eliran slipped behind the curtain and called for a bunch of other things he was going to need. Ristan didn’t have iron in him; that much I was sure of. Not that it would have done too much to the Demon, but the Mages may have experimented with it when they tortured him.

                I was pulled up against Ryder’s chest as we waited, numb and cold inside as Eliran and his team worked on Ristan. It wasn’t until I turned and found Alden smiling at me from a bed in another small room in the healer’s ward, that I left Ryder’s warmth.

                “How are you feeling?” I asked him as I moved to his room and took a seat in the chair.

                “Never saw this one coming, kid,” he admitted. “Glad you found him,” he said as he nodded towards Ristan’s room.

                “Me too, but we have a problem. Olivia is here; Ristan made us bring her with us. I need to know what she did that made him hate her.”

                “She gave me up,” he admitted. “She surprised me, and found me with the Demon. I didn’t think she suspected him to be anything other than Human since he was wearing glamour of a Guild Warlock and was inside the wards. She came to my office with a bottle of wine and wanted me to help her celebrate the completion of another section of catalogued archives. She’d been completing a lot more of them lately, and I should have wondered why one was more important than any of the others. I was going to send her away, but Ristan said he would love to help her celebrate, and I had no reason to mistrust her. I should have known something was off; we both should have. She had never talked to me that much, not in all the time I’ve known her. I wanted to trust her, and I think Ristan did too; he’d been obsessed about that girl, and watching her like a hawk since he met her a few months ago, and I’d noticed it. I just thought what harm, ya know?” He sighed deeply, and then continued. “I think Ristan had more wine than I did. Anyhow, my head started to swim right away and I noticed Olivia trying to come on to Ristan, funniest damn thing I ever saw. Right up until she climbed into his lap and I think she touched his cheek or neck, next thing I know, he dropped like a millstone. And then I woke up, tied to a table, and the Mages were there with a few Warlocks I used to call friends. I heard one of the say they got wine and whatever the hell they used to take the Demon down, from that scary-ass thing.”

                 “Olivia said she did what she had to,” I admitted, hoping he could shed some light on it.

                “She had to have been watching me, or watching us. Ristan said he didn’t trust her, but that you’d told him she was just a mouse. I helped raise that girl, but if she gave us up, kid, she’s beyond our help. That wine had one hell of a punch though. Hell, when they started to torture me, I didn’t even feel it. I laughed, which had to be from the drugs. I watched them break my legs, and it didn’t start hurting until the drugs from the wine started to wear off.”