The Silent(12)

“They’ve been watching the Grigori here,” she said quietly.

He smoothed a hand over her mussed hair. “That’s what we do.”

“They are not your enemies,” she said. “No one here—”

A slight sound caused Leo to turn a second before the knife would have sunk into his shoulder. He batted it away and pushed Kyra behind him, putting himself in the path of his assailant.

“Leo, no!”

“Stay back.” He drew a silver dagger in one hand and a silenced 9mm in the other. In a place like the market, he didn’t want to have to use the gun, but he would if necessary. His aim was steady.

Leo’s attacker didn’t hide. He walked out of the alleyway with his own gun pointed in Leo’s direction. Leo brushed a thumb over his talesm prim and felt his spells come alive. With that brush, he was effectively wearing a suit of living armor. His hearing sharpened. His vision became hyperaware. His skin would be hotter if Kyra touched him.

“Who are you?” the Grigori asked. “Let her go.”

Kyra said, “Niran, he’s a friend.”

Ah yes, it was the Grigori from the picture, Leo realized. The one walking with her and making her laugh. He had a gun pointed at Leo’s head.

“Please,” Kyra said. “Both of you, put the weapons down.”

“Him first,” Leo muttered, unwilling to leave Kyra unprotected.

“You have no purpose here, scribe,” Niran said, still walking slowly toward Leo. “Go back where you came from and tell your watcher you’re not needed.”

“I’m not here because of my watcher,” Leo said.

“Will both of you put the weapons down?” Kyra said. “Someone is going to get hurt. Niran, where is Intira?”

“With Sura. Step away from the scribe, Kyra.”

“I don’t take orders from you. Both of you put your weapons away!”

“No.” The answer came in unison.

“For heaven’s sake.” Kyra shoved her way from behind Leo and stepped between the raised guns, which were immediately lowered as soon as she came in their sights.

“Kyra, what are you doing?”

Leo dropped his gun. “Are you insane?” He tried to push her back, but she twisted away.

“Both of you, listen!” She was angry. “Just stop. Niran, Leo is a friend. He’s from the Istanbul house, which has an alliance with my brother. Leo, I am here as Niran’s guest. Please, do not attack the man who has welcomed me and taken care of me in this country.”

Leo narrowed his eyes at Niran, who was looking equally hostile. Reluctantly he put his arm down as Niran did the same. He slid the 9mm in his holster… as Niran did. Then Leo’s knife was put away. He glared at the Grigori whom Kyra had defended.

“If it weren’t for her, you’d be on the ground,” Leo said.

“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel good.” Niran whistled and three more Grigori stepped from the shadows. “Myat, go tell Sura and Intira to walk back to the truck.”

“Niran, don’t,” Kyra said. “Don’t spoil her night because of this. Everyone needs to stop and think. There is no fight here. No one wants to hurt anyone.”

Leo was fairly sure he wanted to hurt Niran.

“I’m not leaving her in the market with an Irin scribe around,” the Grigori said. “We’ve all heard the stories of them taking our sisters. Where there is one, there will be more.”

Leo said, “I’m not here to take anyone who is not in danger.” He glanced at Kyra. That might not be strictly true, but it was none of this Niran’s business.

Kyra seemed to sense his thoughts. “Don’t. We need to talk. Just talk.”

“As long as you’re not running away from a real conversation, I can agree to that.”

“How many scribes are in my city?” Niran asked.

“I’m the only scribe who came from Bangkok,” Leo said. They didn’t need to know that Alyah was with him. “And I came for Kyra, not to attack you.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that before. Right before two scribes tried to grab a sister of mine from a local temple.”

Leo frowned. “I know nothing about that.”

“Watchers know best, do they not?” Niran said. “We don’t want anything from the Irin. Leave us alone.”

Leo examined the Grigori with new eyes. The man was of medium height and carried a commanding presence. The men who flanked him took orders effortlessly. Clearly these Grigori were disciplined and well organized. Looking again, Leo saw dark lines of tattoos at each of their necks. He glanced at their arms. Tattoos there too.

What was going on here?

Kyra put a hand on his forearm. Her touch nearly caused him to moan in pleasure. She felt so good. He controlled himself.

“You have questions,” Kyra said. “I have answers, but I need to confer with Niran first. Allow me to talk with him in private.”

She wanted to leave him and go off with the Grigori? Leo’s lip curled.

“Or we can take her now and you’ll never find her,” Niran said. “What will it be, scribe?”

Kyra’s chin lifted. “No one takes me against my will. You don’t speak for me.”

“I speak for your brother,” he said. “I promised no harm would come to you in my territory.”

Leo said, “I’ve got her brother’s number on speed dial. Shall we call him now?”

“No!” Kyra shouted. “Leo, don’t you dare.”

What the hell was going on here? Kyra looked panicked. Niran was hard to read, but Leo would swear there was some confusion in his eyes.

“Fine,” Leo said. He drew a hotel card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Kyra. “I’m here when you’re finished talking to him.”

Kyra relaxed. “After we talk, I’ll find you.”

“I want your phone number before you go.” Leo didn’t take his eyes off Niran.

Kyra was reluctant, but she nodded and put a hand out. “Your phone?”

Leo unlocked his phone and handed it to her.

Kyra quickly entered a number and hit Send, then she held up her own phone for him to see the number flashing. “Satisfied?”

His eyes raked down her body. “Far from it.”

She turned bright red. “I’ll call you later.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

She walked toward Niran, and everything in Leo screamed at him to grab her and run.

He didn’t. She wasn’t his to steal. Plus he had a few questions for Alyah before he and Kyra talked.

“Kyra,” he called to her back.

She turned.

“If you don’t come to me, I’ll find you.”

The smile she gave him was sad. Amused. Skeptical. Far too complicated for a single emotion.

“You could try.”



Leo opened the heavy gate to the hotel garden on the other side of the river. He’d ignored the hails of the tuk-tuk drivers and walked the distance from the night bazaar, needing time to gather his thoughts. The hotel where Alyah had brought them was close to the old city and the bazaar, just on the other side of the river and downstream. High walls protected it from prying eyes, and lush gardens greeted him when he entered the compound. His suite faced a narrow pool where lilies floated and fish swam. Across a small bridge, Alyah had taken her own room, but all her lights were off.

The garden was silent. The staff was gone. But Leo’s thoughts were in a riot.

Their kiss.

The sheer pleasure of it kept leaping to his mind, scattering every other conscious thought.

He unlocked his room and walked inside, tossing his keys on the small table by the door and falling back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.

“I like kissing you.” He closed his eyes at the memory of her lips. “So much.” Her hands gripping his hair. “Did you like it too?” Her breasts. Heaven above…

Leo had dreamed of kissing Kyra for no less than two years. From the time he’d met her, he’d been aware of the desire, but Kyra had been a tentative bird in the beginning. She could barely manage to walk down a street without cringing from the rampant human thoughts that invaded her mind. The last thing Leo wanted was for her to feel that a large, clumsy giant of a scribe was preying on her vulnerabilities.

But then he’d seen her in Rěkaves, standing up to the scribes and singers of Mikael’s line, holding her own with Sari, one of the most dominant and warlike singers Leo had ever known. She’d grown. She’d come into her power.

Then…

Then he’d wanted her. He’d craved her. He’d sought her company but always felt a wall hanging between them. He longed for her. Wondered where she had gone when she left with her brother. Sari had tried to convince Kyra to stay at Rěkaves with her, but Kyra had refused. Leo suspected her brother had been the reason why.

Then Kyra had reacted with panic when he’d offered to call Kostas tonight.

What was going on?

Had she been cast out? Impossible. Was she hiding? Niran’s words indicated otherwise.

How long did she want to talk to Niran? Would she come tonight? He glanced at his phone and noticed it was after midnight. Then he tapped the number she’d entered earlier, adding it to his contacts along with a picture he’d snapped of her in Rěkaves. She’d been laughing with one of the children Damien and Sari had rescued, holding the little boy as he tried to squirm away.