“I don’t…” How did one respond to an Irina with these wild ideas? She couldn’t be serious. And yet, Leo sensed she was genuinely curious. “I don’t know Kyra… intimately.” I’ve simply obsessed over her for three years and hope she is my soul mate.
“Really?” Alyah spoke up from the back. “I didn’t get that sense.”
“Me either,” Ginny said.
“We met in Vienna before the battle. Her brother has known my cousin for many years, but none of us knew about the Grigori sisters. Kostas, Kyra’s brother, brought her to Vienna to stay with my watcher’s mate, Ava. They became friends, and that is how I met Kyra.”
Not that it was the whole story. He didn’t tell them how Kyra’s eyes had glowed the first time he touched her hand. How his body went electric at a single brush of her finger. He didn’t tell them how he’d held her during the battle, felt her body jerk and wilt when her father died. He didn’t tell them about their whispered conversations and long embraces in Rěkaves or the kiss in the night market.
Just the memory of that kiss was enough to wake his body from its centuries-long fast. Leo had quashed sensual hunger for over a century with a strict regime of discipline and resignation to a mateless life. But if she was his reshon…
Kyra had changed everything. His soul and his body were hungry now. They’d tasted her delicacy and wanted to feast.
“So you’ve only met her once?”
“I saw her again last year when I went to the Czech Republic to fight one of the Fallen and she was there with her brother.” I held her before the battle, and she embraced me on the return.
“Wow,” Ginny said. “Sounds epic.”
Leo stared at the road. “I’m not here to entertain you.”
Alyah said, “It sounds like the two of you only meet when there are problems. It doesn’t sound like you’ve had any time alone.”
“We definitely have not,” he said under his breath.
“Aha!” Ginny said. “So we have our mission, Alyah.”
Alyah leaned forward between the two front seats. “I am here to assist in the instruction of these women and make sure they are protected. I’m here to gather information for my watcher on the workings of the free Grigori. I am not here to play matchmaker.”
“Fine,” Ginny said. “I don’t answer to a watcher, and I think we need to hook the brother up. I think Leo needs to get laid.”
Leo thought he needed to disappear. Flinging himself out of the car sounded like a not-horrible-at-all possibility. If this was what it was like to have sisters, he preferred the scribe house.
“Isn’t that the turn?” he said, trying to ignore Ginny and Alyah.
“Oh yeah.” Ginny swerved and flung the car into a U-turn. “So Leo, how do we get you and Kyra alone? Kidnapping seems the obvious choice.”
“Seriously?” he asked. “That seems like the ‘obvious choice’ to you? I don’t see that going over well.”
“But the direct approach might work better with her protection detail. Sura was awfully possessive of her.”
“It’s not Sura he needs to worry about,” Alyah said. “It’s the aggressive one at the market I told you about. He also is attracted to Kyra.”
“Niran?” Leo asked.
“I like it.” Ginny grinned. “A little competition always makes a girl feel good.”
Leo said, “What did I do to deserve this?”
The air around the temple smelled of green bamboo and incense. There was a tinge of sandalwood in the scent that set Leo’s instincts on edge. It was the sign of Grigori. All around the world, Grigori smelled of sandalwood. His reaction was automatic. He’d been trained to seek it out and kill Grigori from the time he was thirteen. Learning to not go into a killing frame of mind took focused concentration.
Floating over the sandalwood was the lush, heady aroma of jasmine and frangipani. It calmed him. He got out of the car and straightened, waiting for some signal from the quiet buildings surrounding the temple. None of them were fancy. They weren’t layered with gold and paint like those in the cities. This structure was moss-covered stone. Flowing dragons guarded the stairs, and the ivory eyes of a dark wooden Buddha winked from the doorway where natural light and candles were the only illumination.
Alyah and Ginny stood next to him. Alyah, a tiny powerhouse, and Ginny, tall and lithe. They waited with the patience of Irina, knowing the free Grigori would want to meet them in a neutral place. Though they were only three, Irin and Irina warriors were powerful. Their discipline and magic were unmatched. Irina could take an enemy to the ground with their voice alone.
On the far side of the courtyard, Leo heard a door open. It was Niran, and he was alone. He walked to the center of the courtyard and waited.
Alyah stepped forward. As the only official warrior of the Bangkok house, it was her duty. Leo and Ginny fell in behind her, but not too close.
“May the light shine on your house,” she said.
Niran put his hands together and nodded. “I do not know the proper Irin words, but you and your people are welcome.”
His words said one thing, but his body language said another. Leo was reading Niran, and the Grigori was not pleased.
“We appreciate the welcome,” Alyah said. “You’ve already met Leo, I know. He is of the Istanbul house. And this is Ginny, an Irina who resides locally.”
“The American Sura met?” Niran greeted her as well. “You are also welcome.”
Shockingly, he ignored Leo.
“Come,” Niran said. “My brothers are serving tea in the garden. Join us so we can talk.”
“It would be my pleasure,” Alyah said.
Leo walked at the back as Niran guided them around the monastery walls and toward an open teahouse set in the middle of the garden. A long, low table surrounded by cushions sat under the shaded structure. Grigori in monks’ robes walked to and from it, carrying trays and setting out dishes. The teahouse was surrounded by a massive garden. Vegetables grew along the edges with flowering plants surrounding the dining table.
“You have a beautiful home,” he told Niran.
Niran said nothing, but he nodded.
They passed a gate to the left. Leo peered past it to see a path nearly concealed by thick bamboo. Moss-lined cobblestones disappeared into the hedge, which fronted a dense forest. Instinct told him that path led him to the guarded homes of the kareshta sisters. Perhaps they met in the evenings at the outdoor table, joining their brothers to partake of the evening meal, but none were there when Niran, Alyah, Ginny, and Leo arrived at the garden house.
They sat down on thick silk cushions and watched the Grigori pour tea.
Everything about their hosts’ outward appearance told Leo they were Grigori. They had the perfectly symmetrical faces and bodies of angelic offspring. They were handsome and fit. They exuded a near intoxicating magnetism. He could see that both Alyah and Ginny noticed it.
But nothing in their manner said Grigori. They all wore the orange robes of a Buddhist monk. Their heads were shaved, and their bodies were covered to varying degrees by the intricate Sak Yant tattoos Leo had seen on Sura the night before. Lines of text down their shoulders and backs. Words and animal figures inked on their forearms. Many bore the tiger that Niran wore, but he also saw birds and lizards. A crocodile and a dragon. A mythical figure with four arms carrying swords. Each man seemed to have slightly different markings, much like Irin scribes.
“You have questions,” Niran said.
“I do,” Leo said. “If you are willing to answer them. Is Sura joining us?”
“He’ll be here soon,” Niran said. “Perhaps you might save your questions about Sak Yant for Sura.” He turned to Alyah. “Any other questions the Bangkok scribe house has, I can answer.”
“Would you share with us how you obtained freedom from the Fallen who sired you?” she asked.
“I can. My brother Sura planned our father’s murder without my knowledge. He had been away from our father for many years, and our father had forgotten him as he was not considered a particularly adept warrior. He was too passive.”
“Who was he?” Alyah asked. “My watcher would like his name for our records.”
Niran hesitated, but only for a moment. “His name was Tenasserim.”
The name wasn’t familiar to Leo, but both Alyah and Ginny fell silent.
“Your brother’s plan must have been very good,” Alyah said, “to kill such a powerful Fallen.”
“It was.”
“We heard rumors that Tenasserim was dead, but we had no confirmation.”
“It happened nearly thirteen years ago.” Sura spoke from the edge of the garden.
Leo was surprised by the strength of Sura’s hearing and wondered where Tenasserim’s power had manifested. Every angel had particular gifts. Barak, Kyra’s father, had been a listener. He’d been created to roam the heavens and the earth, acting as the ears of the Creator. Some of that preternatural hearing was passed to his offspring. It was possible Tenasserim’s power was similar. Or it was possible Sura had excellent natural hearing.
Sura approached the table and bowed to them. “Forgive me. I was in the middle of performing a ritual on a brother.”