The Silent(30)

“It is, isn’t it? I kept wondering why they called you dangerous. I kept wondering what it was that made you the one we needed to take. I voted for the little one. She’s a genius, isn’t she? A prize like that one could be very valuable if one could make her compliant. The right angel would have to—”

She knocked him to the ground with a lob of power aimed at his forehead. The scribe started bleeding from the corners of his eyes.

He blinked and droplets of blood scattered across his face. “How—?”

Prija punched her power out again, catching her instrument as the scribe slumped to the floor of the van. She set her saw sam sai delicately in the case and closed it before she moved back to the scribe.

He was dazed and bleeding. It was the only reason she had been able to break past the tattooed armor he covered himself with. His magic was far superior to hers, but he’d looked at Prija’s slight body and seen weakness. He’d believed her silence was defeat.

A foolish mistake. The surprise was hers, and he would die.

She saw him reaching for the intricate spiral of ink on his left wrist, and she slammed her foot down on his hand, blocking him from activating more magic as she thrust more power at his frontal lobe.

“Can’t… do this.”

I can do anything I want. She smiled. I am untouchable.

She felt a twisting black power grow around her. Prija ground her foot into the scribe’s wrist. He was bleeding from the ears now. She had no subtlety in her attack. Prija’s power had been fine and fierce once. Now it was the equivalent of a brick to the skull. She kept battering his mind over and over and over. Eventually his eyes rolled back in his head. He went limp. Then she knelt over him and put one hand to his windpipe and the other over his nose and mouth.

As the car wound farther into the mountains of Myanmar, she smothered the Irin scribe who had taken her. She took his own dagger from his waist—a small curved saber—and stabbed him in the back of the neck as she’d been shown. Irin and Grigori called themselves different, but they died the same way.

She opened a window to let the scribe’s dust swirl out of the van. The black shadow that settled in her mind didn’t dissipate. Killing the scribe had felt good. Satisfying. She wondered if she’d be able to kill the other men who had captured her.

She secured her saw sam sai in its case, sat back on the bench, and waited for the next stop, the silver dagger tied into a corner of her dress.





Chapter Fourteen





Leo and Alyah sat at the table, checking off things from a list Sura had put together. They had all packed their bags in the bus to take them north, along with some training equipment Ginny had given them in Chiang Mai.

“Is she coming?” Leo asked.

Alyah shook her head. “Ginny said she was following up on the scribe with the two Grigori.”

“She thinks she knows who it is?”

“She suspects.” Alyah looked up from her notebook. “Ginny is… different. But she knows people, and she means well. I’m sure she regrets your fight the other night, but she may never apologize.”

“I didn’t mean to cause her pain, and I’m sorry I did. I was asking about longevity spells for Kyra.”

“For Kyra?” Alyah frowned. “How old is she?”

“Far older than she looks, and much longer than her natural life would have granted. Her brother had been given extra power from a Fallen ally before the Battle of Vienna, but since then there has been nothing.”

“That is unexpected,” Alyah said. “And unfortunate. We need to do something. I assume you’re planning to mate with her. Can you—”

“It’s premature,” Leo said. “She doesn’t want to rush into anything, and even if we did, performing the ritual now is not ideal.”

Alyah nodded. “A very good point. You don’t need to be depleted before an action like this, and she won’t know her half of the ritual to make you stronger.” Alyah paused. “Her tracking skills are unparalleled. We need to shore up her energy to make sure nothing happens to her before we find Prija.”

Leo bristled. “And to make sure she’s safe?”

“Of course.” Alyah’s expression revealed little. “Leo, I have to think strategically. That’s my job. Even if Kyra meant nothing to you, I’d still want her as an ally because of her skills. That doesn’t mean I don’t value her as a person too.”

“Can you do it?”

“Not as well as Ginny could.” Alyah pulled out her phone. “Let me talk to her and see what she says. For now, track down whoever makes the food around here and ask them to pack some for us. Niran wants to be on the road within an hour, and I don’t disagree. The sooner we get up to the border, the faster we find Prija and the less likely she’s drawn into Arindam’s orbit. Angels can be seductive for more than sex.”

Sura walked into the dining room as Alyah walked away.

“The food is already being prepared,” he said. “I’ll make sure it’s packed. We should be on the road within the hour.”

“Good.” Leo put his hand on the map. “Tell me about Myanmar. Tell me about Arindam.”

“If I tell you about Arindam, it will explain more about Myanmar, I think.” Sura sat at the table. He was dressed in his Western clothes, but he still looked like a young monk with his shaved head and wise countenance. “For many years, my father and Arindam were enemies. But my father was the clear superior.”

“Spoken with prejudice because he was your sire or objective fact?”

“Objective fact,” Sura said. “I had no love for Tenasserim. He was a monster, but a powerful one. He controlled far more territory than Arindam ever did. Few people know this, but his hold extended into southern China. Arindam was jealous of him, coveted his territory, but was never able to unseat him from power.”

“But you and your brothers did?”

“Using our father’s own gifts against him,” Sura said.

“Prija?”

Sura nodded. “That is why I am not more concerned about her. I do not fear for her personal safety. I fear more for her soul.”

“An interesting way to put it.”

“Don’t you think we have souls, Leo?”

“I do,” he said. “I guess I didn’t know if you did. Is that Buddhist teaching?”

“What do our sisters hear if not the voice of the divine in all humanity?” Sura said. “But speaking of the soul does offer perspective into Arindam’s people. I think that was the main difference between my brothers and Arindam’s sons.”

“They don’t believe in the soul?”

“They don’t believe the soul can change,” Sura said. “They are born to evil, but they are given more power and gifts than humans. It is an imbalance they have no control over, so they do not strive. They will sacrifice their lives for their father. They will die and hopefully be reborn as something less unbalanced.”

“They’re fatalists,” Leo said.

“To the extreme. When my brother was killed defeating Tenasserim, they believed it was a sign that they were destined to remain under the Fallen’s power.”

Leo paused. “So we shouldn’t expect any help from Arindam’s sons.”

“I do not believe so. Even if some are sympathetic personally, they will see Prija’s abduction as her fate. They would be interfering with fate to help her.”

“I see.”

“This attitude is why Arindam propped up the human government in Burma for so long. Their isolation suited him and kept those under his influence quiet. His compounds in the hills remain hidden.”

“But you know where they are?”

“I know the rough locations. I believe Kyra will be able to be more precise.”

Leo hated that Kyra was even going on this mission, but now that she’d revealed her power, there was little chance the strategic Irin of Bangkok would allow her to stay behind. Plus, Leo knew his reluctance was based on his heart and not his common sense. She was a huge asset. The mission would be impossible without her.

Without Kyra’s gifts, Prija would remain under Arindam’s power. And if the Fallen managed to feed her anger, who knew what could happen? A kareshta powerful enough to tip the scales against her own angelic sire was a force to be feared.



They traveled directly north for two hours, taking rooms at a small hotel in the hills south of the border. They were the only visitors at the country inn; their bungalows sat sheltered from prying eyes by dense bamboo hedges that blended into the trees. Leo pushed open the door to farthest bungalow where he and Kyra had been assigned.

She walked in behind him. “This is very nice.”

“I was expecting something more basic, but you’re right.”

The log bungalow was set on decorative stone pilings with a covered porch that extended the traditional grass roof. The railings and furniture were made of bamboo, and white drapes fluttered behind plantation shades. Inside, mosquito netting hung over a wide bed also covered in white. The wood floor was parqueted with dark and light wood, and grass rugs lay on the floor.

“This is heaven,” Kyra said, peeking around a corner where Leo suspected the bathroom was. “There’s a bathtub, Leo.”