Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 118699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 593(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 593(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
“The black fog,” Zanaya said, thinking of the wreck of Antonicus. “Her evil lives within it. She used it in some way to convert her people to these things she calls her reborn.”
“We’ll find out soon enough. Keemat tells me she has moving images captured in New York.”
27
Michaela thrust a hand through her hair, which she’d pulled back in a loose braid at some point but had come mostly undone. “I need to be clean. My gorge roils at being covered in this horror—I’ll be quick.”
“She’s right.” Zanaya picked at her own clothing; it stuck to her skin with sweat and dirt and the veil knows what else. “A few minutes won’t make a significant difference.”
She could see Alexander fighting to gainsay them; he’d always had his little blind spots, had Alexander. They all did. But he gave a curt nod, and they left the command room. A waiting Lemei led Michaela to a guest suite, while Zanaya and Alexander flew up the central core of the fortress until they reached the level with their bathing chambers.
Alexander didn’t invite her into his, and she didn’t invite him into hers.
War didn’t allow for such luxuriant sensation.
So it was that they scrubbed themselves clean as fast as possible and dressed in readiness to meet back in battle command.
Once more, Zanaya found herself pulling on leathers that fit her small and curvy frame to perfection. This time, the color was midnight black, the same shade she’d been known to prefer in her time—and it came with a built-in sheath for her sword. Someone had taken great care to make this for her.
Lover, she said mind-to-mind, this is a minor thing in the scheme of what’s happening right now, but can you ask Lemei for the identity of the people behind my clothing? I wish to thank them.
A pause. Organized by Lemei herself. Made by Shahira and her team. And Zani, it’s not a minor thing that you care to thank them.
She smiled as she left her room, felt even more joy when a sleek orange cat wearing a bejeweled collar walked over to her for affection. “Ah, a cat of the court, I see,” she murmured, giving the creature its due. “You are most magnificent.”
However, the burst of happiness was but fleeting; it faded as she walked into battle command and the reality of war. The command was a cavernous space, but unlike similar rooms in the past, it held not only the sand table and maps on the walls, but plenty of the screens that Zanaya had already witnessed. A number of other devices that flickered with lights and beeped now and then also sat in the room, along with their operators. Several of those operators were thin vampires who would’ve never passed warrior training.
Wars are not what they were in our time. Alexander’s voice in her head, the general having beaten her back.
She wasn’t surprised he’d divined the direction of her thoughts. I wouldn’t say so, lover. The smartest of the Cadre always enticed great minds to our courts. People whose bodies weren’t built for the physical act of war, but whose minds could turn the tide. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten Ibanaya?
A startled smile that creased his cheeks just as Michaela entered the room. I never could beat him in a game of strategy.
There was no more time for talk of the past then, because Senior General Keemat strode over to state that the “file” was “ready to play.” Short and compact with muscle, her sharp eyes a dark brown and her skin a lighter hue of the same shade, her tightly bound hair a rich black, the commander had wings of darkest green threaded with gold.
Now, she led them to the largest screen in the room, then used a small device in her hand to initiate the display of captured memory.
Zanaya had prepared herself and still her breath caught at the unbroken wave of black-eyed evil over Raphael’s city. “These fighters aren’t like the reborn we’ve been battling.”
“No,” Keemat said, and her voice held a lilt that reminded Zanaya of the people of her Nile. “Dmitri—that’s Raphael’s second, Lady Zanaya—he tells me that these creatures have a certain level of intelligence in comparison to the reborn. Almost as if another mind is controlling their bodies.”
“If Lijuan is able to do that with so many . . .” Michaela’s voice trailed off, but they all understood the magnitude of the peril she’d left unspoken.
Alexander, his jaw a brutal line, said, “We must assist, but first we have to control the situation here. Elsewise, Lijuan will win by eating us all up in small bites.”
Zanaya felt for Raphael’s people. To face such an army . . . they would have to fight with courage beyond courage. But Alexander was also correct in his decision; should they leave his territory now, the children would likely spread throughout, creating more reborn.