Snakeroot

  Bosque Mar

  That couldn’t be right. While Bosque ruled the Keepers, he wasn’t . . . human. Logan didn’t know what to call Bosque. He’d witnessed his master’s horrific metamorphosis from effete gentleman into a creature of nightmares: part man, part insect, all terror.

  So why was Bosque’s name at the base of this family tree? And what was the Latin inscription beneath his name?

  Sanguine et igne nascimur

  Something about blood and fire. Logan had taken Latin, but as with all of his studies, he’d been lazy about it. Another regret to add to the ever-growing pile. He ignored the twinge of annoyance with himself and continued to study the image.

  The links between marital partners and subsequent generations on this chart weren’t simply lines, but rather chain links rendered in crimson ink. Its symbolism made Logan stir with unease.

  The blood oath.

  It shouldn’t have surprised him, but nevertheless Logan felt a cool discomfort crawling up his neck. He’d invoked the blood oath to force Bosque to reveal his true form, making the Harbinger vulnerable to Shay’s attack.

  And that was how it had ended. Bosque had been exiled to his Nether realm. The Rift was closed.

  Logan ran his finger along the curling edge of the paper.

  But this is where it began.

  “It can begin again.”

  Logan yelped and jumped off the bed to face Ren.

  “What the—” Logan struggled to regain some semblance of dignity. He glared at Ren. “What are you doing here?”

  “Bringing the message,” Ren answered. “Because you’re ready for it.” He shot a glance at the open book. “Or at least you’re nearly there.”

  Logan frowned at the wolf. “So you can just show up now? Whenever you want?”

  “Pretty much.” Ren smiled. “The gate is open. You opened it. I can walk through at will.” His smile faded. “Though I have to go where I’m told at times as well.”

  “Like now?” Logan’s heart had finally stopped ramming his rib cage.

  Ren nodded. “Like now.”

  “Who sent you?” Logan reached for the book, pulling it to the edge of the bed so he could get a better look at the illustration.

  “Do you really have to ask?”

  Logan’s eyes flicked to the name at the base of the tree. His throat closed up.

  It can begin again.

  Was this real? Could Bosque really be sending him messages from another world?

  “If this is a trick—” Logan peered at Ren.

  “What?” Ren gave a rough laugh. “You’ll kill me? You’re a little late to the party for that, Logan.”

  Logan didn’t acknowledge the futility of his threat.

  Ren grimaced. “Do you think—if it were my choice—that I would spend any moment of my afterlife, or whatever this is, hanging around you?”

  “You make a good point,” Logan replied.

  Ren shrugged. “You have the message. Can I go?”

  “That’s it?” Logan asked, feeling a renewed surge of frustration. “Cryptic one-liners are all you can give me?”

  Baring sharp canines, Ren answered, “I’m just the intercessor. I go where I must and say what I’ve been told to say. From what I can gather, you’re the architect of this scheme as well as its constructor. All I can do is confirm that you have the design and components right.” Ren’s eyes grew distant, then he glanced at the book again. “I can tell you that you’ve found the key.”

  “And is there a lock?” Logan asked.

  When Ren answered with a smirk, Logan said, “Never mind. Just get out of here.”

  “With pleasure.”

  Logan wanted to shoot back an insult, but Ren had vanished.

  Wonderful. I have a creepy ghost Guardian who can pop into my life without warning.

  None of Logan’s plans were unfolding as he’d anticipated. And yet, for all the unpleasant surprises, he couldn’t say things were going badly. He’d made progress. Logan stretched out on the bed to take a closer look at the book.

  So this is the key.

  His eyes scanned the page. But where’s the lock?

  “Well, let’s start with what we have,” Logan murmured.

  Bosque Mar’s name was the largest inscription on the page, but the blood chain connected him to a second, only slightly smaller name inscribed near one of the tree’s roots.

  Eira

  Logan knew Eira had been the first Keeper—he’d seen her name in Keeper ancestries plenty of times—but in this genealogy her name was linked to Bosque’s. In fact, the rest of the family names on the tree were familiar to Logan. Though, in keeping with its strange form, this particular chart had been created in an inverse pattern from most genealogies. The oldest generation, Eira and Bosque, seemed to be at the bottom of the page, the base of the tree. Which meant . . .

  It didn’t take Logan long to find his own name. It was one of only two names at the uppermost branches of the tree: Logan Bane and Seamus Doran.

  What the—

  Logan forced his gaze to return to the bottom of the page and then he traced the lineage charted on the tree slowly and carefully. He started with his side of the family first.

  He recognized his grandparents’ names, Cavan and Josephine Bane, but in this ancestry Josephine’s maiden name was included. And it was Mar.

  Not ready to accept the implication, Logan kept reading. Cavan and Josephine had a daughter, Marise. Logan’s mother. A mother who’d died in childbirth and he’d never known. His father’s name, Efron, was scribbled next to his mother’s almost carelessly. Logan knew too well why that was. Though he’d rarely spoken of it to Logan, all the Keepers whispered about Efron’s unlikely rise to power. After all, he’d been elevated at the whim of Marise, whose desires couldn’t be denied because she was directly descended from Eira’s original line.

  And Bosque’s. Eira and Bosque’s. Logan swallowed hard as he corrected his thought.

  No wonder his family had been accorded so much power. If this chart proved truthful, it meant that Eira hadn’t simply sworn an oath to Bosque and received his power in return; she’d also borne his children.

  Logan’s grandmother was Bosque and Eira’s daughter, but they’d also had a son. Fial Mar.

  And Fial Mar’s son was named Tristan.

  The traitor.

  The traitor because he’d fallen in love with a Searcher named Sarah Doran, forsaking his heritage and his kind. They’d married. They’d had a son: Seamus.

  Shay Doran is my cousin. And Eira is our great-grandmother.

  Logan stared at the chain linking Eira’s name to Bosque’s for a long time.

  Bosque Mar is my great-grandfather.

  Was it even possible? And if it was true, then why the secrecy?

  When Efron had ordered Logan to shepherd newcomer Shay Doran around the school and Vail, calling him Bosque Mar’s “nephew,” he’d known it had been a hoax. What did it mean if all along not only Shay but also Logan himself were related to Bosque?

  Logan turned over his hand to gaze at the scar on his palm. My blood. Bosque’s blood.

  You’ve found the key.

  Is this what Ren meant? The key is my lineage?

  A fist tightened around Logan’s heart.

  I betrayed him. We share blood and I’m the one who made it possible for Shay to close the Rift. The two remaining descendants of Bosque and Eira Mar and we’re the ones who sent him back.

  Regret.

  Logan didn’t know if he could take much more of it. He traced the shape of the scar with his fingertip.

  “I don’t know about you, but mine’s been kind of itchy.”

  Logan looked up. Chase stood in the doorway with his laptop.

  “I think that means it’s healing,” Logan said. “What’s on your mind?”

  “This.” Chase walked over and opened his laptop.

  Logan quickly closed the book and pushed it away, making space for Chase to sit. Whether trut
h or fiction, Logan needed to know more about his real ancestry before he was willing to share its existence with anyone else.

  Chase positioned the computer in his lap, angling the screen so Logan could look over his shoulder.

  “‘Historic Rowan Estate,’” Logan read from the screen. “There’s a website.”

  “Apparently they’re giving guided tours.” Chase smirked.

  “I didn’t realize the Searchers were that strapped for cash,” Logan murmured.

  Chase shook his head. “I don’t believe they are. I’m guessing that they’ve opened the mansion up to the public so that it doesn’t present too tempting a target for thieves of occult relics.”

  “Is that a criminal specialization?” Logan asked, half smiling. “Occult theft?”

  “You should know.”

  “I’d bet I’m the exception,” Logan told Chase as he peered at the screen. “So they’ve made Rowan Estate into a historic landmark. What’s next: spelunking expeditions through Haldis Cavern?”

  Chase laughed. “You have to give the people what they want.”

  “So are you showing me this for a reason?” Logan asked. “Or are you just trying to reassure me that the Searchers are too busy bringing in the tourists to come looking for us?”

  “I thought I might take a long weekend, see what this tour is all about,” Chase replied casually. “Do you know that I’ve never been west of the Mississippi?”

  Logan waited for Chase to laugh, but when the other boy held him with an unwavering gaze, Logan frowned. “You’re not serious.”

  “I’m very serious,” Chase said. “I’d take Audrey, of course.”

  “What the hell are you and your sister going to accomplish by going to Vail?” Logan couldn’t deny that he was intrigued, but he was also irritated. If Chase viewed this trip as a weekend romp with a dash of adventure, he hadn’t begun to grasp how dangerous the Searchers were.

  “Stop looking at me like that.” Chase made a disgusted sound. “I know what I’m getting into.”

  “Convince me.” Logan felt a little like they were playing a game of chicken, each waiting for the other to flinch.

  Chase’s expression of irritation mirrored Logan’s. “Fine. We’re spinning our wheels here. You summoned that ghost, who said you have to get what you lost. And whatever that is—you could fill me in anytime, by the way—it’s with the dead Guardian’s sister.”

  “Ariadne,” Logan offered. He felt a twinge of guilt. Chase and Audrey had taken him in without hesitation, yet he too often treated them like petulant children who had the gall to interfere with his game. Unbidden, Logan’s mind conjured the great dead tree.

  Maybe the arrogance of authority is in my blood.

  Whether that quality was a boon or a flaw remained to be seen.

  Chase took Logan’s one-word affirmation in stride. “This Ariadne, then. We need to find her.”

  “We do,” Logan said, nodding slowly. “But there’s no reason that she’d be at Rowan Estate.”

  “You’re right, of course.” Chase smiled. “But it’s the only place we have access to the Searchers. It’s the only way we might be able to find someone who knows where she is.”

  Logan couldn’t help but laugh dismissively again. “You and Audrey are going to waltz into Rowan Estate, kidnap a Searcher, and interrogate him or her? I had no idea you had such a wealth of special intelligence talents between you.”

  “You’re doing it again,” Chase said with a reproachful gaze. “Just let me finish.”

  Biting his tongue, Logan gestured for Chase to continue.

  “We’ll just keep our eyes and ears open,” Chase told him. “Find out what we can about what the Searchers are up to, and if we can locate this Ariadne, all the better.”

  When Logan didn’t offer immediate comment, Chase said, “You’re not wrong. We may go and find nothing at all. But you can’t get anywhere near Rowan Estate and we have to start somewhere.”

  “That’s a good point,” Logan said. “We do have to start somewhere.”

  And maybe Ren can give us a little help. Logan didn’t know what the rules were regarding the wolf’s movements, but if he could shadow Chase and Audrey without being noticed, it might give them a major advantage. If anyone would be able to locate Adne, it was her brother. He’d already admitted to watching her.

  “Sorry for giving you a hard time.” Logan flopped onto his back, gazing at the ceiling. “It’s a good plan. Better than anything I’ve got.”

  “Here to help.” Chase leaned on one elbow, eyeing Logan’s supine form. “You want to go to bed?”

  “I know it’s late, but I’m not tired.” Logan frowned, glancing at the leather-bound tome that was half shoved beneath one of the pillows. He didn’t think he could bear reading any more that night.

  “I didn’t say anything about sleeping.” Chase closed his laptop and set it on the nightstand.

  Logan gazed at the other Keeper for several moments.

  “Well?” Chase asked.

  “Close the door.”

  SABINE SMILED when Ethan stirred beside her. This was her favorite moment of the day. No matter the number of hours she’d spent roaming the night before, Sabine always woke before Ethan. She’d never been much of a sleeper.

  She lay on her side, letting her gaze roam over the slope of his shoulders. She waited as Ethan turned over. He always followed the same pattern. First he rolled onto his back and snuck a sidelong glance at Sabine to see if she was awake. When his eyes met hers, she’d smile, and then he’d reach for her.

  The first kiss of the day would be slow, sweet, wonderful.

  Ethan had just slid his hands beneath Sabine’s silk chemise to touch her bare skin when frantic knocking startled them both. But it wasn’t quite knocking. Pounding was more like it.

  “Stay here.”

  Frustrated as she was by the interruption, Sabine nonetheless enjoyed the view as shirtless Ethan strode across the room to open the door. He’d barely turned the knob when Connor burst in.

  “Get dressed.”

  “Good morning to you too,” Ethan grumbled. “What the hell, Connor?”

  “Get dressed now,” Connor said, and Sabine noticed the pallor of his face.

  She slipped out from under the covers and crossed the room, not caring that she wasn’t really dressed.

  “Sabine!” Ethan apparently did care. He even blushed a little, but Sabine just gave him a reassuring kiss on the cheek.

  “I have more clothes on than you do,” she said before she turned to Connor. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Adne,” Connor said.

  “What about Adne?” Ethan asked.

  “I don’t know,” Connor answered, raking his hands through his hair. “They won’t tell me. I just know she’s at Rowan Estate and something happened to her.”

  “Are they opening a portal in Haldis Tactical?” Sabine frowned, surprised Connor wasn’t already at Rowan Estate.

  “Yes.” Connor grimaced. “Anika sent me to get you.”

  Ethan and Sabine exchanged a look, then Sabine said to Connor “She didn’t want you to see Adne without us.”

  “That’s not what it is,” Connor replied. “At least she’s saying that’s not what it is.” Connor shoved his hands into the pockets of his duster. “They need you to look at something.”

  “Me?” Sabine found that surprising. The Searchers trusted her, for the most part, but some of them still regarded her presence warily. Centuries of violence between Guardians and Searchers had a way of leaving a lasting impression.

  “Before you ask what, I don’t know.” Connor pivoted on his heel and headed for the door. “Just put some clothes on and meet me in Tactical.”

  He slammed the door shut before either of them could speak.

  “This isn’t good.” Ethan folded Sabine into his arms. She let herself lean against him, enjoying the warmth of his bare skin and his familiar, alluring scent—which had always reminded her of river s
tones and early frost.

  Sabine cast a longing glance at the rumpled sheets on the bed before she pulled away. As much as she was sorry for the interruption, Sabine knew making sure Adne was all right had to take precedence over romance.

  They dressed quickly and quietly, neither Ethan nor Sabine attempting to speculate about what had transpired at Rowan Estate. Nor did they speak of other things for the sake of distraction. It was one of the qualities Sabine appreciated the most about her relationship with Ethan. They were both comfortable with silence.

  When Sabine and Ethan arrived at Haldis Tactical, a small cluster of Searchers awaited them. Anika stood facing off with a trio of men. Sabine was sorry to see the Arrow’s rather haggard appearance and her defensive stance. An anxious-looking waif of a girl stood slightly apart from the tense group.

  Winning the war against the Keepers was the greatest achievement an Arrow could have hoped for, but the new peace wasn’t without its troubles. Though Sabine had tried to keep a respectful distance from the politics of the Roving Academy, Ethan had become entangled enough that Sabine heard much of what transpired behind the closed doors of Haldis Tactical. And most of it wasn’t good.

  Without a singular focus, the Searchers struggled to find a new purpose in the world. Anika was doing her best to hold things together, but she’d met with some resistance from those of her peers who had a different vision for their future.

  The nature of the Searchers’ victory created part of the problem. Sabine had been inside Rowan Estate’s library along with Calla Tor and her father, Stephen—the Nightshade alpha—as well as Adne, Shay, Ethan, and Connor. Meanwhile, the other Searchers had remained outside on the estate grounds, battling both the Guardians who’d remained loyal to the Keepers as well as the menagerie of Nether creatures summoned to fight on behalf of their masters.

  Until the moment that Shay banished Bosque Mar into the Nether, Searchers were fighting and dying on the other side of the mansion’s walls.

  With so many casualties, it wasn’t surprising that new players would rise to fill the vacuum of authority. But from what Ethan had told Sabine, it sounded as though their perpetual politicking and jockeying for power had only made Anika’s role more difficult. Even now the sound of bickering filled Haldis Tactical.