Alterant

  Evalle shouted, "No! That's not fair."

  Ares pointed at Evalle's feet, and the lightning bolt she'd been worried about struck the ground an inch from her toes. Energy stung her skin. Ares said, "Speak another unsolicited word and the next one will go through your heart."

  Brina spoke in Evalle's mind. Do not make this worse by arguing. I doubt they will do anything more than suspend me from standing at Tribunal meetings with sanctioned Beladors for a while. That would leave a warrior under judgment at the mercy of the Tribunal with no support, but there are worse things in our world.

  Evalle calmed at that, but now it was her fault other warriors would not benefit by having Brina at their side to face a trio of heartless deities.

  When Brina spoke, Evalle understood why warriors followed this woman into battle. "Evalle may have failed you, but she did not fail me or her Belador tribe. I do not believe she has anything to do with the Medb. I will always stand by my warriors in any battle, even those sent to battle upon uneven ground."

  Loki gifted Brina with a gorgeous smile. "Your reward for believing in a genetic mishap is to remain with us forever."

  "You know I can't do that," Brina countered, suspicion coloring the end of her words.

  "Oh, but your hologram can."

  "What? You can't--" Brina lifted her hands in defense against an invisible threat . . . and turned into a translucent statue locked in that position.

  Oh, dear Goddess. What had Loki done? Evalle looked to the grinning god, opened her mouth to curse him a thousand ways when he said, "You wish to speak, Alterant?"

  She caught the warning and clamped her lips shut. Brina had cautioned her not to antagonize the Tribunal. Evalle shoved her fisted hands behind her back, sure that Sen would notice the movement, but the bastard had to be enjoying this too much to interrupt.

  Evalle nodded, then answered Loki in a respectful voice, when she'd rather rip his throat out. "I have nothing to say for myself, but I don't see the point in freezing Brina's image when I'm the one who failed."

  Pele covered her mouth and laughed. She cut her eyes to Ares, then Loki, who both erupted in laughter.

  What could be so funny about that? What would have united those three on any front?

  Evalle sent a quick glance at Sen, who seemed mildly confused.

  When the laughter died, Pele said, "Loki did not freeze Brina's image. He captured her hologram and locked it into a timeless prison. A part of Brina's essence travels with her in the hologram to allow her use of power outside of Treoir Isle."

  Did that mean . . . they had actually locked away part of Brina's power? What about the Beladors?

  Full all-out panic shook Evalle. What had she done to her entire tribe?

  "Evalle of the Beladors, you are hereby sentenced to VIPER imprisonment for as long as you shall draw a breath."

  VIPER? What about the jungle like Tristan had been sent to?

  She turned to Sen, who whispered, "I promise that you will live a long life."

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Could there be any lonelier cellmate than honor? Evalle sat on the edge of the cot in her suffocatingly small space, heart thumping in beat with the pain stabbing her chest. She'd thought the basement of a simple two-bedroom house had been a claustrophobic cage for the first eighteen years of her life.

  She hadn't known the true definition of cage until getting dumped in a ten-by-ten room with cold rock walls. Smooth gray stone covered the floor.

  No door. Unnecessary with teleporting.

  No window. Nothing to see this far beneath the mountain that held VIPER headquarters in north Georgia.

  No way out. All she'd ever wanted was freedom.

  She hugged the windbreaker around her, glad Sen had no idea how much she cherished the jacket Storm had given her. Now that she'd dripped dry, she could smell him on the cloth.

  Her heart bled a little each time she inhaled his scent.

  One of the four stone walls started changing. A wooden door with black hammered-metal attachments formed.

  The door swung open to admit Tzader.

  The sight of him threatened to pull her loose at the seams. She would not cry. No one had seen her shed a tear since the age of fifteen.

  She couldn't think about not seeing Storm. That would cut loose the river of misery waiting to flash flood through her.

  She swallowed down the hurt.

  When Sen had grudgingly admitted that VIPER rules allowed her one visit by a single person, Evalle had given him Tzader's name. She didn't know if Quinn had truly betrayed her to Kizira, but the witch had gotten her information somewhere.

  Tzader walked in and stood just inside the door that closed behind him. The hard angles of his face shared nothing of his thoughts.

  Did he hate her for what had happened to Brina?

  "Z, I'm, uh, sorry . . ." That sounded so useless. What could sorry do to free Brina?

  "Not your fault, Evalle."

  "Yes, it is my fault. They locked Brina's hologram form in some kind of clear statue."

  His neck muscles flexed. "I know."

  "They captured her essence . . . they . . . what did they do to her? What will happen to the Beladors?"

  Worry crowded Tzader's gaze. "Brina can't leave the castle at all, even if it's under attack. Her hologram originates from wherever her physical body exists. If she moves more than a short distance from the spot where she last transmitted her hologram, her body would begin to deteriorate. She wouldn't die, but she'd feel as if her bones were being crushed."

  "What will Macha do?"

  "Nothing yet." He crossed his arms. "With a part of Brina's essence cut off from returning to her body, the Belador powers have a chink in the armor. We don't have the ability to link with each other or communicate through telepathy."

  How could she have harmed the tribe this way? Probably just as well that she would never see them again.

  Most of the Beladors had barely tolerated her half-breed status before.

  Tolerance would give way to open hatred at harming their warrior queen.

  Evalle covered her eyes, then pinched the bridge of her nose, anything to keep from breaking. "That means if Macha retaliates in any way and breaks faith with the VIPER alliance, our warriors will be extremely vulnerable. They could be taken out by single attacks."

  "Exactly."

  Evalle shoved to her feet, ready to fight the enemy . . . but the enemy was her. "Can't you tell the Tribunal that it was a mistake to take me in, that I'm not really a Belador and Brina shouldn't be punished just for getting stuck with me . . . and--"

  She shouldn't shout at Tzader. He hadn't done this to her.

  Tzader walked forward, closing the gap between them. "That would be a lie."

  "It's true. I let you all down, Tzader. I won't let you waste time trying to save me when Brina needs your help more."

  "No you didn't let us down, and I'm not going to allow anything to happen to her . . . or you. I won't leave you here."

  Of course Tzader would try to get her out of this box. Honor ran through his veins, and his heart bled loyalty.

  Tzader said, "I'll send everyone after Tristan and those Alterants. I know you wouldn't have helped that bastard escape."

  "I know you don't want to hear this, Z, but you can't hand the Alterants over to the Tribunal."

  Tzader could have backed down an army of Medb warlocks with the fierce look on his face. "Stop defending them! Not one of those Alterants hung around to help you."

  "I know, but listen to me. Kizira is trying to capture Alterants." If nothing else, she had to give Tzader anything he could use to free Brina and protect the Beladors.

  "We figured out the Medb were behind the ambush on you."

  She nodded. "They want certain Alterants. Me, Tristan and who knows how many more, but not all the Alterants have Belador blood. Tristan has information about Alterant origins and thinks the Medb plan to use the green-eyed ones to breach Brina's castle." Which just turned into a m
uch more dangerous situation with Brina's hologram held hostage by the Tribunal.

  Tzader's sigh carried a world of troubles. "Where did you hear that?"

  "When Tristan was around Kizira and the Kujoo, he heard enough to believe the Medb know something important about our background that they can use to their advantage. You have to find him and try to help him so he'll help the Beladors."

  "Why would you believe him, Evalle?"

  "I think I could have talked him into coming with me to face the Tribunal, but Isak Nyght showed up."

  Tzader's cocoa-brown skin lost two shades of color. He slapped his hand to his forehead. "Ah, hell."

  "What?"

  "Quinn probed Conlan O'Meary's mind--"

  "Why?"

  "Because Brina wanted proof of Conlan either being the traitor helping the Medb or not." Tzader made a disgusted noise. "When Quinn was inside Conlan's mind, he encountered Kizira and learned of plans to do just as you said--use Alterants to breach Treoir Castle. The Tribunal learned about Tristan's escape and handed Sen orders to kill any Alterant without question."

  "I know."

  Pausing, Tzader's chest rose and fell with a sigh of deep regret when he said, "I had no idea where you were, and Quinn had heard your name mentioned when he entered a vision in Conlan's mind. I wanted you found as quickly as possible, so I contacted Isak for help."

  Did he think after all he'd done for her that she'd hold that against him? "What happened is not your fault, Z. Isak knew I was in Atlanta. I ran into him while I was searching for Tristan. When he saw glowing green eyes standing with me, he sighted down on a target. Could have happened no matter what."

  Tzader accepted that with his usual stoic quiet, but she knew he wouldn't forgive himself for bringing Isak into the mix.

  She needed to tell him something else. "You've piqued Isak's interest. He may go digging around on you."

  "I'm not worried about Nyght."

  She was. "Please be careful and watch your back."

  "I will." His throat muscles flexed with a swallow. "I have to leave soon, but I'll make them let me come back."

  Sen had said one visit meant one visit.

  Even Tzader might not be able to bully his way back in.

  Panic scurried through her with sharp rat claws. "Do me a couple favors just in case . . . it takes a while."

  "Anything."

  "Storm was with me when Sen came for me. Sen hit him with some kind of power that might have, um--" She took a breath. She could not say the words she didn't want to hear spoken. "I was in Decatur--"

  "I know. Trey's team must have shown up right after you left. Isak's men were standing around looking confused."

  Her heart leaped with hope. "Did he find a--" She stopped before asking Tzader if anyone had found a dead animal at the scene. She'd told Storm she wouldn't share that he could shift into a jaguar. She wouldn't betray that trust even now.

  "Storm must be fine."

  "Why?"

  "Sen told me Storm quit. I've had people trying to find Storm since you were brought in, but he's gone."

  Gone or dead? Had Storm survived that attack after all, or had Sen removed the body and made up the story about Storm quitting?

  Tzader said, "About Storm--"

  "He's a good man, Z. I know you're not sure about him because Sen brought him in, but he's an ally."

  Tzader thought on that. "Why'd they let Storm help you when we couldn't?"

  "They didn't. When the Tribunal had me teleported to Tristan's spellbound cage in South America--"

  Tzader cursed in Gaelic.

  "--Storm found me on his own. I'm not entirely sure how he did it, but he did and he refused to leave me while I searched for Tristan and the other Alterants."

  "In that case, if he hadn't quit I'd thank him," Tzader said. "Sen blew me off when I asked about Storm. Said he was jacked up over you being locked up. Sen thinks he'll be back in a day or two once he cools down. Storm's one of their best trackers, so VIPER won't let him get away."

  That sounded like a story Sen would fabricate to cover why Storm had left if Sen didn't want to deal with explaining a dead agent.

  But Evalle wanted what Tzader said to be true with every part of her being no matter how little chance she believed he'd had of surviving Sen's attack.

  Sen would have made sure Storm could not help her again, no matter what.

  Thinking of that blasted Sen, he might pull Tzader out any minute, too. She needed Tzader to do a couple more things.

  "In case you can't come back to see me, please give this to Nicole." She reached around her neck and untied the leather thong holding Nicole's amulet. She wouldn't think about how this could be the last time she ever saw Tzader. When she held the amulet out to him, he reluctantly opened his hand. "And make sure that Feen--"

  Her voice broke. She'd thought she could say his name.

  Tzader wrapped his arms around her. When he spoke, his voice sounded as if he'd eaten rusty blades. "We won't abandon you."

  She pulled in a shaky breath, determined to get this out. "I know." She licked her dry lips, searching for the strength to make sure her baby was cared for. "Take Feenix . . . to Nicole . . . so he won't be alone. Tell Feenix . . . tell him--"

  Her baby would go berserk when she didn't return.

  The first tear charged down her cheek.

  Tzader hugged her. "We'll take him to Nicole's tonight as soon as I finish all the VIPER meetings. We'll tell him you love him and take care of him until you get back. I swear it."

  More tears rushed to join the first one, but she squinted her eyes tight.

  The door to her cell opened on its own.

  She pulled back from Tzader and tried to smile. "Thank you for all the times you've been my friend and believed in me."

  "Don't talk in the past tense. I will find a way to get you out of here. Quinn and I won't stop until we do."

  Should she tell Tzader about Kizira's claim that Quinn had shared information about Evalle? Not without proof. Evalle could only live with so much guilt, and she'd hurt enough Beladors for one day.

  She trusted Tzader to know who his allies were.

  She couldn't spend forever in here thinking Quinn had betrayed her to Kizira.

  Tzader stepped away, looking back once more before he walked out.

  The door swung shut and dissolved into a rough-cut rock wall again.

  Her heart dropped with the sudden empty ring. Her watch emitted a loud tick . . . tick . . . tick every time a second passed.

  Sen's doing, no doubt. He wanted her to be aware of every second she spent in this cage.

  He'd made sure she'd spend all those seconds in agony thinking about Storm and everything she'd lost in one day.

  THIRTY-SIX

  The watch had become Evalle's nemesis. She tried to stomp out the noisy thing, but the timepiece was indestructible, so she put it beneath the thin mattress on her bed.

  The blasted thing ticked louder.

  She finally gave up and put the watch back on her arm, where the sound of each second ticking returned to a normal level that echoed off the hard walls.

  Energy began forming inside the chamber.

  Evalle backed up to the wall facing where the door had appeared last time, but no door took shape.

  The energy gathered power until an explosion of light ended with a woman who glowed from head to toe in an angelic dress of sparkling white pearls.

  But that was no angel giving her the death stare.

  Evalle hadn't expected another guest so soon, and never this one. "Good morning, Goddess."

  Macha slid a perturbed look down her narrow, but perfect, nose. "You have caused our tribe a great deal of trouble, Evalle."

  The Celtic goddess over all the Beladors took time out of her busy schedule to come here and state the obvious?

  Or had Macha dropped by to turn Evalle into a smoldering block of charred Alterant for getting Brina in a jam?

  Macha started to pace, too
k one look at the cramped cell and shared her disgust in a loud sniff. "I should destroy all the Alterants as they become known, and I would if I thought that would solve my problems."

  Not feeling the love right now.

  Evalle considered everything that had happened and decided that if Macha wanted to toast her for speaking up, she had nothing left to lose. "What's the point of this visit, Macha?"

  The goddess studied her as if Evalle had surprised her and proven more interesting than a wounded roach. "My point is simple. If I challenge the Tribunal's ruling against Brina, I put the entire Belador tribe in conflict with VIPER. The risk is too great for that."

  Evalle noted that Macha hadn't mentioned the ruling against her. "I understand the predicament we're in."

  She probably shouldn't have used "we" in that sentence based on the way Macha's gaze scolded her.

  The goddess said, "Tzader came to me and shared everything he'd learned by Quinn probing a possible traitor's mind, as well as what you told him."

  Had they decided Conlan O'Meary was a traitor?

  Or had Macha decided Evalle was a traitor after she'd dispersed the fog?

  As Grady liked to say, "No good deed goes unpunished."

  Evalle said, "I assume you heard how I used a gift given me by the Tribunal to destroy the fog, too."

  "Yes."

  "Do you believe I'm aligned with the Medb?"

  "If I did, we would not be having this conversation."

  That sounded like confirmation that Evalle could have ended up as Alterant charcoal briquettes.

  But the goddess had more to say. "More importantly, I believe what you told Tzader."

  That was good, right? "About what specifically?"

  "That the Medb are trying to bring these half-breed Belador Alterants into their fold and use them to harm Brina. I can't allow that, nor can I allow Brina's hologram to remain in Tribunal custody."

  The goddess said nothing about throwing her help Evalle's way, but if she freed Brina's hologram form, Evalle would be thankful for one blessing. "I'm glad to hear you can fix some of this."

  "Some? I'm a goddess. I don't fix some of anything. I will not be held at the Tribunal's mercy for any reason." She touched her flowing golden-auburn hair with a beautifully manicured nail, and her hair shifted into an even more perfect shape. "Listen carefully, as I do not repeat myself."

  Not a lot inside this box to distract me, but whatever.

  "Only a deity can approach the Tribunal regarding the viable status of a race. As such, I will open a dialogue with the Tribunal to formally decree that you have given me cause to believe Belador Alterants should be recognized as a viable race. That once the Alterant origin is clearly established and proof of their loyalty to my pantheon has been delivered to the Tribunal their race will be established and protected under the laws of our world."