like Osiris in the netherworld. I will go through the circle of
darkness, without the breath stilling within me ever!
When she finished, he asked, “Do you feel anything?”
“Such as?” She wasn’t sure what he was seeking. She glanced at the paper as if there might be a clue there. “Did you write it?”
The expression on Ajani’s face was veiled. “No. Read it again, and pay attention to any sensations you have as you read.”
Chloe read the paper again, trying to do as he asked.
“What do you feel?” Ajani prompted, leaning forward in his chair.
“Honestly? Afraid. Confused.”
Ajani had her set the paper aside. “You’re not a connoisseur of history or the arts, are you?” When she shook her head, he continued: “No matter. You don’t need to know the finer arts to feel. It’s a singular feeling, Chloe, when it works. The universe unfolds, reveals itself to you, and the man who can wield such power is a god.”
He reached out and went so far as to stroke her wrist, as if to calm her, but his touch and his words did little to ease her discomfort.
“I can try again,” she offered.
Then he smiled at her. “Good, Chloe. All you need to do is read the poem like you believe the words, and then let me know how you feel upon doing so.”
She tried once more, but again, she had nothing to tell him. They went on this way for the next hour: she read, inflecting different words, trying different speeds, while Ajani alternated between his discomfitting attempts at being supportive and chastising her. Chloe had begun to think that this strange reading and questioning would continue all night when they were interrupted by one of Ajani’s obsequious servants opening the door.
“Sir?”
Ajani turned his gaze on the young man with a predatory look. “You are fortunate that she wasn’t successful.”
“I am, sir.”
The words were barely out of the man’s mouth before Ajani was across the room with his cane. He slammed it into the man’s throat, and when the servant fell, Ajani spun the cane around and pressed the head of it to his chest as if holding him in place. “You are happy with her failure?”
“Of course not!” the servant swore.
Ajani stayed still, the cane pushed against the servant, and Ajani himself breathing heavily as if he had been exerting himself. Chloe wasn’t particularly comforted by his flash of rage, and she wondered what would happen when she didn’t eventually give him the answer he apparently sought. She stayed perfectly still, like she had so long ago when she’d been in a relationship that had turned ugly. Don’t draw his attention. Jason had been quick with his fists when she spoke too loudly—or too softly. He’d thrown things when she wasn’t dressed nicely enough or sometimes when she was dressed too nicely. If she had been interested in sex, he accused her of being a slut; if she wasn’t interested, he thought she was unfaithful. She’d tried to be what he wanted, but years later, she realized that what he wanted was simply someone to hurt. All of those feeling came back to her as Ajani kept his servant pinned with his cane.
That could be me.
Chloe wished that she had her gun back. Killing wasn’t easy, but knowing that you could pull the trigger made it easier to escape.
Apparently, Ajani had been speaking to her while she sat frozen in fear. “Chloe?” he asked.
She swallowed and looked up at him. “Yes?”
He smiled, aiming for the considerate facade he’d had at dinner. “There was a cave-in at one of my mines earlier this week. I need to speak with someone about it.”
Ajani released the servant, who stayed motionless even as Ajani stepped away from him. “Fetch Daniel.”
The man hastened away, and Ajani smoothed out his sleeves as if the burst of activity had left him rumpled.
In only a moment, the servant returned with Daniel behind him.
“Take her with you. Perhaps she’ll find it inspiring. Her performance so far has been lackluster, despite my encouragement,” Ajani said, and then turned his back and left them.
“Come with me,” Daniel said.
In the courtyard outside the house were two uniformed men. Between them was a man who looked as terrified as Chloe felt.
The two watched her expectantly as Daniel said, “If you can do this, he’ll trust you more.”
For a moment, Chloe stared at him. “Do what?”
He held out a gun.
“You want me to kill him?” she prompted.
“Ajani has decided that an example must be made. The foreman’s death will motivate others to work harder.” Daniel’s expression wasn’t judging, but he wasn’t flinching away like Chloe wanted to. He motioned to one of the uniformed men, who promptly forced the prisoner to his knees, and then he told Chloe, “Ajani himself doesn’t kill. He doesn’t watch a killing either if at all possible.”
She couldn’t speak.
“Take the gun, Chloe,” he said quietly. The look he gave her was pleading, as if he needed her to understand that what was about to happen here wasn’t awful. The problem was that murder over a failed mining tunnel was awful.
Chloe tried to think of circumstances where this murder wouldn’t be heinous. Maybe if Ajani was punishing a man for shoddy work that had cost lives or polluted a water supply. Maybe if the foreman was callously responsible for collapsing the tunnel on purpose. Neither of those was the case, however. Ajani had ordered the foreman’s death because the man had cost Ajani time and money. It was simply business to him—and a lesson to “inspire” her.
“I can’t.” Chloe turned her back on the prisoner for a moment. “Daniel, you don’t have to do this either. Just let him go. We can both walk out and—”
Daniel stepped around her, aimed, and fired. The prisoner slumped to the ground, a bullet hole in his forehead.
“Tell the boss it’s done,” Daniel said.
Once the two men went inside, Daniel turned to face her. “Wait here.” He glanced toward the door where the men had gone and lowered his voice. “You need to toughen up, Chloe.”
Then Daniel turned away and left her alone in the courtyard.
Waiting with a corpse wasn’t high on her list of acceptable plans, so a moment later she followed Daniel into the house, but Ajani was coming out as she went in. He held the paper she’d read several times already, and then he took her arm in his and led her back to the courtyard and the still-bleeding body.
“Read it again,” Ajani ordered as he handed her the paper.
As he stared at her with an oddly excited look, Chloe took the paper and read it aloud again.
I am lord of eternity in the crossing of the sky.
I am not afraid in my limbs,
I shall open the light-land, I shall enter and dwell in it . . .
Make way for me . . . I am he who passes by the guards . . .
I am equipped and effective in opening his portal!
With the speaking of this spell, I am like Re in the eastern sky,
like Osiris in the netherworld. I will go through the circle of
darkness, without the breath stilling within me ever!
When she was finished, Ajani shook his head. His excitement had vanished.
“You’re just like the others,” he said. “Another failure.”
Chapter 37
When they reached Ajani’s house, Kitty felt a mix of excitement and fear. They were going to end this ongoing conflict with Ajani. It wasn’t the same as finding a way home, but after her bonding in the desert with the bloedzuigers, she wasn’t as sure that she wanted to leave. The Wasteland was her home as much as the land she’d left behind; truth be told, she’d lived here longer than she’d lived in California, so the Wasteland might be more her home.
“Ready?” Edgar asked.
She nodded, and Jack pushed open the front door. It wasn’t locked, but they expected a servant to be standing on the other side. She was poised to grab him and yank him out of the hous
e. She wasn’t prepared to see Daniel on the other side of the door. She saw the look of hope in his expression—and the resignation that followed when he saw that she wasn’t alone.
“Just go,” she whispered, stepping in front of Edgar and Jack.
Daniel didn’t raise his weapon, but he already had it in his hand. “You know better than that.”
“Please don’t make me shoot you,” she said.
Behind Daniel, a servant vanished into the depths of the house.
Kitty knew they had only moments before Ajani—or his other killers—arrived. Daniel glanced past her for a sliver of a moment, but he didn’t address Jack or Edgar. Instead, he begged, “Go away, Kitty. Let them handle this.”
“Shoot him, or move away so I can,” Melody called from behind Edgar.
“Please,” Kitty half begged. Shooting him seemed less acceptable after she’d seen what Ajani had done to him.
Daniel lifted his gun. “You know I can’t let you walk past me unless I’m down.” He smiled at her before inviting, “Go ahead and shoot me, Kit. It’s okay.”
Edgar pulled Kitty to the side, and Melody fired. It wasn’t a killing wound, but it was more than Kitty would’ve liked.
Daniel fell backward, smiling up at her. “Once more so I can’t come after you.” He paused, took a visibly pained breath, and told her, “He has four fighters in the house. Two upstairs.”
Kitty had shot Daniel herself not too long ago, but the memories of his torture were too fresh in her mind. “Danny . . .”
Jack stepped into the foyer, and Daniel looked at him. “Chloe was with him in the library.”
“Let’s go.” Jack didn’t glance at Daniel as he strode into the house with Melody and Hector behind him.
As shots started to ring out from deeper in the house, Kitty knew they needed to move, but she couldn’t shoot Daniel again—yet if she didn’t, it would be worse for him if Ajani saw that he’d let the Arrivals into the house. “I can’t shoot you,” she whispered.
Daniel met Edgar’s eyes. “Let me take her out of here.”
“Can’t,” Edgar muttered.
Daniel sighed. “I’m sure you don’t mind: shoot me so I can’t follow.”
Edgar shot him in the head; then he bent down and grabbed the pistol that Daniel could no longer hold. He handed the gun to Kitty. “Stay behind me.”
The chaos in the house grew louder as they walked farther from the door. Thuds and yells mingled with the sounds of breaking glass. Interspersed with it were gunshots.
They found Hector hunkered down at the doorway of a dining room. “Melly’s upstairs,” he said. “I’ve got these. Go on.”
Daniel was one of the best of Ajani’s group of trained killers, and he’d eliminated himself. The staff at Ajani’s house was trained to fight, but they also weren’t apt to step into the middle of a fracas between groups of people who didn’t stay dead. Melody was hunting the two shooters upstairs, and Hector was exchanging fire with another. That left one unaccounted for—as well as Ajani. Kitty was feeling optimistic until she heard Jack’s voice inside a nearby room.
“This is not what we agreed on,” Jack said.
Gun at the ready, Kitty pushed open the door and slid inside. Edgar was close behind her. Standing just inside the room was her brother, and walking toward them was Chloe.
She walked in front of Ajani. There was blood spatter on her arms, but she appeared uninjured.
“I think I can still hit him,” Edgar murmured from beside her.
“No.” Jack darted a look at him and answered quietly, “The poison would kill her if you missed. We wait till we have a shot.”
Edgar looked at her briefly. His loyalty to her surpassed his loyalty to Jack. She put a hand on Edgar’s wrist and shook her head. They would wait.
“Hiding behind a woman?” Jack scoffed.
“Oh, but she’s not just any woman, is she, Jack?” Ajani was midway across the room, standing near a pair of exceedingly ugly chairs. Chloe was in front of him like a shield. He slid one hand possessively around her waist. “She’s one you’re willing to break our accord for.”
Jack said nothing, but his expression darkened. Kitty likewise didn’t point out that the accord had already been broken. She might be impulsive, but she wasn’t foolhardy enough to poke a rattlesnake.
“Sadly, she’s not as special as I’d hoped she would be.” Ajani tsked.
Suddenly, Chloe tried to jerk away, but Ajani’s arm tightened.
“I’ll kill him,” Ajani said casually. “He won’t shoot you to get to me, but I will kill him if you force my hand.” When she stopped moving, Ajani made an approving sound, and then, with his other hand, reached up and stroked his fingertips down her check and around the curve of her shoulder, stopping his hand just above her breast. “She has her uses, and I’m happy to enjoy her, but she’s still not what I need. We could trade.”
“Get behind me, Kit,” Edgar said.
“You know better, Cordova. Miss Reed won’t hide.” The look Ajani gave them was that of a patronizing father. “You also know that my people don’t stay dead. We can exterminate every one of you, or”—he glanced at Kitty with a creepily hungry look—“you all walk out of here, and Katherine stays. I’ll treat her like the queen she is.”
“No.” Kitty’s temper flared, and she drew her gun reflexively. The rounds in the third and fourth chambers were poison filled, but she had bullets in the first two that she could shoot first. Those bullets wouldn’t kill him, but they’d make her feel better.
Ajani’s gaze dropped to the gun in her hand. “My dear, I am willing to let Cordova live, and if you are obedient, we can even negotiate visits with him. Plus, while you’re here, you can have Daniel as your lackey too.”
“My sister isn’t going to stay here.” Jack had his pistol trained on Ajani. “The bullets are filled with poison. I can kill you permanently this time.”
“Is that why you’ve broken our agreement? To kill me?” Ajani asked. “I think we can come to a better accord. The position of governor has recently opened up, and I’d be happy to install you in his position.”
“We worked for him to stand against you. Why would we work for you?” Kitty kept watching for a chance. She could see that Chloe was poised, waiting for an opportunity to escape. They just needed a moment.
“The governor has worked for me since before you arrived,” Ajani told them. “It didn’t seem particularly prudent to tell you that, but then you frightened him, and he became more irritating, so I had him retire early.”
“He was torn apart by a demon,” Jack said.
“I know. You always clean up the demons after I have them do their jobs. You’re quite good at it; that’s part of why I use them so often.” Ajani paused and smiled, clearly drawing out the tension for his own amusement.
Kitty looked at Jack. The expression of incredulity on his face matched what she felt. Everything they’d fought for was a lie.
“If you won’t trade for Chloe, and you don’t want to be governor . . .” Ajani turned his gaze to Kitty. “Perhaps, you should do your own negotiating.”
Kitty stepped away from Edgar. “Let’s talk.”
Edgar started, “Kit—”
“Katherine,” Jack said at the same time.
She ignored them both. “Let them all go, and you and I will talk. You had an agreement with Jack for years.” She watched Ajani as she spoke. The hint of instability that Daniel had mentioned was there, but so was the keen alertness she’d always known. “This isn’t the way we have to be.”
Ajani smiled and shoved Chloe away suddenly. Kitty heard the hammer of a gun, and the whine of a bullet. She thought it was Edgar who had fired, but then he fell forward, pushing Kitty to the ground, keeping her safe from return fire. Vaguely, she realized that Jack had lunged for Chloe too.
When Kitty felt dampness on her back, she realized that Edgar hadn’t simply been pushing her out of the way. She scrambled out from under him and w
as frantically searching for a pulse. “No. No. No.” She rolled him over and leaned down to feel for breath. “You can’t do this to me, Edgar.”
She realized that Hector stood in the doorway only when he started to speak. “I took care of Melody. She’s dead . . . and”—he glanced at Kitty unapologetically—“so is Edgar, I believe.”
“Hector?” Jack said.
Kitty felt like her world had just ended. She couldn’t look, but she couldn’t not look at Hector either. Her hands were still on Edgar’s motionless body. She was vaguely aware that Jack had lifted his gun, but Hector had already turned and walked away.
“I do apologize, Katherine,” Ajani said, “but you didn’t seriously think that I would lack a plan for this day?”
She stared at him as she knelt beside Edgar. “He’s dead.”
Ajani took a step forward, and Chloe ran over and grabbed the gun that had fallen from Edgar’s hand when he fell. She stood in front of Kitty and Edgar, her gun aimed at Ajani. “You leave her alone. Just . . . just stop.”
Without speaking, Jack lifted his weapon as well, but before either Jack or Chloe fired, Ajani said, “If you do that, Cordova will stay dead.”
Kitty hated what she was about to do, but there was no alternative. “Jack, don’t. Chloe, please don’t shoot him.”
Her brother glanced her way, and she saw the understanding in his eyes. He would let Ajani live for her, let things continue to fall apart all around them, all because she couldn’t bear life without Edgar. This was what she’d resisted for so long, the desperation to keep Edgar in her life.
“Just hear him out,” she asked in a voice that was far too close to begging for her liking.
Jack walked over to Chloe and gently pushed the muzzle of her gun toward the floor. “Wait.”
With a confidence that Kitty hated, Ajani turned his back to them and walked to one of two high-backed, gaudy chairs that were on either side of an ornately carved table. On the table were a crystal decanter and two glasses. He glanced over his shoulder at her before reaching for the decanter. The clink of it being unstoppered sounded strangely loud in the room. “I’d offer you all a drink, but I have only the two glasses here.” He poured some amber liquid into both glasses, looked back again, and added, “However, I suspect you would probably all drink out of the bottle, wouldn’t you?”