I touched the edge of the wound, syphoned a thread of the heat; what I felt was thick and oily beneath my skin.
Julien said, “Only a few people can help.”
“Vampires?” But he hadn’t turned to the vampires, unless the nymph had no way to contact them.
“Set.” Julien’s eyes glittered blackly. “Traitors near her. Trust no one.”
I stroked the hair that drifted across his forehead, brown, like the forest trees. “Can you talk about it?”
Because I needed to know, hear every word. Hear his voice. Fill the void that tore open the moment fire streamed from Brin’s hands, turning what I thought was Julien into a flaming phoenix.
He struggled into a sitting position; the nymph was quick to stuff pillows behind his back. I waited while he breathed, settled.
“I was gathering evidence. Got too close to Barend’s cabal. Ended up on the wall.” He hissed out a breath. “The attack wasn’t a surprise… expected something, and the instant I felt… I teleported.”
Leaving the man who stood behind him… facing Brin...
He’d burned…
The smoke was black!
“The poison was fast, and I… ended up by the river,” Julien said after a moment. “Flat on my back, unable to move. Didn’t really know where I was, how far away. How… safe. Until Annora found me.” He shrugged toward the nymph. “We’d met before.”
“She brought you here?”
“Such a baby over a little water,” Annora murmured, plucking at the fish remains on the plate as if she considered the value in eating them.
“She’s been my spy in Westvale, picking up the gossip.”
“The people from Azul talk a lot,” Annora said, deciding to pass on the fish. She took the plate and dumped it, along with the contents, into the river. When she returned, she wiped her long-fingered hands on her clothes.
“They talked about Fallon,” Julien said. “About you. Waking up. We weren’t sure how to make contact, and that night, when Annora tried to get your attention…”
“By looking like you.”
“We weren’t sure it would work. And then the others started chasing, and she wasn’t sure who they were, if she should trust them. She came back to ask me.”
I held out my wrist to him, but he shook his head.
“I told her to try again.”
“I can take you back to Westvale,” I offered. “Anson will protect you.”
“The enemy is there,” the nymph murmured, sitting cross-legged, watching me with angled, black nymph eyes. She made a galloping-horse movement with her fingers.
“Hybrids.” Julien coughed with his eyes closed. “I’ve been choking on their stink for two days. Ago has a stench of his own.”
I bit my lip. “Vampires have a predatory sense of smell?” Another complication I hadn’t expected.
“They can scent the fresh blood,” Annora pointed out.
Restlessness set my nerves on edge. “A witch in Westvale,” I said. “She told me the vampires put some tracker venom in the ruined runes.”
“Probably.” Julien’s eyes remained closed, but his voice was stronger. “If they left venom in the cuts, they’ll sense it if they get close.”
“How close?”
“Miles, maybe.”
