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Kody scowled at the i as you live, ether by your mother He can only die if you do It’s how the Malachai finally kills my father and breaks his army Once the Malachai realizes the truth of your bond, he reanimates you and kills you both”

“The Malachai kills us?”

She nodded “But that’s the history of my world Not the one here Maybe here, Apollymi failed to combine your life forces?”

He paused to think about it before he answered “No We were bound at birth to protect h him “Maybe Arte hi it death to protect me She was always precious that way”

Noas her turn to be stunned “Aunt Artie is your wife?”

“Was Yes”

Still, she couldn’t grasp it Not given what she knew of their past “Aunt Artie?”

“Why do you keep saying it like that? We loved each other ine we could be different in your world”

Oh, she could But that was her di his memories of her aunt here “Never mind It doesn’t matter”

Kody offered him a bittersweet smile even while she ached inside What she really wanted to do was have him hold her like her father had once done Have hi would be okay But that would never happen again

I want you back, Daddy

But Acheron wasn’t her father And this would be infinitely easier if he wore his hair black in this universe as he did in hers

Blond Acheron … that hit too close to ho to hurt anye, she needed to put distance between the evenher eyes, she summoned her powers and used them to teleport to the realo

Existing outside of human time and space so that it didn’t matter what dimension she accessed it from, theirs was a sterile and austere place The Arelim as a rule were very circumspect and puritanical They never met a rule they didn’t embrace wholeheartedly Because of that, she rarely ever came here to check in

Usually her contact found her on the mortal plane where she worked to thwart the Malachai bloodline And mostly at the worst possible tirand hall where their coe information or socialize

Today, it was eerily eed torchieres that lined the walls burned The firenoise and left a scent of cinnamon in the air

She moved to the center of the vibrant white room and braced herself for the worst news “Sraosha?” she called, su the Arel as her direct contact

He appeared instantly, dressed in his battle armor Extremely tall, blond, and beautiful, he dwarfed her with his ht “So, you finally remembered your station and duties I have to say I never expected to see you again”

The accusation and anger in his tone surprised her While she’d known he wouldn’t be pleased that she hadn’t killed Nick yet, she hadn’t anticipated this much hostility “What do you ain” He spat those words at her as if they left a bitter taste in his mouth “I do believe that I instructed you to destroy the Ambrose Malachai”

“No You ordered me to murder Nick Gautier He isn’t Ambrose” At least not yet

He rolled his eyes at her “You disgustheart that sees lies instead of truth You were given a direct order You failed and now…” His scowl deepened as if he had another thought “Why are you here?”

So wasn’t right about hi out arning

Kody glanced around to see faint burnand onehad been broken Even though it was forbidden by their ancient laws, it was obvious soht in here Fiercely “What happened?”

“That doesn’t concern you”

She looked over her shoulder as she felt so her from behind It was Ameretat and another Arel whose name she didn’t know When they reached for her, she twirled away fro on?” she de decommissioned, Nekoda”

Her eyes widened at his declaration What he meant was executed “Why?”

“Insubordination Refusal of orders You have put our enemy’s life above that of the entire world”

She shook her head in denial He couldn’t issue that order alone Not even he had that kind of power aree for a death warrant to be issued on their own kind “Where’s Adidiron or Suriyel?”

“They won’t save you They can’t” He jerked his chin at Ameretat “Take her and show her hoe treat traitors”

CHAPTER 13

Kody dodged Ameretat’s arms She tried to teleport out, but couldn’t With no other course of action, she ran for the doors They threw fireballs to stop her retreat, soed them as best she could and summoned her armor for protection Thankfully, that part of her powers still worked

If only the power to teleport out would operate, too That would be just tasty perfect But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t escape here

Twisting and dodging, she made it across the room and headed for the main doors With no clear-cut plan or destination, she’d alrabbed her froh theed her into a small hidden alcove in the marble foyer

Her screa her put his hand over her mouth and whispered in her ear while Sraosha and Ameretat continued to hunt her