Heart's Price (MxM)

Chapter 59

Having gathered outside, most of us pile into Dane's SUV.

As the next tallest besides Dane, Ambrose takes the front passenger seat, leaving me sandwiched between Penelope and Shanti in the back.

Freya had opted to ride with Julian in his old VW, having proclaimed that she 'loves a man who can handle a stick.'

As for how Penelope had arrived, I'd spotted a blue vintage bicycle leaning against the side of the house on our way out. Given it had only one speed, and there were several impressive hills in the ten miles between Ambrose's house and Julian's cottage, I gathered she was not quite as frail as she appeared.

"So what is the plan?" I ask, as Dane pulls out onto the main road.

Dane meets my eyes briefly in the rear-view mirror before returning his attention to the road.

"I was hoping you'd have an idea, actually. You're the closest to this, now, Noah," he says. "What do you think we should do?"

I stare at the complex knot of locs bunched at the back of his head. It's too intricate for him to have done himself, and I'm guessing it's Julian's work. It seems to mirror the knot of nerves coiled in my stomach.

My alpha brother always has a plan, and expects it to be followed unquestioningly. Any other time, I'd have been flattered to have him turn to me like this, but at the moment I'd actually been counting on his usual quick grasp of authority.

"I don't know, Dane," I admit. "Aengus has all the cards—the relics, the hostages, his rakshasa things... it feels like we're just walking into his trap."

"What's he holding over us?" Dane prompts.

"That he'll hurt or kill Mathilda and the others, and send the rakshasas after me," I recount.

"Call me callous, but I only care about one of those things," Dane growls. "Anyway, what do we have that he wants?"

"The final relic, and Ambrose."

"And you, Noah," Ambrose says, twisting to look back at me. "Ainach needs his heart as an anchor in this world. Without that demand, Aengus might have had me—or Ainach—destroy each relic as he attained it: no ritual required."

"Right." Dane nods. "So, how do we level the playing field?"

"If we destroyed Aileen's relic, pre-emptively," Penelope posits, leaning forward with her pale eyes wide, "would that not disrupt Aengus' intent?"

"No," Ambrose counters. "It would rather hasten it. Each gift-relic is bound to the soul of the recipient. Destroying it would destroy the bond. Aileen would perish, and one link in the chain binding Ainach would be broken. Besides," he adds, "to destroy a dragon's gift is no easy thing, as Aengus has discovered. Only something like dragonfire will do the job, and I'm not willing to be the cause of my aunt's demise—if I can help it."

"That is admittedly reassuring," Shanti says, reaching into the sleeve of her silks and producing the relic itself—an old paintbrush with a dark handle of stained wood and a tip of fine bristles—which she hands to me. "Here—I give it to you for safekeeping, Noah. As for the rakshasas," she goes on, "leave them to me. I am familiar with their ways, and can distract them. As a daughter of the Nagaraja, I will not take part in violence myself; but this at least, I can do."

"Ambrose," I say, leaning forward to touch his shoulder. "What if you could get to Aengus' relic, or to Aengus himself? With him...neutralized, so to speak...wouldn't everyone else be free?"

He nods. "Yes. The trouble is doing so without the others coming to harm. I've a feeling he'll have some safe-guards in place."

"That should be our objective, then," I decide. "We may not have the upper hand,  but we've got each other. Three werewolves, a nagi, a half-fae, a dragon and..." I glance at Penelope, "...and Penelope, isn't nothing, after all."