Styx shrugged. “I’ve only heard rumors, but it’s said that full-blooded Jinn are capable of creating small fissures between worlds to hide their treasures.”
Chapter 11
Laylah pressed a hand to her churning stomach. She didn’t want to discuss the child. Especially not with a vampire who had yet to prove he wasn’t preparing to hand her over to the Oracles.
Still, she had to admit that she needed information if she were going to protect the baby.
“It would explain why they needed a Jinn mongrel,” Tane said, crossing his arms over his bare chest.
Styx nodded, his gaze never wavering from Laylah. Did the Anasso suspect she would disappear the moment she had the strength to shadow walk?
If he didn’t he was an idiot.
“Was there anything but the child in the mist?”
She forced herself to think back to her time in the cave. She remembered the cold. The sort of cold that made her lungs ache. And the sense of barren emptiness, as if they were a great distance from the nearest town.
Then the mage had shoved her forward and she had tumbled into the swirling mist.
At the time she’d been terrified. She’d only shadow walked a handful of times and she’d briefly thought he had shoved her through the corridor and into another world.
“No.” She shuddered, knowing that it probably would have been best if she’d left the baby where it had been hidden.
But how could she?
Even now she was convinced the child had reached out to touch her heart. Either that or she was a raving lunatic. A distinct possibility.
“Pity,” Styx murmured, his brow furrowed. “It would have been nice if we had a clue to who stashed the child in the fissure.”
“Surely it was a Jinn?” Tane challenged.
“Not necessarily.” Styx held Laylah’s gaze. “The Dark Lord …”
“The child is not evil,” she interrupted, her hands clenched at her side. “How can you be so certain?” “I just know.”
Styx didn’t roll his eyes, but then again, he looked far from convinced. Big shocker there. “I just know “ wasn’t exactly a foolproof guarantee.
Thankfully he didn’t press.
“So you took the babe from the mists.” He picked up the previous thread of conversation. “Then what happened?”
“Sergei returned us to his home and locked me back in my cell with the child.”
Styx pushed from the desk, not seeming to notice how he towered over her.
At least she assumed the looming was unintentional. Who knew with vampires?
“After going to such an effort to get his hands on the babe why would he leave it with you?” he rasped.
Laylah hesitated before grudgingly revealing the truth. “Because he’s afraid of the stasis spell that’s wrapped around the baby. As far as I know I’m the only one who can touch it.”
Tane moved to stand next to Styx. Laylah’s breath tangled in her throat.
Talk about an overabundance of riches.
Even furious with the vampires for their interfering, she was female enough to appreciate the sight of two of the finest beefcakes to ever walk the earth.
The tall Aztec with his forbidding beauty and unnerving power. And the bronzed, honey-eyed hunk who made a woman think of hot, tropical nights and exotic sex.
Lots and lots and lots of sex.
Tane shot her a knowing glance, but he was smart enough to keep any smartass comments to himself. “It could have been a trigger,” he said instead. “Yes,” Styx agreed.
Laylah shook off her strange fascination. “What’s a trigger?”
“The most powerful demons can twist a spell to either recognize a specific person or a specific occurrence,” Tane explained. “It could be that the spell was woven to bind the child to the first person to enter the mists.”
Laylah had never heard of such a power, but then again, her foster mother had kept a lot of things hidden.
She thrust aside the memory of Sadira’s pretense as she attempted to teach Laylah magic. All along she knew that her powers were that of a gypsy, not a witch.
Later she would sort through her tangled emotions.
“Whatever the cause, it made the mage nuts,” she said. “I could hear his tantrum through the solid iron walls.”
A cold smile touched Styx’s mouth. “Is that when he let you go?”
“Are you kidding me?” Laylah scoffed. “The bastard never let me go. A few weeks after I found the baby Sergei suddenly got spooked.” She abruptly held up her hand as his lips parted with the predictable questions. “Don’t ask me why. We weren’t best buds who spent our nights braiding each others’ hair and sharing our intimate secrets. One night he came into the cell and knocked me out.” She shrugged. “I woke up in Rome.”
“Rome?” Styx lifted a brow. “He took a risk choosing a city so heavily populated by demons.”
She gave a sharp laugh as she remembered Sergei’s panicked flight from his lair.
“I think his choice was made in haste rather than a well thought out escape plan.” She shivered. “And I can’t say that I blame him if it was my charming Aunt Marika on his tail. That woman would make anyone flee in horror.”
Tane nodded in grim agreement, but Styx remained focused on his interrogation.
No doubt he was trained during the Spanish Inquisition.
“Did he have a private lair in Rome?”
Laylah shook her head. Her brief time in Rome hadn’t been any more pleasant than being held hostage in the Siberian lair. She’d traded an iron cell for a spellbound closet and silver shackles that had come close to driving her over the edge.
“No, we stayed with the local witches,” she said, her voice thick with remembered pain.
Styx’s expression tightened as Tane moved to place a protective arm around Laylah’s shoulders.
She didn’t know if he disapproved of Tane touching a nasty mongrel, or if he didn’t like public displays of affection.
And she didn’t care. It felt good to have a little support. “They allowed a forbidden demon into the coven?” the older vampire asked, indifferent to her feelings. Hey, what was new?
“Sergei was careful to keep me hidden in his private rooms. Besides they were terrified of him. If it wasn’t for Caine I would no doubt still be locked in that damned closet.”
Tane shot her a startled frown. “The cur rescued you?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure if rescue is the proper word. Let’s say that we made a mutually beneficial bargain.”