Blood Heir Read online

  His face turned white. “I was undercover.”

  “And she is Roland’s daughter. He loved her and he offered her everything, power, wealth, the family she desperately wanted, and she rejected all of it because it was the right thing to do. She’s the kind of person who lets the man she considers her brother call her an abomination to her face.”

  “I have not done that in years.”

  “You don’t get credit for not being an asshole, Uncle.”

  “Fine,” Nick growled. “I don’t have that big of a problem with your face. You wanted to look like Kate, and I can understand that. I can even understand why you put the eye in. What I don’t understand is why you allowed Erra to indoctrinate you into being her puppet.”

  “She didn’t indoctrinate me. I chose New Shinar on my own. I have my reasons.”

  “The Old Shinar was a tyranny, and you’re trying to resurrect it.”

  I leaned forward. I’d had this argument before. “You are judging an ancient civilization you know nothing about by applying the modern political structure to it. Shinar was never an absolute monarchy. The power of the royal bloodline was limited. It had three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. That idea is much older than the United States. To come here, I had to convince the council of New Shinar that it was ultimately in their best interests for Kate to survive.”

  They hadn’t needed much convincing. Kate was Erra’s beloved niece and a princess of Shinar, whether she saw herself as such or not. Also, everyone pretty much knew that if they tried to keep me from protecting the woman who raised me as her own daughter, I’d abdicate on the spot.

  “I had to stand before twenty people and present the best- and worst-case scenarios. They deliberated and voted. They had the power to prevent me from going.”

  Nick threw his hands in the air. “I don’t understand you. You grew up in a democracy.”

  “No, I grew up in a federal republic. In a true democracy, the vote of majority is absolute and has the power to override the interests of minority. In a republic, the individual rights of a citizen are absolute, and the vote of majority cannot infringe upon them.”

  He stared at me.

  “In terms of individual rights, the Old Shinar wasn’t that different from the current system. It had its problems, but it guaranteed citizen freedoms. It offered a path of advancement based on merit. Anyone could run for office after the required period of military or civil service. The man in Stella’s office was born a commoner. He begged on the streets until he was ten years old. Before Shinar fell, he had become a High Sakkan, the highest level of minister one could attain.”

  Nick held up his hand. “It’s still a monarchy.”

  “So is the United Kingdom.”

  “Look at this picture. You’re wearing gold. People are bowing to you. Does that make you happy? Is that how you see yourself?”

  I sighed. “Before the magic Shift, major world powers had nuclear weapons. Everybody understood that as long as these bombs existed, another world war was out of the question or life on the planet would end. Thousands of years ago, before the technology Shift when magic reigned supreme, one didn’t become a king or a general, unless they possessed great magic power. As the Heir of Shinar, I’m my people’s sword and shield. If a threat arises, I will be the first and sometimes the only one to respond to it. I am their atomic bomb. It is my duty to put myself between the kingdom and its enemies. When I wear gold at a formal function, it’s because I’m signaling to others that Shinar is prosperous and strong enough to keep its wealth. When the council members wear identical green and white robes, it’s because their uniform signals that all of them are equal. Appearances matter.”

  “Roland was a tyrant.”

  “And the council of New Shinar passed an official resolution stripping him of his Shinar citizenship. If he ever gets out of his prison, the New Shinar will put him back in.”

  Nick laughed.

  “This federal republic that you so love is unraveling at the seams,” I told him. “It worked before the Shift. It doesn’t now. Yesterday in this republic, a man broke a child’s bones and dragged him on a chain in plain view through the streets and not one person did anything about it.”

  Nick’s face darkened. “That’s a punch below the belt. Any of the knights from this chapter would have stepped in. Any PAD officer would have intervened.”

  “But they didn’t. The law enforcement is too few and stretched too thin. Jasper wasn’t being covert about it. He felt sure that his act would go unpunished. The system failed. It failed two decades ago when I became a street kid. I know exactly how ugly those streets are. It wasn’t the republic that saved me. It was Kate.”

  He grimaced. “Fair enough.”

  “The old system will collapse eventually, and sooner rather than later. LA is practically a city-state. So is Atlanta. I don’t want to live in a time when the strongest rise to the top and carve the country into tiny fiefdoms. I want to build a new nation where people are safe.”

  “By claiming land and imposing your rule on others.”

  He was like a dog with a bone. “The territory of New Shinar currently includes San Diego. Do you know why?”

  “I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

  “Because San Diego held a referendum within its borders and their citizens voted to join us. We don’t tell the city how to govern itself. We respect its lawfully elected municipal government.”

  “No, you just expect them to bow and scrape.” He tapped the photograph with the businesspeople. “Just like this.”

  “That’s La Mesa’s Chamber of Commerce. Nobody asked them to bow. They came to meet with us because they had a death cult stealing children for human sacrifices and they had already tried a couple of other powers in the area and they thought scraping was expected.” I dug through the file. “I remember when this happened. I bet there is another picture… Here it is.”

  I pulled it out and put it in front of him. On it, I, still dressed in the same getup, was helping an older businesswoman up the steps while the other businesspeople hovered nearby, not sure what to do with themselves.

  “The New Shinar isn’t a tyranny, Uncle. No matter how much you want it to be. But since we’re on the subject, were you elected to your current position? How about Desandra? Was she elected to be the alpha of the Wolf Clan?”

  “That’s different and you know it.”

  “No, it’s exactly the same. Desandra could’ve left Atlanta and gone to Kentucky, where shapeshifter packs are outlawed, and raised her kids quietly. Instead she carved her way to the top with her claws.”

  He shook his head. “It’s like talking to a wall.”

  I sighed. “Let me ask you this, do you think Atlanta is safer now than it was ten years ago when Kate defended it?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “I’m not blind. I’m not peddling oppression. I’m doing my best to make sure that the ideals of individual freedom and rights don’t disappear. But I didn’t come here to convince or recruit you. I’m here because Kate is in danger. Moloch burns babies alive to power up. Can we agree that it’s bad? Will you help me stop him?”

  He shook his head.

  “Is that a no?”

  “I’m shaking my head at myself. Because I am an idiot. Who else knows?”

  “Luther.”

  “You told Luther, but you didn’t tell me?”

  I grimaced. “I didn’t have to tell him. He figured it out.”

  Nick pondered me. “I will help you with Kate. And it’s the only thing I will assist you with. I’m watching you. Every step. Every breath.”

  “Deal.”

  I unloaded. I told him everything I’d learned about the murders, Derek, Ascanio, the ma’avirim, and relics.

  He took it all in. “Ferara is getting worse.”

  “I heard that he is aiming for the Beast Lord’s throne, but I have a hard time seeing it.”

  Nick sighed again. “It’s com
plicated. Jim’s tired. You know he has children?”

  “A boy and a girl.”

  “He’s missed milestones with JJ and he doesn’t want to miss Diana’s childhood. He also restructured the Pack, pushing a lot of the burden for day-to-day functions onto the Clans. Nobody disputes that this had to be done, but the process gave the Clans a lot of autonomy. Desandra thinks too much. It will take someone as exceptional as Jim to hold them together after he retires.”

  If Jim picked the wrong person, the Pack would fracture. A divided Pack would be bad for everyone.

  “The alphas respect Jim,” Nick continued. “He earned their trust. Ascanio, not so much.”

  “Why?”

  “Part of the reason was the way he went about it. There are two paths to the top in the Pack: strategic alliances and physical power. One could say they are the sides of the same coin.”

  Pack politics were a quagmire. The conflicts between individual clans could get hellishly complicated.

  “Raphael made the boudas into a financial powerhouse. Both he and Andrea recognize that Ascanio is ambitious. They’re not ready to step down and make way for him, and they don’t want to fight him. Together they might win, but there is a good chance he would kill at least one of them.”

  “So, they redirected his ambition away from themselves?”

  “Exactly. They are advising him and plotting on his behalf. Ascanio is trying to build a coalition through money. Right now, both Clan Nimble and Clan Jackal are in the boudas’ pocket because they have joint financial ventures. Clan Heavy and Clan Cat oppose Ascanio. He tried to get a foothold in and was rebuffed.”

  That made sense. Clan Heavy was still led by Mahon, who had raised Curran like his own son. In Mahon’s mind, only Curran was the proper Beast Lord. Clan Cat belonged to Jim. Cats were independent and infuriating in their stubbornness, but Jim had been their alpha before becoming Beast Lord and they would follow whoever he endorsed.

  “What about the rats?”

  Nick frowned. “It’s murky. They made some money off him, and they must’ve reached some sort of understanding, but rats always look out for rats. You can’t count on their support unless you get a definite yes from Thomas and Robert Lonesco, and so far Ascanio hasn’t gotten one.”

  So that’s why he was running around the city unsupervised. The rats took the “wait and see” position. They observed him, they let him scheme, but they didn’t aid him. The fact that they didn’t interfere meant they thought he might succeed. Nobody would know where they stood until five minutes to midnight.

  “I will say that for him, he’s gone further than anyone expected,” Nick said. “He’s good at observing people and using their weaknesses to his advantage. He doesn’t lose his temper like a typical bouda and he uses his head. Except when it comes to your boyfriend.”

  “Derek Gaunt is not my boyfriend.”

  “Does he know who you are?”

  “No, and I plan to keep it that way. What happened between him and Ascanio?”

  “This was just before Derek left, about six years ago. Ascanio needed to establish himself in Clan Bouda, so he could claim the beta spot. He tried to pull off a scheme in the city. It wasn’t exactly shady, but it was borderline.” Nick raised his hand and moved it side to side. “I don’t know all the details, but Derek got involved in it and told him to knock it off.”

  That fit the pattern. As long as I’d known them, Ascanio had tried to prove that he was awesome, and Derek had showed him the error of his ways. When we were kids, Ascanio was younger and had less training. Ascanio’s own clan gave him to Kate to keep him breathing, while Derek had Curran, who treated him like a younger brother, something Ascanio envied. They were never friends.

  “Things didn’t go well?” I guessed.

  “Derek beat his ass in front of Ascanio’s bouda crew. They decided to jump in, and he beat them into submission. There were witnesses. People saw them cringing.”

  And now everything made sense. Ascanio got his ass handed to him in public. Derek embarrassed Ascanio and then left before Ascanio could get a rematch. No matter what Ascanio did, his crew would always wonder if Derek was the better shapeshifter.

  He had to fight Derek to keep his authority.

  “So Ascanio has Clan Bouda, Clan Jackal, and Clan Nimble,” I thought out loud. “Clan Cat and Clan Heavy are in opposition. Clan Rat is sitting on the sidelines. Ascanio needs Clan Wolf. They are the largest clan. All of them are solid fighters, and they work well together. If he gets the wolves, he could tip the balance in his favor.”

  “That’s right,” Nick said.

  “What does Desandra think about him?”

  “He irritates her.” Nick smiled. “Desandra is an alpha before all else. For her to bow her head, you would have to be stronger, smarter, and more skilled. Someone who would make her feel secure. Ascanio isn’t trustworthy. In her eyes, the very fact that he is resorting to money instead of making alliances or just challenging Jim makes him unfit.”

  “That’s why he went after Pastor Haywood’s killer. Tying Desandra’s children to it would give him leverage.”

  The muscles on Nick’s jaw bulged. “That’s what he thinks.”

  I really wanted to ask what was wrong with Desimir that Nick would suspect him of flying around and murdering people, but he wouldn’t tell me in a million years.

  “It’s not Desimir,” I told him. “I’m absolutely sure. The magic signatures don’t lie. Your stepson isn’t involved in this at all.”

  Some of the tension went out of Nick’s shoulders. Despite everything, he still worried.

  We looked at each other.

  “You almost killed me.”

  “I didn’t know who you were.”

  “You made up this huge crazy theory and nearly started a war. I thought you were better, Uncle. You seemed so sane until this morning, but you’re worse now than when I left eight years ago.”

  A slow, crooked smile stretched his lips. “Insanity works for me.”

  Eventually the Order and the Pack would come into conflict. It was inevitable. I didn’t know what he would do then, and I had a feeling neither did he.

  “What’s your next step?” Nick asked.

  “I’m going to drop my great uncle off at my house and then I’ll go after Mark Rudolph.”

  “Use the badge,” he told me.

  “I’m planning on it.”

  “I want updates. Every day.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “Don’t die.”

  “Yes, Uncle.”

  He waved his hand. The magic slithering along the floorboards died. I was free to go.

  I was almost to the door when he asked, “The old man in Stella’s office, you said he was the highest-ranking minister.”

  “Yes.”

  “Minister of what?”

  “Internal security.”

  “He is a counter-spy?”

  “He’s a royal assassin. The best in the Old Kingdom.”

  Nick stared at me.

  “Like I said, Shinar had its issues.” I smiled and escaped.

  When I walked through the door of Stella’s office, she was on the phone. She had this flat expression on her face. Namtur watched her quietly.

  Stella saw me. “She is right here.”

  She held the phone out to me. I took it. Miraculously, the connection held.

  “Knight Ryder?” Bishop Chao said into the phone.

  “Yes?”

  “Douglas had a stroke. I’m so sorry.”

  Cold rolled over me. The world slid sideways. The memory of Douglas on the ground, his small, battered body smeared with blood. Don’t let them hurt me anymore… The words blended with a hoarse whisper from all those years ago that didn’t even sound like Kate. Want to…die…at home…

  I heard myself say, “I thought he was improving.”

  “So did we. They are working on him now. I will let you know if there is any change.”

  “Thank
you for everything you’ve done,” I said.

  “We will pray for him,” she said.

  I handed the phone to Stella. She carefully hung it up and looked at me.

  “You should sit down,” she said.

  “I have things to do.” My voice sounded light, almost carefree.

  “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not good,” she said. “I think you should sit down, take a breath, and reevaluate.”

  I didn’t need to reevaluate anything. I was crystal clear on what I needed to do. “Thank you for your advice, Knight Davis. We will be going now.”

  I walked out of the office with Namtur next to me. The groom was walking Tulip and Lady toward us.

  “Who was he?” Namtur asked.

  “A street child.”

  “There will always be street children,” he said gently. “They will always get hurt. Some will die too early. You and I know this better than anyone.”

  “This one was different.”

  “How?”

  “I saved him. He is supposed to survive.”

  I took the reins from the Order’s groom and swung into Tulip’s saddle. She sensed my mood. Her ears went flat back.

  Namtur mounted, and we rode down the street.

  “You smell of murder,” the old assassin said. “It’s in your eyes.”

  “I’ll take you to my home now, Great Uncle. I have something I must do this morning. Please wait for me in my house.”

  He bowed to me slightly. “Yes, Sharratum.”

  15

  The guard stared at my badge and chewed the toothpick in his mouth. Middle-aged, but hard and fit, he didn’t look like your typical private security. Higher priced private guards made efforts to appear clean-cut. This man looked like he just came out of a rough bar—long, greasy hair tied back into a ponytail, old jeans, black shirt stained with sweat, and a jaw that had a one-night stand with a razor a week ago and hadn’t liked it.

  Mark Rudolph didn’t just live in Mt. Paran, he lived in the Enclave, an area to the west, where individual houses sat on ten acre lots, each with its own fence and gate. My badge got me into the Northside, and now I was stuck at Rudolph’s private gate trying to deal with his hired muscle.