Page 19

Sasha

The man formerly known as Oleg Federov followed Lee Quinn through the deepest part of the temple, his mind racing all the while.

Marta.

She had been ten feet from him and he hadn’t been able to save her, hadn’t been able to put his hands on her, to step in front of her and take whatever pain came her way.

And yet he felt like he was failing as he got further and further from Rhys and Shy and Cassie and Brendan.

Lee stopped in front of a seemingly solid brick wall and tapped on it, three times at the top and then three at the bottom. He turned and looked so much like the child Sasha had raised on the run. The boy had become a man and the man a soldier and the soldier a vampire king. “We have to wait for a few minutes. Someone has to open this door from the other side. From here you can either leave the grounds or get back into the palace, but you’ll go in via the servants’ entrances. You’re on your own from there. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”

He wasn’t sure of anything except the fact that half his soul was here on this plane, and he had to get to her. The kids he raised were old enough to take care of themselves now, but Marta…

He would never forget the way that beautiful goddess had raised her hand and cursed him if he did not come for her host. Oh, she hadn’t put it that way, but a Russian knew a curse when it was sent his way.

You owe her.

He owed her everything.

“I have to get to the dungeon,”

he said slowly, trying to find that calm he’d learned over the many years as an intelligence operative.

“Well, the dungeon is going to be guarded,”

Lee said, leaning against the wall like he was settling in.

Sasha felt his fangs in his mouth, felt the talons his fingers could spring at a moment’s notice. “Then I will make it unguarded.”

“I know that sounds like a good time, but it won’t simply be Fae guards you’re up against,”

Lee said. “You’re up against all the wards and traps the wizard has placed there. Do you think I haven’t tried to get in? He takes my soldiers there when he captures them. I’ve tried to rescue them before and lost more men and in horrific ways.”

Sasha’s heart felt too tight in his chest. He should have stayed and fought. He shouldn’t have allowed them to take her away.

“You would have died.”

Lee’s expression was grim. “And no, I’m not reading your mind. It’s a pretty easy bet what you’re thinking. So she was your wife and you died, but you didn’t die and she actually died. That’s a fucked-up story.”

“I turned when I died,”

he explained. “She was murdered because she was trying to find me, but while I thought about going into the light, I talked with some smart vampires and scholars who believe deeply that we find each other again and again. So I became convinced I must wait for her. But it’s only been fifteen years.”

“From what I understand time runs differently depending on the planes. She could have been born and lived a whole life and you wouldn’t have aged more than a few months or years. Though it seems to have worked out for my father since he’s now found my mom again and she’s pretty much the perfect age for him.”

Lee’s eyes closed. “I see her dying, you know. Over and over again. I was there. I was ripped from her arms, and it was only Deinny who saved me.”

“My daughter was only saved because her mother made her hide in a cabinet and she wouldn’t give her location up.”

He thought about it a lot. Prayed Tasha had forgotten. It had been there in her memories the night he went to find her in the orphanage in Siberia. His little girl had been pale and thin and he’d asked a friend to plant certain ideas deep in her psyche. Michael House had left behind the only thing Sasha could give her. The deep belief that her parents loved her. That they would never have left her willingly. That she was beloved and worthy.

While he’d done it, some of her memories had played through the mind connection they had. Michael had dutifully related both the good and the bad.

“So your wife is reborn on a Fae plane and gets selected to be the host to a goddess.”

Lee chuckled. “You know if you had decided to try to follow her…”

The irony was not lost on him. Fate had a plan. “I would not have been immortal. I could have ended up anywhere, and the timing would have been wrong. If I had not chosen to go on this mission, I would have missed her.”

“Yes,”

Lee said, the warm glow of the torch softening his expression. “Everything fell into place and you ended up in a timeline you shouldn’t be in, the only timeline in which you could ever meet her. So it’s your turn.”

“My turn?”

“The goddess gave you a gift, directing you each time to the right path, to the one that would lead you to her forever. Think of the choices you made along the way. Not the ones you had taken from you. The ones you purposefully selected. You said you saved someone.”

Sasha nodded, his emotions so close to the surface. Owen. His brother by bond, not blood. He’d been so lost without his memories. He’d been bitter and mean, but when the moment came, he threw his body in front of his brother’s without regret. He’d taken the bullet.

And risen later that night a vampire.

He chose to stay in Venice when he could have gone to the Council House so when the supernatural world exploded, he was there to take the royal children in.

He chose to raise them, training them on the run. He put his heart and soul into them because he could not be there for his own daughter. Because someone else had raised her in love, he did the same for Lee and Rhys and Evan and Fenrir.

For that faithfulness the queen had given him a ring that allowed him to walk in the daylight, to not be constrained by his status. He could walk in the light with his soulmate.

He chose to live and now she was here. Now it was finally right.

How many times had this played out for them? Had he lost her? Would this be their last chance?

Lee sighed. “You made that choice and it brought you here. What I am trying to say is that I’ve watched a man try to fight fate over and over, try to impose his will on the universe, and I worry she’s going to pay again. I don’t want what happened to my mother to happen to your Zoey or to Ostara. Everything my father touches dies.”

“I will not allow her to die,”

Sasha vowed.

“But you’ll die if you go after her without a plan,”

Lee replied. “So trust the universe and her. Trust that this time is the right time. Don’t panic. I asked about you and Rhys told me you’re their general. Be the general. That’s who she needs now.”

The door began to open, and Lee stepped away from it. A tiny head poked around the corner. A brownie in worn clothes, her head wrapped in a scarf. “Lee?”

The faery smiled and got to one knee. “Hello, Fee. I want to introduce you to Sasha. He’s a vampire, and he’s our visiting goddess’s mate.”

“Ostara?”

The brownie’s eyes lit up. “She is so lovely.”

And then her face fell. “The king has her in the dungeons. He has found Zandra again and now my sweet friend will be… It’s too horrible. We all know what will happen to that poor woman he thinks is his lost love. The rumor is that her husband is in the dungeon as well, though I have not confirmed it with my network.”

The word pricked up his ears. “Are you a spy?”

The brownie shook her head. “Oh, no sir. No. I am but a humble servant.”

He smiled, a feral feeling in his gut because like recognized like. “Oh, madame, you are a spy, and I am going to beg for your services. On my plane, in my timeline, I was a spy, and I would love to work with you to save Ostara. I will tell you everything I know if you will share your knowledge with me. We can save them.”

Lee grins. “With patience, spymaster. That was the other thing he called you. Now you should hurry and get under the wards so you don’t turn into a lust-crazed maniac and break those vows right before you’re with her again.”

Because Rhys and Shy weren’t going to sleep alone this evening. They were going to see if they could use the temple to send energy to the dungeons, which were not under the wards. Lee had explained that the wards protecting those in the palace from magic did not extend to the dungeons since the guards there used magic to torture their prisoners. So Rhys and Shy would send their unique magic to Ostara and Devinshea.

Patience.

Fee gestured him into the tunnels. “I think I can take you where you need to go. My network is already protecting the other vampire and the pretty wolf. We have a safe place for you.”

All the small faery creatures loved Neil Roberts. Sasha took a long breath, quelling his fear. What place did fear have in the face of hope? “Lead on, madame. I will be forever grateful.”

He followed the brownie into the darkness.