I dare you , she might well have said. Punish me, and Ill punish you. Impostor.
His heart was pounding. He fought to slow it. The Naja could read heat signatures, as serpents could; Nisk and Lisseth would be able to sense his turmoil, and Thiago simply did not fall prey to turmoil. Ziri forced his features to hold the Wolfs default expression of cool, half-lidded appraisal.
What is the meaning of this, lieutenant? he asked, low and deadly calm.
Rarks head gave a small jerk of surprise, and the Dracands, Wiwul and Agwilal, turned hooded looks on Ten. Clearly, shed told them this was their generals order, and theyd had no reason to doubt her. She was his second in command, his most trusted lieutenant.
Not anymore.
Its vengeance, said Ten, omitting sir . It was stark disrespect, and, he knew, a warning. This angel is a wicked one. Look at her arms.
He did look, and was sickened by what he sawby her extraordinary tally, but by her anguish, too. He didnt know Liraz, of course. She was beautiful, but what of that? Most seraphim were. She was also hostile and hot-tempered and at full strength she more than matched Ten for ferocity. But he had seen her broken and mourning, too, holding her dead brother in her arms, all that ferocity stripped away to reveal a raw girl. And he had seen something else in her.
Back at the kasbah, to his surprise, she had asked after him himself, Ziriin such a way as made clear that she had noticed his absence. That she had even been aware of his existence was a surprise to him, and then, when hed told her the Kirin soldier was dead, he had seenhe was certaina flicker of sorrow
in her eyes, there and gone again, like something escaped and quickly recaptured.
Of course, that wasnt why he couldnt allow his soldiers to kill or mutilate her in this remote cavethere were a lot bigger and less personal reasons for that. But it might be why a fury was rising in him, as cold as he imagined the real Wolfs anger would be, and quick to extinguish his turmoil under a layer of implacable purpose. His heartbeat evened out to a calm and heavy hammerfall.
Release her, he said, with a flick of his disinterested gaze in her direction. Her eyes were just whites now, rolling up under her fluttering lashes at the edge of consciousnessor life. Or shell be dead before you can explain yourselves.
Wiwul and Agwilal let go of her at once, and she collapsed against the wall, but only partially, because Ten still held her wrists. A direct order ignored, in the presence of others. So she was going to challenge him. Explain our selves? she asked, mock-innocent with an edge of acid. What about you sir ? This sir was worse than none, a bald affront that the Wolf would never abide. Would you care to explain your self?
He heard the intake of breath from behind himNisk or Lisseth, stunned by her insubordination. Rark was staring with tusks agape, and Ziri didnt have to ponder what the real Wolf would do. He knew, and it felt like slipping in blood, to do what the Wolf would. One slip and down you go. The blood coats you. The blood is your life now. But what choice did he have?
His awareness heightenedof the unnatural strength in his borrowed flesh, of the malice and mischief in Tens eyes, and of the weight of the future bearing down on all of them if she gave him away.
How could she be so stupid?
It felt like whip-crack, the sliver of an instant it took him to reach her. To lay hands to her head, one behind and one to her muzzle.
And snap her neck.
There wasnt even time for surprise. With the soundit wasnt a snap but a grinding and giving way punctuated by a string of firecracker pops her eyes went void. No more malice, no more mischief, no more threat, and though the moment before her muscles fell slack felt long, it couldnt have been more than a second. She fell, and falling, dropped Lirazs wrists at last, and Liraz fell, too, leading with her cheek to the floor as if shed long ago lost sense of up and down. Ziri absorbed his own flinch at the impact of her landing, and made himself ignore her as she lay there, her wingfire burning ever dimmer and her trembling the only sign that she still lived.
He faced his soldiers and said, as though there had been no interruption to the conversation, No, I would not care to explain myself. His look dared them to be the next to demand it.
Rark was the first to speak. Sir, we Ten said it was your order. We would never
I believe you, soldier, he cut in. Rark looked relieved.
It was too soon for relief.
I believe that you did, in fact, think that I would be this stupid . Ziri breathed the last through clenched teeth. Mere hours until were to fly, desperately outnumbered, into battle, and you believe that I would rob my army of strength at the time of greatest need. He flung a hand out to the dead hed stepped over in the doorway. That I would waste bodies that others paid for with their pain. That I would risk every plan I have put in place, and for what? For one angel? You think that Im stupid enough to cast everything away, rather than wait a few hours to engage the thousand angels who are the true and immediate threat. Is this supposed to make me feel better?