The younger children’s housemaster and the war games coordinator for the older cadets, Luena was a hard-ass who didn’t like me. How did I know? I’d felt it.
“Back again, Dominus?” she said.
I looked up with a polite smile. “Luena, how nice to see you again.”
“The hours you spend here make me feel like we should employ you.”
It was a dig that I chose to ignore. “No need. I’m happy to entertain the children for free.”
“They are perfectly capable of entertaining themselves.”
She picked up the board game and replaced it with another. “You’ll play this today. The young ones wish to play the card game.”
Clayna sucked in a sharp breath, and Palin’s eyes grew sad. I stared at the lid to the dungeon game.
“Or maybe we can find something else?” I pushed back my seat and stood.
“No.” Luena faced off with me. “This is the game they will play today.”
Maybe she didn’t know what this game meant to them? Maybe she didn’t realize how this was upsetting them?
“Can I have a word?” I jerked my head toward the exit to indicate she follow and made to walk away.
“We can speak here,” Luena said.
I looked down at the children then back at the master’s stern face. Fuck it. “This was their favorite game to play with Fredrin.”
“I know,” she replied. “It’s an excellent game.”
“But I’m sure you can appreciate how it might be hard for them to play it now he’s … gone.”
“Which is all the more reason they should play.” She clicked her fingers at a nearby table, and a slightly older child pushed back his chair and joined us. “Barker will join you in the game. He will replace Fredrin.”
Clayna made a small sound, part distress, part pain.
Anger flared in my chest. “You can’t just replace someone.”
She stared levelly at me. “Yes. Yes, we can. It’s what we must do on the battlefield. If a comrade falls, we reinforce our ranks, and we fight on.”
“They’re not on the battlefield. They’re children.”
“They are potential reapers. Soldiers in training. They are not human children.” She took a breath through her nose and released it slowly, and it hit me. She was pissed off, like mega pissed off, but she was controlling it. “We’re training an army here, Dominus. Please allow us to do our job.” She indicated the doorway. “I’m sure you have other duties to attend to.”
Was she telling me to get out? Shit, she was totally telling me to get out.
I looked down at Clayna, who was staring up at me with tears in her eyes. Palin shook his head slightly, his gaze darting from Luena to me. They were children. Orphaned children. Had it even been their choice to become soldiers?
This was wrong. I stood taller. “I’m not going anywhere. These children just lost a friend. What they need right now is understanding and compassion and—”
“Dominus Dawn.”
My head snapped around to find Conah striding toward us. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you. A word, please.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond, but instead gripped my arm and practically hauled me from the room. Shock stalled my tongue for a moment, but as he tugged me around the corner and down the corridor, I finally found my words.
“What the fuck, Conah?”
“Not here.” His grip on me didn’t loosen as he led me up a short flight of steps and down a narrow corridor that looked like it led to a serial killer’s hideout. He shoved open the door at the end of the corridor and finally released me.
“Please.” He swept his hand toward the room beyond.
It was a masculine room with a wide desk, a lamp, and a huge window that was letting in enough sunlight to attract a horde of cats in need of a nap.
I stepped over the threshold, and he followed, closing the door behind him.
I rubbed my arm where he’d gripped me a little too tightly. “I’m going to give you a pass on the arm grabbing this time, but do it again, and I won’t be so compliant.”
His eyes narrowed. “The situation warranted quick action. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He hadn’t hurt me physically, but my pride was another matter. “What are you doing here, anyway? It’s not your day.”
“I don’t need permission to come to the Academy, Fee. I had business to attend to. They only just discovered the vault’s been raided.”
“You have a vault here?”
“Yes, containing valuable items.”
“You think the Dread did it? Do we know what’s been taken? Shit, could that have been the real reason for their attack on the Academy?”
“We don’t know. The stuff in the vault is ancient, and the log of items has also gone missing.”
“We need to figure out what was taken. There must be another log somewhere. A copy?”
“There is. The Beyond has it. I’ve sent a message to Uri.”
The anger at being dragged from the lounge had faded a little in light of this news. The Dread had taken something, and the fact we had no idea what that was meant they were several steps ahead of us. “What is their agenda?”
He frowned at me. “What?”
“You never told me what the Dread want. I mean, what’s their purpose?”
His smile had a patronizing air that fed my annoyance. “They’re monsters, Fee. They want to feed and kill and thrive.”
His tone was complete arrogance, and it grated.
“Uh-huh, and how does raiding your vault and taking something serve that purpose? There must be more to it than that. If we can find out what they took, we can maybe figure out what their agenda is.”
“You give them too much credit.”
“And maybe you don’t credit them enough.”
I was beginning to get a picture of the demons, and the Dominus in particular. They thought themselves superior, important, better than the creatures they hunted. “Every living thing has a purpose, Conah. Even the Dread, whether you think it’s important or not, and the key to stopping them is to figure out what their goal is.”
“With all due respect, Fee, I’ve been a reaper and a Dominus for much longer than you. I’ve fought the Dread, hunted them, and been hunted. They want nothing more than to spread like locusts on this land and devour it. You’ve only seen the lower-level Dread, the ones with the crimson eyes and ridges on their nose, but there are others who look completely human. Charismatic Dread, able to attract prey.”
There was no arguing with him. Not until new information came to light. “Why did you drag me here?” I crossed my arms defensively. “You agree with Luena, don’t you?”
He blinked sharply, probably at the sudden change in subject. “Of course I agree with her. This is an Academy that trains warriors. Demons who are willing to die and watch their comrades die if need be.”
“They’re children!” I bridged the distance between us and lifted my chin to look into his eyes. “Children, Conah. They lost their friend. They have no parents. They’re alone.” Anger and sorrow joined forces to choke off my words. My eyes burned with frustration. “Fuck it. They deserve to be loved and taken care of.”
I looked up at him through a sheen of unshed tears. Tears for Fredrin. Tears for Clayna and Palin. Tears for the fact that deep down, I knew there was nothing I could do, that death would find them one way or another. Tears of impotence because, despite my position as a Dominus, there was nothing I could do to shield the next generation.
Conah’s expression softened, and his sapphire eyes darkened as he swept his gaze over my face. “There is no room for compassion on the battlefield.” He said the words softly, leaning in so that his forehead kissed mine. “You have so much of it, Fee. It’s warm, inviting, and safe, and these children … They will be drawn to you …” His finger skimmed down my cheek. “They will be lulled into a false sense of security that will eventually get them killed.” I got the impression he wasn’t just talking about the children, but it was hard to think when he was sweeping his thumb across the base of my throat. Shivers radiated out from the contact, down over my breasts to tighten my nipples into aching nubs. “Because the real world,“ he continued, “our world, is a cutthroat place where the only commodity that matters is power.”
He was too close, cocooning me with his presence and the energy that was uniquely him. My pulse thudded hard in my throat, each beat drawing moisture from my mouth to leave it dry. I needed to move away, to put distance between us, but my feet remained rooted to the spot, and my breath remained trapped in my lungs.
Our noses brushed, mouths parting a mere inch apart. I wanted him to kiss me. I needed him to kiss me. I wanted his tongue in my mouth. I wanted to taste him. It would be so easy to slip, to tilt my chin up a fraction in acquiescence and take what I wanted. No blame, no judgment, no one to see. Just us, in this room.
I could have him.
Kiara’s smiling face flashed in my mind, acting like the icy wind on the pinnacle. A stone settled on my chest, and I tucked in my chin, breaking contact.
The door slammed open, and Mal stood on the threshold. His attention went from my face to Conah. His emerald eyes flashed, and a pang of fear shot through me, but then he was smiling his cocky smile.
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere.” He walked over to the window and leaned against the sill. “Wait for me in the courtyard, Fee. Conah and I have some business to discuss.”
It was an order, and although part of me balked at that and wanted to argue, the bigger part, the ashamed part, was happy to skulk quickly from the room. I closed the door and was about to walk away when Mal’s angry tone stopped me in my tracks.
“Keep your dick in your pants, Con,” he said. “You know what’s at fucking stake if you don’t.”