Page 29 of Changed

I shared a glance with Cicely. Was this information we should share with this stranger? In the end I settled for a neutral response. "Because he thinks you might be valuable to Ruya."

In truth, it was because Sadavir considered Ru his true mate, despite them not yet being bonded, and he was instinctively protecting this woman because she was now his family. But that didn't seem like my information to share.

Besides, the others could be right. Achlys could still turn out to be a spy, a plant sent by the emperor to destroy the rebel court from the inside out.

I was considering what to do with our captive guest now, when everyone in the room went all tense and alert again. "What is it?" I began. "Is—"

Dusek slunk out of the corner where he had been lurking, turned into smoke and shadows, and flowed out the door, Martina hot on his heels. Sadavir looked torn between following them and staying here to protect Ruya's mother. Cicely just arched a brow at me and shrugged. "They're back," he sighed calmly.

The banshee sat up taller on the couch, setting her teacup aside on a nearby end table and folding her hands in her lap, clearly able to sense what the others had. I stayed beside the couch and tried to remain calm. It was frustrating sometimes, being the only person in the room who didn't have paranormal senses or the ability to read auras from a distance.

Moments later, Robin strode into the room, as fierce and beautiful as always, confident command in her every sinuous movement. Sanka followed her, and behind them came Ruya and Yukio. I let out a breath of relief. They were back. And they both looked healthy and unharmed. Thank the gods and any other powers who were listening.

The rest of the court slowly filed into the room, filling the large space with powerful personalities and watchful eyes.

"Martina," Robin said evenly. "Report. Has our newest guest been behaving since you got back?"

Martina crossed her arms over her chest and glanced between the banshee and the dragon. "You see it," she said impatiently. "Nothing to report."

Robin nodded. "Banshee," she said in that smoky, no-nonsense tone that was all alpha. "We have much to discuss. But first…"

She took Ruya's arm and drew her forward to stand beside her. Ruya's brow was furrowed, and her head tilted, her blind eyes sweeping the area. "What is that I feel? What have you been keeping from me Robin?"

The rebel princess spoke calmly, as if this was all just another day of boring normalcy. But her golden eyes flared briefly with her magic. "Ruya, this is the emperor's pet banshee, Achlys. She claims to have tricked him into leaving her behind so she could meet you. I didn't explain it all to you because I wanted to get your honest reaction first. What do your instincts tell you about this woman?"

Achlys stood and defiantly glared at the alpha dragon as if she cared nothing for her own life. "There is no claiming about it, dragon. It is the truth." Then she turned to Ruya, her expression softening and her eyes watering with unshed tears. "Ruya, sweetheart. My sweet girl. It's really you! I thought you were dead."

Realization dawned on Ruya's face. Then the controlled priestess mask snapped into place. She lifted her chin a notch, squared her shoulders and turned toward Robin. "Something in her feels familiar. Distantly. Like I met her in another life."

Robin sighed, ignoring Achlys and her indignation. "Then I suppose we'd best figure out why she's here." She arched a brow at Achlys, her voice going deceptively soft. "And whether she should continue living after what she's done."

Ruya immediately stiffened beside her mate, but she didn't speak. We all knew she was opposed to killing in general as a means of solving problems. A stance I tended to share. But it was also very obvious that Robin was deeply, dangerously angry. And an angry dragon princess took as much careful handling as an angry naga prince. Direct opposition was rarely the answer with alphas.

Robin waved a hand, shooing Achlys backward into her seat. Then she ignored the banshee as she fussed over Ruya, making sure our witch was comfortable in an overstuffed wingback chair by the fireplace flanked by Dusek and Yukio. Turning back to Achlys, she smoothed a hand over her gleaming red-gold braid, straightened her immaculate clothing, then gave the banshee a slow, pleasant smile.

"Now," she said, taking a seat on the coffee table in front of Achlys and crossing her long legs. "Explain to me, in detail, what your part in this whole mess is and why you are here in my nest." Her smile deepened, becoming just a bit toothy. "And I suggest you stick to the truth. It has been a rather… trying day."

Achlys stared at Robin for a moment, and it was anyone's guess whether she was about to sign her own death warrant by disobeying the alpha. But the banshee seemed to sense she had pushed back as much as was wise, at least for the moment. She straightened her spine and spoke in an even voice.

"I saw a vision of you and your people. A vision of the emperor's death. I have to tell him whenever I see a threat. He has ways of ensuring I'm truthful about my banshee visions using hired sorcerers and that strange, stolen magic of his." She shrugged. "But over the years I have carefully figured out ways to get around his truth serums and slave spells. One of the other servants at the mansion helped me accumulate the things I needed to make a charm. One to allow me a small amount of leeway."

Achlys her lips, a bit of nervousness showing through as she probably realized that she was currently in danger. Robin had gone completely silent. Not moving a muscle. A predator riveted on the actions of her prey.

"I lied," Achlys continued. "I told him just enough truth to satisfy his spells and potions, but thanks to the charm, I was able to… embellish. I told him I couldn't make out features, but that his attackers would be shifters and fae. I was hoping that would redirect him to his own people—he never fully trusts his underlings. And I told him that he had to leave me behind. That if he took me with him, his killers would use me a as way to track him down and kill him wherever he chose to flee. Another half-truth. You would have continued to stalk him. But if he found out about my subverting his safeguards, I'd be back to saving his life with my visions."

Robin moved with that slinky grace that was all dragon. Graceful, but whip-fast. She was suddenly standing over Achlys, leaning down, one clawed hand gripping her face. "Let me be very clear," she breathed, her voice nearly a purr. "You are telling me, once again, that I could have walked into that mansion, murdered that disgusting waste of flesh, and taken back all that was mine. You are telling me that I would have been successful in easily accomplishing what over sixty years of planning, and scheming, and waiting have not. That I could have avenged my family and my entire dragon clan for the blood that was spilled and the lives that were taken from them." Her clawed forefinger swept over Achlys's brow and around her eye socket in silent threat. "And you ruined it?"

The banshee swallowed, her head tilted back, throat bared by Robin's demanding grip, forced to look into the eyes of the raging dragon. Robin gave her just enough movement to speak. "I had to," she managed to get out. "I saw my daughter in that vision. I knew she was alive. I had to do anything I could to get to her."

Ruya sat forward in her chair, but Yukio gripped her shoulder, holding her back. Robin narrowed her eyes at the banshee in her grip. "Why? Do you think it matters now? After you abandoned your child to be tortured and abused, to be used by a coven of psychopathic witches. People who isolated her and sold parts of her on the black market while they used her powers for their own greed?" The sweeping claw left a red mark this time, an angry trail just shy of laceration across the banshee's pale skin. "That doesn't help your case, you know. It only makes me want to leave you alive while I gut you. Maybe I'll start by gouging out your eyes so you can know what it's like to have someone blind you, the way those witches blinded a helpless little girl."

Achlys sucked in a breath. I squeezed my hands together, mustering the courage to interfere, since it seemed no one else was going to. I glanced at Sadavir, translating rapidly. But he just crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked on with a brooding expression, like a king watching an execution. I opened my mouth to speak, but Ruya shook off Yukio's restraining hand and stood, moving to Robin's side. "Enough," she said calmly.

Robin kept her grip on the banshee, her golden dragon eyes blazing into the woman's gaze. "Oh, it's not nearly enough, my sweet omega. I will see blood spilled for this betrayal of all I have worked for. And for the abuse you suffered."

The tension in the room was palpable. Martina put a hand to the knife at her belt. Dusek crept closer. Cicely sent an unmistakable wave of calming influence over us all. But nothing was going to stop the alpha. Her dragon was in charge now. And the beast carried decades of hurt, rage, and need for revenge in its blood.

"Robin!" Ruya snapped, her voice commanding and stern. "Get ahold of yourself this instant!"

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