Page 22 of Tin God

“Zasha Sokholov has some kind of grudge against Tenzin,” Ben said. “So Brigid is using her to?—”

“Brigid is using?” Carwyn leaned forward. “Brigidis using Tenzin? No, Benjamin. You’ve got it backward.Brigidis the one being used.”

Ben kept silent because clearly the large, angry man wanted to vent. Carwyn didn’t get angry very often. In fact, this was the most furious Ben had ever seen him.

“Brigidhas been the one used for years now because somehow this fire vampire got it into their head that Brigid is connected to your mate.” The earth vampire continued ranting. “Your mate is the one Zasha is after, and they’ve been using Brigid to attract her attention.”

“Why not just go after Tenzin if she’s Zasha’s target?” Ben said. “She’s not as secretive as she used to be. Everyone in the immortal world knows we’re in New York. We don’t keep it a secret.”

Carwyn gave him a rueful laugh. “And what would this vampire do, Benjamin? Go after Tenzin and her newly turned and already-powerful mate in a frontal attack? Where? In the fortress of Manhattan where you have allies coming out of your ears? What leverage would Zasha have? How would they draw the two of you out? How could they make you vulnerable to attack?”

Ben narrowed his eyes. “We have family.”

“You and Tenzin have a very small circle of people you care about, and those people are very well protected,” Carwyn said. “Your sister is the child of two of the most powerful vampires in the world, including a fire vampire Zasha fears. Your friend Chloe is married to a vampire who has enormous power, influence, and protection. Zasha is not going to come after you directly.”

“So what? Brigid is powerful, and she has your entire clan protecting her,” Ben said. “She’s not vulnerable.”

“You think not?” His smile turned bitter. “The problem with my wife, Benjamin, is not that she’s vulnerable. It’s that shecaresfor the vulnerable.”

Ben sat back and felt goose bumps rise along his arms.

“You know this,” Carwyn said. “You know exactly why Zasha targeted Brigid. Because Brigidcares. What would Tenzin have done if Zasha had kidnapped a human under the O’Briens’ aegis while they were in New York?”

“She’d have told them to deal with it.” Ben’s voice was soft.

“Tenzin would have wiped her hands of it,” Carwyn said. “She wouldn’t have even sent a sympathy card.”

“The O’Briens are not Tenzin’s people.” He loved his mate, but her focus and protection were very, very narrow. “They have their own clan.”

“Brigid’s heart weeps for a wounded mouse, Benjamin. It’s one of the reasons I love her and one of the reasons I hate her sometimes. Because every single person” —he jabbed his thumb on the table so hard it creaked— “who needs her has her. Give her a human in distress, and she’ll cut her own vein and bleed to make them safe.”

Ben swallowed hard because he knew Carwyn spoke the truth. Brigid had done the same for him. When he was an angry newborn, she was one of the few people he’d confided in and one of the only ones who’d put up with his shit.

“That’s why she left you,” he said quietly.

“Minimizing collateral damage.” Carwyn set down his mug. “I’m furious with her, but I understand why. It’s not a bad strategy.”

Ben swallowed hard, setting aside the paper tea to drink the bottle of blood-wine. He tipped the bottle up, wiping the blood-enriched wine from his lips after he had finished. “So what do we do?”

“We fucking find them,” Carwyn said. “They think they don’t need us?—”

“Bullshit,” Ben blurted.

“Exactly.” Carwyn leaned back and nodded. “So tell me, what do you know about Zasha? Why do they hate Tenzin so much?”

The blood of Temur remembers who you were.

“I don’t know everything,” Ben said, “but I know a little.”

“Tell me. I’m not going into this blind.”

What if Temur has other blood in the immortal world? What if he has descendants who don’t even know who he was?

Then I will consider if their lives are worthy.

Should you be the judge of that?

I’m the only one with the right, and that right was born of the blood of my own children. I am not interested in justice.

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