His forehead hit the carpet as pain drilled into his brain. Holy … shit. It felt like someone had lit a blowtorch inside his skull.
“Yes, mistress,” he managed to rasp.
The pain abruptly disappeared and Tane groaned in bone deep gratitude. He might have suffered worse, but he couldn’t remember when. Not that he was given an opportunity to appreciate the shocking relief.
Siljar’s small hand grabbed his mohawk and yanked his head up to meet her creepily pleasant smile.
“Do you truly believe the Commission was not aware of the Jinn mongrel from the moment she was conceived?”
He faltered. What the hell? Was she toying with him?
Or was this a more dangerous game? “The law states they are to be destroyed.” Her gray brows lifted. “You seek to lecture me on the laws I proclaimed?”
Careful, Tane.
He wouldn’t be any use to Laylah dead. “No, only to understand.”
She hesitated, as if debating whether to continue with the mind-splitting pain or simply rip open his throat. At last she released her grip on his hair and stepped back, neatly folding her hands in front of her.
“It was determined that she is a principium.”
He frowned as he met her fathomless gaze. “A what?”
“A rare soul who is destined to play a pivotal role in the future of the world.”
The floor seemed to shift beneath his knees.
Damn.
His strange sense of… premonition when he was with Laylah hadn’t been a delusion that he’d invented for an excuse to keep her near.
He should be leaping for freaking joy.
The Oracles had decided that Laylah was fated to be of use to them. Which meant that they had no intention of killing her. At least not until she’d fulfilled her mysterious destiny.
Instead a cold ball of dread was lodged in the pit of his stomach.
In his long life he’d learned that being important to the future of the world was never, ever a good thing.
Martyrdom sucked for the actual martyr.
“What does this pivotal role entail?” he rasped.
“Do not take that tone with me.”
He flinched at the trickle of power that stabbed through his brain, but he couldn’t back down.
“Forgive me. I just …” He struggled and failed to find the words. “Need to know.”
The pain faded until it was only a vague warning that he was treading near the edge of the Oracle’s goodwill.
“Only a true prophet can read the future,” she said in that low, hypnotic voice. “But the importance of her birth was written in the stars.”
“So you don’t intend to destroy her?”
“Of course not. She is vital to our future.”
His muscles twitched with the need to return to Laylah. “Then may I ask why you wished to meet with me?”
“My reasons are twofold.”
“Damn,” he muttered.
She thankfully ignored his impatient outburst. “The first reason is to remind the vampires that the Commission is not to be trifled with. It was your duty to inform us of the mongrel, but instead you attempted to keep her hidden. You willfully ignored our laws and endangered others for your own pleasure. Obviously you need a reminder of the dangers of flaunting our authority.”
“And the second?” he asked, trying not to consider his looming punishment.
“To make sure you do not intend to interfere in Laylah’s destiny.”
He was on his feet before he even realized he was moving. “Interfere?” “Precisely.”
“I’ve done nothing but try to keep her pretty head attached to her neck,” he argued. “A job that should come with a sainthood, believe me.”
Siljar wasn’t impressed. “You have imposed your will upon her, have you not?”
He frowned, oddly offended by the accusation. “You don’t have to make me sound like Kim Jong-il.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Never mind.” Tane hunched a defensive shoulder. “I was only trying to protect her.”
“She must be allowed to make her choices freely.”
“Even if they put her in an early grave?”
“If that is to be her fate.” The female held up a warning hand as Tane’s growl trickled through the room. “Do not be rash, vampire. The female is necessary to the world. You, however, are disposable.”
His jaw clenched. He might be disposable, but he’d be damned if he was going to let Laylah be some sacrificial pawn.
“You want me to abandon her to her fate?”