“I mean, what would your mom say if she found out you were mated—and I mean well and thoroughly mated—to what she would basically consider a kid?”
He wiped a hand over his forehead. “Heaven above, please stop talking.”
“So are we going to stop fooling around now?”
He groaned. “Ava.”
“I’m just yanking your chain.”
“You’re going to have to speak up, because the mental lecture my mother’s memory is giving me right now is rather loud.”
She bit her lip so she didn’t burst into laughter. “Malachi?”
“What?”
“Have you ever heard of Irin teenagers finding their mate before they’re adults?”
“No.”
“So, even though I’m young in your world, I’m thinking the universe decided I was an adult a while back.”
He squeezed her hand and said, “I hate you a little right now. You know that, right?”
“The kareshta,” Damien said after they’d eaten together.
Everyone turned to Ava.
“Hey, I don’t have any inside information,” she said quietly. She wasn’t ready to share her grandmother’s story. She’d talked to Malachi about it, and they’d both decided that until it became important, it wasn’t something everyone needed to know.
“Did you find your grandmother?” Orsala asked.
“I did.”
“And?”
“She’s kareshta,” Ava said as Malachi took her hand. “Jaron is her sire. She’s his only daughter.”
Renata said, “That’s why he’s taken an interest in you.”
“Yes.”
Leo asked, “Can he track you? Like Max said the other Fallen can track their children?”
“Yes,” Malachi said. “But I want to point out he has tracked Ava from the beginning, and she’s come to no harm from him. In fact, he’s protected her more than once. Jaron’s motivations are still murky—”
Orsala’s eyes narrowed on Ava’s mate as if she could sense the lie.
“—but for now, I do not believe he’s a threat.”
Rhys asked, “When do we tell the elders about them?”
Damien said, “When we know they’re protected.”
“You don’t think the elders would try to harm them?” Rhys said. “Why—”
“We don’t know how they’ll react,” the watcher said.
Max added, “And I told Kostas we would keep his secret. No place is more of a hotbed for gossip than this city. There are spies everywhere. I want to be cautious.”
Malachi nodded. “And let’s be honest. Not all the elder scribes want the singers to return. They like wielding total control over the council. If the kareshta are taken in by the Irina, that could make them more powerful. They’re first generation blood. If they were trained—”
“Ava is second generation,” Mala signed as Orsala translated. “And we’ve all seen how powerful she is.”
“She’s also mated to a scribe,” Sari said. “That focuses our power. The kareshta have no focus. The Grigori are their brothers; they have no mates.”
“But they could,” Leo said quietly. He looked around the room. “I’m not the only scribe who will think of this. I don’t want to be selfish, but there are so few Irina.” He paused and a red flush stained the giant’s cheeks. “Ava and Malachi are mated. We know it’s possible. To those of us without mates, the existence of these women offers us some hope that our reshon could be out there. That we will not always walk alone. Malachi is right. Many Irin may worry. But many will be motivated to help for that reason alone.”
Mala put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
Damien said, “That’s not selfish, Leo. When I look at Ava and Malachi, I see nothing one-sided about their relationship.” Damien gave her a small smile. “We all need a place to belong.”
“But we have to be cautious,” Renata said. “These women have been lost for generations. Many died as infants or were discarded by the fathers who should have protected them. I think we all have the desire to help them, but they could also be a threat.”
“I agree,” Orsala said. “We need more information. I’m going to look in the archives, but right now Sari should focus on organizing elections and reaching out to the Irina in the city.”
“The pro-compulsion sympathizers?” Sari scoffed.
“Yes.” Orsala’s tone brooked no argument. “Remember, some of those women you ridicule lost their children during the Rending. While you see compulsion, they see protection. Loss is a powerful motivator. Don’t dismiss it. Or them.”
Ava said, “I can help. I think. At least with the computer part. The organization.”
“Thank you, Ava.”
“And us?” Malachi asked his watcher.
“I want you to come with me to the Library this week,” Damien said. “I know you don’t have all your memories, but I need a new perspective. Rhys, I have a different project for you. Can you start looking through the police statistics here in the city?”
“Of course,” Rhys said. “What am I looking for?”
“I don’t buy that the Grigori have been absent from Vienna for generations,” Damien said. “Though it makes the elder scribes look very good if any trace of attacks are silenced. We need to know the truth. Can you look in the human records?”