Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

You said I could have water.”
    â€œYes, I did. Let me explain something to you about Lilith.” He moved behind the man, whose name he’d never asked, and spoke quietly in his ear. “She lies. And so do I.”
    He clamped his hands on the man’s head and in one fast move, broke his neck.
    â€œWhat have you done?” Shocked to the pit of her belly, Moira rushed forward. “What have you done?”
    â€œWhat needed doing. She sent only one—this time. If it upsets your sensibilities, you might want to have your guards take that out of here before I brief you.”
    â€œYou had no right. No right.” Her belly wanted to revolt as it had constantly since he’d begun the torturous interrogation. “You murdered him. What makes you any different from him that you would kill him without trial, without sentence?”
    â€œThe difference?” Coolly, Cian lifted his brows. “He was still mostly human.”
    â€œIs it so little to you? Life? Is it so little?”
    â€œOn the contrary.”
    â€œMoira. He’s right.” Blair moved between them. “He did what had to be done.”
    â€œHow can you say that?”
    â€œBecause I’d have done the same. He was Lilith’s dog, and if he’d escaped, he’d have tried again. If he couldn’t get to you, he’d kill whoever he could.”
    â€œA prisoner of war—” Moira began.
    â€œThere are no prisoners in this,” Blair interrupted. “On either side. If you’d locked him up, you’d take men out of training, off patrol, to guard him. He was an assassin, a spy sent behind lines during wartime. And mostly human is generous,” she added with a glance at Cian. “He’d never be human again. If it had been a vampire in that chair, you’d have staked him without thought or hesitation. This isn’t any different.”
    A vampire didn’t leave its body broken on the floor, Moira thought, still chained to a chair.
    Moira turned to one of the guards. “Tynan, remove the prisoner’s body. See that it’s buried.”
    â€œMajesty.”
    She saw Tynan’s quick glance at Cian—and recognized the steely approval in the look.
    â€œWe’ll go back to the parlor,” she continued. “No one has eaten. You can…brief us while we do.”
    Â 
    â€œL one gunman,” Cian said, and wished almost wistfully for coffee.
    â€œMakes sense.” Blair helped herself to eggs and a thick slice of fried ham.
    â€œWhy?” Moira addressed the question to Blair.
    â€œOkay, they’ve got some half-vamps trained for combat.” She nodded at Larkin. “Like the ones Larkin and I dealt with that day at the caves, but it takes time and effort. And it takes a lot of work and will to keep one in thrall.”
    â€œAnd if the thrall is broken?”
    â€œInsanity,” Blair said briefly. “Total breakdown. I’ve heard stories of half-vamps gnawing off their own hand to get free and back to their maker.”
    â€œHe was doomed before he came here,” Moira murmured.
    â€œFrom the minute Lilith got her hands on him, yeah. My take on this was it was supposed to be a quick hit, suicide mission. Why waste more than one? Things go right, you only need one.”
    â€œYes, one man, one arrow.” Moira considered it. “If he’s skilled enough and fortunate enough, the circle is broken, Geall is without a ruler only moments, really, after it regains one. It would have been a good and efficient strike.”
    â€œThere you go.”
    â€œBut why did he wait until we were back? Why not try for me at the stone?”
    â€œHe didn’t get there in time,” Cian said simply. “He misjudged the distance he had to travel, and arrived after it was done. You were closed in by people on your way back, and he wasn’t able to get a clear shot. So he joined the parade, so to speak, and