Blackhearted Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page B

Cori as hostage, she guaranteed it would not come about on
our
end, either.
     
    I touched Mom’s arm and nodded slightly. She let out a deep breath before speaking. “We two sisters of the Tisiphone accept your standing as goodwill hostage for the Prime Megaera and further accept her summons and offer of safe conduct.”
     
    Cori let out a breath of her own and shot an uneasyglance from Mom to me. Further demonstrating that she
could
be taught, however, she kept her lips zipped. The branch-bearer nodded and moved to stand between Patricia and a still-simmering Laurell. I stepped closer to Cori to offer her reassurances. Durra bared her teeth but made no move to stop me.
     
    I kept my voice low and calm. “I’m afraid you’ll have to spend some time with these—sisters—of ours while Allegra and I meet with the Prime Megaera. My previous instruction still stands.” I.e.,
be quiet
. “We’ll be as quick as we can.”
     
    She gave a brave nod and even managed the ghost of a smile, falling back without protest when Durra nudged her toward the Megaeras behind her. “If you two will come with me?”
     
    Like we had a choice.
     
    While I reassured Cori, Mom wasted no time giving instructions to Patricia and Laurell. They would head on to the Palladium as planned while we went along with the Megaeras like good little girls. Yeah, just
thinking
that had me rolling my eyes. I was about as far from being a good little girl as, say, the Jackal-Faced god was from being a cute and cuddly puppy dog.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    I EXPECTED DURRA TO LEAD US AWAY FROM our former destination, and she didn’t disappoint. She and three of her sisters escorted us up and out of the subway station. The remaining sisters of both classes stayed behind to accompany their hostages to the Palladium. What
did
surprise me was the fact our escorts didn’t lead us to another Otherrealm portal. Instead, we wound a circuitous route through Southie, around the South End, then into Chinatown. At that point, our ultimate destination became clear: Not the Otherrealms at all but Arcane Central here in Boston, the predominantly arcane neighborhood known as the Underbelly. I opened my mouth once or twice but shut it when Mom shot me an expression much like the ones I’d given Cori. She really
had
taught me most of what I knew about being a Fury—attitude wise, anyway.
    Nearly an hour after we left the subway behind, Durra approached a building deep in the Belly that seemed a likely spot for a meet-and-greet with her superior, a pantheon, or temple dedicated to all the gods and goddesses. Fitting, considering that’s who Furies were officially sworn to serve. Some of us had our personal favorites, of course, but we owed allegiance to no one god in particular.
     
    It wasn’t a big shocker to discover that the pantheon crawled with Megaeras. Hell, with an undeclared civil war brewing, their Prime would be an idiot to venture away from the Palladium without a substantial guard force to watch her back—and front—and both sides. So far, no matter how much she’d pissed me off, the Prime Megaera hadn’t struck me as the slightest bit stupid. Bitchy and treacherous, yes; stupid, not so much.
     
    Durra exchanged inaudible murmurs with one of her sisters before turning back to Mom and me. “The Megaera awaits us just beyond this antechamber. I assume neither of you carries spell-worked silver?”
     
    Even though that was a big no-no on sacred ground unless one was a temple guardian, I couldn’t blame her for checking. Her ass would be in just as much trouble as ours should she bring us before her Prime carrying the metal lethal to our kind. She didn’t take us at our word, of course—the slight tingle of a magical scan washed over us before she was satisfied we spoke truly. Durra nodded to the sister closest to the door, who then swung it open. Mom and I followed the assassin-turned-kidnapper-turned-escort without a word.
     
    Modern-day pantheons