Reluctant Assassin (An Aria For The Vampire Book 5) by Philippa Norcross & Michael Anderle

Author:Philippa Norcross & Michael Anderle [Norcross, Philippa & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2023-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It was a gorgeous day out. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and all but cloudless with only a few wisps scattered around the horizon and high up in the stratosphere. Was that how clouds worked? Did they hang out in the stratosphere? Cora had not paid much attention in science class, but it sounded right.

As Cora walked along the white gravel path, perfectly maintained by Madam Antonova’s groundskeeping staff, her gaze slipping from one delicately trimmed and shaped topiary to the next, her anger ebbed away. Maybe all she’d needed was to get outside and touch some grass. Maybe that was all the Stone needed to do. Hell, perhaps she could get all of the Evolved to touch some grass.

Remind themselves of what was important in life. Remind herself.

Perhaps she needed to figure out remotely which of the Stone’s hiding places was most likely to have them there and nuke the place from orbit. Preemptive strikes were always preferable, right? Totally. Completely legitimate method of waging war.

Cora paused mid-stride, eyes locked on a topiary that from the angle she was viewing it looked like an Escher painting if she was being charitable and a Lovecraftian abomination if she wasn’t. The comparisons sat uneasily in her gut. On the one hand, she was doing her best to navigate a situation with no clear beginning, end, or evident ethical solution—Escher.

On the other hand, was she setting herself up as judge, jury, and executioner for one person and possibly the planet? Was she the eldritch abomination?

The sound of training pulled her from her rumination. Now that she was closer to the source, it no longer sounded like training.

She looked away from the brain-bending leafy sculpture to the other side of the path. The grounds of Antonov Hall were extensive, packing more real estate into their confines than the laws of physics allowed but she thought she’d been heading for the training grounds, not the tennis courts.

Then again, sometimes she’d swear the grounds of Antonov Hall moved, so maybe she had been heading for the tennis courts and hadn’t known it.

Cora stepped off the gravel path and crossed the neat lawn, magically green in Houston’s summer heat. She couldn’t tell from here who was playing without using her vampiric sight, and she hadn’t topped up her magic supply since yesterday. She was one hundred percent using the resulting headache to self-flagellate, but at least she was aware and hadn’t taken it out on anyone else.

The two people on the court looked like girls. One was shorter than the other and had brown hair tied back in pigtails. Andrea, she realized as she drew close enough to make out facial features. She and Andrew had been moved back from the safe house in Britain on Cora’s recommendation after the delivery of the Stone’s extremely annoying proclamation. Charlotte had stayed across the pond with an ear to the ground for suspicious activity.

Who was the other girl? No, not girl, young woman. Her figure hadn’t quite filled out yet.

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