Phoenix Contract: Part Five (Fallen Angel Watchers) Read Free Page A

the pair’s bizarre friendship started to make sense to Aiden.
    “If it’s any comfort, Matthew told me all this while he was falling down drunk, just following Sarah’s funeral. He didn’t remember our conversation the next morning, and I’m positive that he never told Daniel.
    “A week after Sarah’s funeral, Matthew betrayed us,” Niall continued. “He renounced a lifetime’s worth of work. Three, really, because Daniel and I both had decades invested in the project. He destroyed our notes and several irreplaceable documents, and then he denounced our work as nothing but lies and falsehoods to the Congress of the Houses.”
    “Why? Why would he do such a thing?” Aiden asked softly, respectful of Niall Talcott’s agitation. The man remained visibly upset over the betrayal that had taken place many years before.
    “He made a deal with the devil,” Niall murmured. “Jonathan McLachlan. The man claimed he was too distressed by his wife’s death to even look upon his daughter, but the reality of it is that you were a tool, a bartering chip. We had information that several powerful members of various houses didn’t want coming out, so Jonathan found Matthew’s price, and then he made a deal. You were given to Matthew to be raised, and in exchange, Matthew sold out.”
    Aiden experienced a deep, stabbing pain in her chest. She tried to pretend that it didn’t matter that her own father had been willing to sell her, but the bitterness of rejection brought tears to her eyes. “Why?” she whispered. “What was so important that he would do that?”
    “No, nuh-uh, no,” Niall said, shaking his head vigorously. “I won’t tell you that. Not today and maybe never. I’ll tell you what. I’ll offer you a deal. When and if you become the Phoenix, then return to me, and I’ll tell you then.” He was cynical and skeptical and obviously didn’t believe that she’d ever achieve the station.
    “How am I supposed to do that?” Aiden asked, spreading her hands. “Supposing for a second that I even want to become the next Phoenix, I have no idea how to go about it.”
    “That damn fool and his secrets,” Niall muttered darkly. “Matthew really screwed the pooch this time, didn’t he?”
    The question required no answer, so Aiden sat stone cold still and glared at Niall Talcott. Finally, the old man blinked.
    “Fine,” he said with a sigh. “What the hell? Why not? It’s not like it’d make a difference even if you did succeed.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Aiden asked, but Niall continued to talk, oblivious to or ignoring her question.
    “To become the Phoenix you’ll need to A) be Shemyaza’s scion and of pure blood, and B) you’ll need to find the Heart and the Blood of Shemyaza. On the One Night that comes every five hundred years, the appropriate rituals must be performed, and the heir must eat the Heart and consume the Blood. Then, and only then, could a new Phoenix rise.”
    “Those would have belonged to Cassio? Cassio’s heart, Cassio’s blood?” Aiden asked, hiding her squeamish reaction as the discussion took a turn toward chowing down on viscera. Cannibalism, ugh! Not her thing!
    “Yes, they would have been in Cassio’s possession,” Niall agreed. “Up until his death. Presumably, whoever was responsible took them but was unable to use them. I suspect this party must be biding his time until the next celestial convergence that would permit a new Phoenix to rise from the ashes.”
    “What makes you think that his heart and blood still exist?” Aiden asked. “It’s just as reasonable to conclude that they were destroyed along with Cassio.”
    “No, the Heart and the Blood belonged to Shemyaza. They are indestructible,” Niall replied with one part reverence and another part unquestioning faith—startling in a man so cynical about everything else.
    “Okay.” Aiden sighed. She’d begun to suspect the old man of deliberate obtuseness. No doubt he delighted in