Read Moonlight(Pact Arcanum 3) for Free Online

and I truly was trying to control you. When this is over, I might even apologize.
    Then she put Toby out of her mind and focused on the problem at hand.
     

CHAPTER 4
     
    Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia; That night
    Collins paced impatiently back and forth in front of the Kennedy marker. Where the hell is she? He had to move fast to use the leverage he had before the aching mass in his left lung finally killed him. Damn cigarettes. He’d always meant to quit, but now it was too late. He broke off his internal recriminations when he heard a soft noise behind him. He saw her leaning calmly against a grave marker in a black dress that clung seductively to the curves of her body, shapely even in the moonlight. She looked beautiful but deadly, and it would be a mistake to think of her as anything other than a lethal predator: Yvette Primogenitor Daviroquir, the Court of Shadows Ambassador to the Triumvirate.
    “It’s about time you got here. I’ve been waiting for half an hour.”
    She shrugged nonchalantly. “I had a meeting with the Imperator. He takes precedence over you.” She smiled, showing her fangs. “Unless you would rather that I told him why I needed to leave early. I’m sure Lorcan would be most interested in our plans for the Armistice.”
    Collins shivered. “No, of course not.” He paused, licking his lips nervously. “I want to move up the timetable.”
    She watched him impassively. “For what reason?”
    “I found out some information that will prove that Daniels is unfairly biased toward the Armistice. It might bring down his administration, and if it does, then I need to position myself to retain my career after he goes down. The vote against the Armistice will be key in that respect, so I need to have it in my pocket before I go public with the intelligence.”
    “And why should I care about the timeline of your petty machinations?” She yawned delicately. “To see Nicholas Magister Luscian cast as a pariah, at my instigation, will gain me enough support in my House to challenge the Magister for mastery and then hold the throne afterward. In any case, you will not live to see your schemes bear fruit unless I allow you to survive.”
    Collins stood straighter. “And what if I tell you the location of one of the Winds? Would that be worth saving my life?”
    She cocked her head quizzically. “If I wanted to know that, I could just query the Embassy’s Security AI.”
    Alex gave her a grim smile. “Not one of the Winds of this generation. I mean I could give you one of the next, still latent and relatively unprotected.”
    She stared at him with perfect stillness. Then she rose and stepped forward, closing the distance between them to only a few inches. “Alexander, after so many months of bleating for me to save your life, you have finally said something interesting. How did you come by this information?”
    “It doesn’t matter. The important thing is, I know—I’ll tell you who it is as soon as you cure me.” He grinned at her in triumph.
    “Do you think your psychic inhibitor will protect the secret from me?” she hissed. “I will tear your fingers from their sockets, one by one, until you beg me to let you tell me what you know.”
    Collins paled, but he stood firm. “I left a time-delayed message on my computer. If I don’t cancel it remotely every ten minutes, then it will be delivered directly to Armistice Security, detailing the information and the fact that I have disclosed it to you. If you kill me for my knowledge, then they will kill you afterward to prevent you from sharing it. But if we work together, we both profit. You will gain even more support within your House, and I will be cured and have the perfect weapon to bring down Daniels.”
    She smiled lazily at him. “Very well. Give me the information, and once I have verified its validity, then I will cure you of your illness.”
    Collins shook his head. “No, the cure first.”
    She growled, red eyes