Blood Sacrifice by Maria Lima Page A

Adam admitted. “I know of no officialChallenges in my lifetime, neither made nor given to us.”
    “Very well then. Have you spoken with your father?”
    “He is equally as ignorant.”
    “Gigi,” I said, butting in. “This parchment is spelled against reading by anyone who doesn’t share Kelly blood. Drystan wasn’t of much help there, but he’s going to try to see Angharad. He agrees with us that in no way did Gideon conjure this up by himself. My cousin is shite at languages.”
    “Angharad? A possibility,” Gigi agreed. “Though, how exactly did you consult with Drystan?”
    “He’s here,” I said. “He came for our Reception.”
And you didn’t
, I silently accused. I knew she hadn’t planned to. That she’d wanted Adam and me to establish ourselves without her presence, without needing her influence, but still, it rankled just a wee bit.
    “Ah. Well then, I understand. He came with Gideon.”
    “He did,” Adam said.
    “Drystan volunteered to help.” I explained Drystan’s plan to seek out Gideon first, to try to persuade his recalcitrant son of his folly in issuing Challenge.
    “That makes a certain sort of sense, Keira,” Gigi said. “I’m proud of you, girl, for thinking things through and not flying off the handle.”
    I snorted. “Yeah, well, three months in your illustrious company had to result in something.” How had she known? Maybe because I hadn’t immediately rushed to call her first? Whatever.
    Her laugh tinkled through the phone line. “Indeed.”
    “Minerva, my gut instinct is for us four to come to you,” Adam said. “I’d intended for us to sequester ourselves in San Antonio, but since we are not sure ofthe interpretation, perhaps bringing you the scroll is a better idea. Even though it’s bespelled, we can perhaps transliterate as best we can and maybe you can assist?”
    “You think my Kelly blood will more easily help than your father’s Sidhe blood? A good thought. However, that’s wasting time. Scan the thing and email me the images. I’m not sure spells will stand up to electronics. Old language and old spells never took into account modern ways of copying.”
    Adam and I both looked at each other with the same expression. How had we not thought of that? The spells were woven into the scroll’s parchment. If Gigi wasn’t in the same physical space as the actual parchment, perhaps that would void the runespells since the images were not the thing itself. Hell, it was worth a try.
    “No need to.” Tucker announced as he strode through the door. “I’ve taken several photos of it and texted them to you.”
    “Well, you’re on the ball, Brother,” I said. “What made you think of that?”
    “Because every time I looked at the damned thing, I interpreted it a bit differently,” he said. “Then the same thought occurred to me. If we emailed it, it wasn’t the actual parchment, therefore the spells embedded in it might not pertain. I was just coming down to tell you that I’d sent Minerva the files, but then I heard you were speaking with her.”
    Again, handy thing our preternatural hearing. Saved us a lot of time and fuss.
    “I’ve received the files,” Gigi said. “Give me a few moments to look at this.”
    We all stood there, silent, waiting. A few “hmms” and “ahs” came over the phone. I half expected to hear a rustle of paper, imagining Gigi bent over an ancient manuscript with a magnifying glass, instead of viewing an electronic file on her computer.
    “Just as I suspected. I can read most of it, but it’s not clear. It’s subtle and very, very tricksy. Your first instinct was correct, Aeddan,” she said, calling Adam by his formal name. “It’s similar to the Kellys’ own twenty-four hour rule. We require those of supernatural bent to report in, as it were, if they come within one hundred miles of Kelly land. With this, it seems that as long as no one of your blood is within one hundred miles of the boundaries of the