Poison Tree by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

have decided that he was her protector. He accepted her as a figure with authority over him only because she was Mistari, an adult queen, and he had seen others at SingleEarth defer to her due to her position as a mediator. He seemed to have decided that, if he could not return to the Mistari homeland, he would create his world here instead, and sit by her side as her enforcer. Quean simply watched, wide-eyed, taking his lead from Sarik and Jeht but never even asking what had happened. Blood was nothing new to him.
    Sarik wished they could visit one of the tribes that ran more peacefully so that the boys could see that it
was
possible to live without violence. It was unlikely that any such tribe would be willing to welcome him into their midst—Jeht especially was too much of a threat, a miniature prince who had been raised as a warrior—but seeing how such tribes existed might make him realize that there was value in something other than brute strength.
    “Sarik?” People had been talking to her while her mind was so far away.
    “Sorry,” she said, trying to focus. “I’m being stupid. I wasn’t even the one who was attacked. I shouldn’t be this disturbed.”
    It was the taste of blood in her mouth that had done it. That, and Jeht’s smile after he’d made the kill. She remembered what that childlike pride felt like.
    “That’s your father talking, not you,” Jason whispered to her. He sat beside her and took one of her hands in both of his. “You shouted to warn Alysia, right?”
    “I attacked the vampire,” she admitted. “I saw the earring. Recognized it. I knew shouting would warn both of them. I didn’t know who would win, so I didn’t give him a chance to hurt her. Or to run.”
    “Thank God you didn’t,” Jason answered. “Liam wouldn’t have dared return to Maya without having accomplished his mission. If you had shouted, he would have fought. You did the right thing.”
    “Was I still doing the right thing when I told Alysiato stop?” she snapped. “When she was about to kill him, I froze. Jeht is the one who threw himself into the fight without hesitation.”
    “If my impression is correct, Alysia is a trained fighter,” Lynzi said, joining the conversation. “So is Jeht, as much as we hate in our culture to admit such a thing about a child. You’re not, Sarik. Never be ashamed that your instinct doesn’t tell you to go for the kill.”
    I used to be a fighter
, Sarik thought.
Now I’m just a victim who needs to be protected
.
    No, not a victim
, she corrected herself.
A survivor. Pull it together, Sarik
.
    She took a deep breath and looked up. She could tell that Jeht, sitting near her feet, had sensed her drawing up her strength. He sat a little straighter.
    “I know you’re still shaken,” Lynzi said from across the room, “but if you’re ready, we need to know exactly what happened. We cannot afford to assume that Alysia was the only target or that these attacks will stop just because she left. I have been doing research into the Bruja guilds since the first attack, and, well, let’s just say I hope we can avoid a direct conflict.”
    The words echoed something Alysia had said:
I’m not pitting SingleEarth against the Bruja guilds, not over me. SingleEarth isn’t weak, but–
    Sarik had interrupted Alysia there, but she knew what the rest would have been:
Neither is Bruja
. And Bruja had more trained, ruthless mercenaries.
    In as much detail as she could manage, Sarik recounted everything she had seen, from the moment she noticed the vampire behind Alysia in the parking lot to when everyone else started to arrive.
    Jason supplemented the story with what he knew about Maya. “She specializes in captures—kidnapping, extortion, that sort of thing,” he said. “If that’s the goal, it would explain why the first attack wasn’t meant to be fatal. The Onyx attacker could have followed Alysia when she left her room, then lost track of her in the snow and thought she