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Leaf turned his gaze to the others in the room, all watching with wary eyes. He asked, “Did anyone know Maebh and Aleksandra had a childbeforethe Fallout?”
“I knew they had a relationship but nothing else,” Rush replied. “What has this got to do with anything?”
“The Prime herself said there had been nothing between her and the Unseelie High Queen for centuries,” Forrest added.
“Get to the point, Leaf,” Thorne grumbled.
“Nova is Nero’s twin—Crimson was their friend. Nero betrayed both of them. He murdered Nova’s parents, and he destroyed the world so he could rebuild it. A man like that is very good at making plans.” Leaf scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Not long before the Fallout, Nero went to see his sister one last time to gloat. He ate dinner with her at their family table, told her she’d lost some race she didn’t know they competed in, and then walked outside to a family waiting for him in the car.”
“Maebh and the Prime?” Ash’s head tilted.
“And their daughter,” Leaf confirmed, then looked at Cloud. “Their teenage daughter.”
“Why are you looking at me?” he snapped.
“You told us Rory was Maebh’s granddaughter.” Leaf waited for the cogs to turn in Cloud’s mind, and when they did, the response wasn’t what Leaf expected.
“What the fuck does it matter?”
“Because if Maebh believes her daughter is still alive, I think there’s a greater chance she’ll voluntarily return every last drop of mana in her body to the Well. If she does this, she will become human again, thus unmaking herself.”
“I’m with Cloud,” River said. “If Maebh won’t stop this bullshit for her granddaughter, then why would she do it for her daughter?”
“Obsession starts with a single point of origin,” he explained. “Maybe a thought or person that won’t leave your mind—every decision made circles back to that trigger. Even if the choices seem unconnected, they’re not. Maebh’s second child with Mithras could have been an attempt to replace her first. Then she sent her child away to be a changeling in Crystal City. Or so we’ve been told. Perhaps she did. But Mithras had something over her. Something happened, and he used it to blackmail Maebh into giving him half of Elphyne. She might have believed Cloud’s claim for a while, but maybe she knew Rory was never her granddaughter.”
Rush’s gaze narrowed. He rubbed his beard and said, “It’s always struck me as odd that she never attempted to rescue her child. Ever.”
A rumble of agreement passed over the seated Guardians.
Leaf nodded. “But if we can convince Maebh that saving Rory is—”
Cloud’s words came from a dark, hidden place in his soul. “Saving that fucked-up bitch is not on the cards. Get that through your thick heads.”
“You’re willing to lose the Well and all you are because of a personal vendetta?”
The scowling fool pushed off the doorframe and came toe to toe with Leaf. “Mark my words, elf. I’ve waited a long time for her reckoning, and if you get in my way, I’ll gladly call it a Vendetta. Every crow shifter I know will rally to hunt her down until she’s murdered.” He casually dusted imaginary lint from Leaf’s collar before drawling, “And if you get in my way, I’ll gladly add your feisty little whore’s name to the list.”
He shoved past and palmed the front door. It slammed open on its hinges. A cold breeze blustered in. Two breaths later, Cloud’s wings beat, and he was gone.
“He doesn’t mean it,” River nervously laughed, glancing at Ash.
A tendon in Ash’s jaw flexed, but he said nothing. He knew Cloud’s threat wasn’t in jest. Official Vendettas in their community weren’t satisfied until their quarrel was dead. Too many innocent lives ended up ruined from the obsessive need for vengeance. As far as Leaf knew, no one had called one in decades for this reason. Courting madness was a fool’s errand. But as they’d all just witnessed, Cloud was already halfway there.
As his closest friends, Ash and River would be honor-bound to participate if Cloud summoned them… no questions asked.
“For fuck’s sake.” River pointed at Leaf. “You’d better be one hundred percent certain about that claim, or you’ll live to regret it.”
He started for the stairs, but Ash’s words stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Where did you learn how to unmake Maebh, Leaf?” His eyes narrowed. “Because the winds are telling me interesting things… like… I’m not the only one they whisper secrets to anymore.”
Curious.
Leaf stared at Ash. “That’s not the winds, D’arn Ash. It’s the Well.”
ChapterThirty-Two
In the space of a few hours, and with the help of the women, Nova sourced enough ingredients for what she hoped would be the most delicious feast this ragtag family had ever tasted. It was hard to keep the eagerness from her eyes as they finished preparing in the kitchen. She hated looking desperate, but this cobblestone kitchen was gorgeous. The instant she stepped inside, she felt a kinship with the room.
