“Thank you,” I rasped and pointed towards the hastily drawn map pinned to the wall. “I think I have an idea that can help all of us. Warrick is looking for something in the mountains, he’s been obsessed with whatever it is for decades, and we know Erendriel and his wraiths have been looking for something too. I don’t know exactly what Warrick is searching for, but based on the small amount of information I’ve been able to glean from working with Cade the past few months, I know he’s in the same area that has a lot of wraith activity. It’s not a leap to assume they’re looking for the same thing.”
“You haven’t been able to learn anything else?” Draven pursed his lips. “My father closely guarded that knowledge, even from me.”
“No, the Alphas have been quite good at keeping their secrets,” I said bitterly. “But your father knows, and right now, he’s trapped here. Whatever he’s searching for is important enough that his people are still trying to find it instead of coming here to break their king out. I think they’ve actually increased their search. We’re getting reports of more monsters fleeing from the mountains.”
Roth frowned. “I haven’t received any word of that.”
“I just learned about it myself,” I told them.
“Something is escalating his urgency around finding whatever it is.” Roth tossed my necklace onto a table. “The wraiths have plagued Lunaria for two centuries, but things have become more intense the last couple of years. The attacks are becoming more targeted. They learned how to turn themselves back into their Fae forms, and like you said, it seems their search attempts are being prioritized over everything else.”
“How many wraiths have successfully turned back into their Fae forms?” I asked Draven.
A couple of years ago, around a dozen Moroi outposts had been targeted. The attacks had been spread out over months, and it had taken a painfully long time for Samara and her now mates to figure out what was going on. Erendriel had been using Draven, against his will, to get past the wards. Once he and his wraiths were in, they’d used all the Moroi within the outposts to fuel their spell to change themselves back to their Fae forms
Or mostly back. It was still unclear how much shadow magic the wraiths-turned-Seelie Fae had retained.
“I haven’t been to all the camps, but at least a few hundred, I’d guess.” Draven’s dark brows furrowed together. “Maybe a thousand. A lot of the wraiths will never be changed back. Their sanity is long gone. My father just uses them as his own personal monsters.”
“He’s scared of something,” Kieran mused. “If he had taken his time, stolen a Moroi here and there, he could have turned back most of his people without us ever knowing. Instead, he ransacked almost a dozen outposts in less than a year. He had to have known that would draw attention but didn’t care.”
“We’re not much of a threat to him,” Roth pointed out.
“True,” Kieran conceded. “But that also means he doesn’t fear us finding whatever is in the mountains first. Both because he doubts we will and because even if we do, he can just take it from us.”
I smiled. Kieran was coming to the same conclusion I had while thinking about this problem over the last few days. “There’s another player in the game we don’t know about,” I said. “One that even the Seelie King is wary of.”
“The mysterious Unseelie Princes?” Kieran guessed. “We all heard him slip that they were still alive, or at least he believes them to be.”
“What does all this have to do with your situation?” Draven looked at me.
“Everyone wants what’s in those mountains.” My grin widened. “Which makes it valuable for bargaining.”
Kieran nodded in understanding. “The Alphas can’t let you leave because of the deal you made, but if you have something of value to them, then a new deal can be struck. They’ll save face with the Velesian Orders because they’ll have something to show for you leaving their pack, and hopefully us getting whatever this thing is first will strike a blow to Erendriel. You’ll be seen in a positive light and might walk away with a little goodwill, which we could then use, because I’m assuming you’ll be coming to the Moroi realm afterwards, yes?”
I nodded.
“Rynn,” Kieran said gently, “you know we love you, but are you sure you want to do this? You’ll be giving up on ever finding a pack that is worthy of you.”
“That was never in the cards for me, Kier.” I gave him a sad smile. “Sometimes we just have to make the best of the hand we’ve been dealt.”
He frowned, clearly not liking that, but Draven looped an arm around Kieran’s waist, tugging him closer while addressing me. “Erendriel isn’t really the helping type. The last few times we tried to speak with him, he just launched into a lengthy monologue about what he’s going to do to each of us once he’s free.”
“Well, yeah, because he hates you . . . and Samara.” I shrugged. “You’re his son who betrayed him and she outsmarted him. Erendriel will never help either of you, out of pure spite. He’s seen me around Samara and knows we’re friends, but he doesn’t know me that well. I’m terrible at lying and worse at wordplay. He’ll see me as someone easy to manipulate.”
“And how does this help?” Roth asked dryly.
“Because he also won’t view me as a threat.” I glanced up at the ceiling, as if I could see through it to where the Seelie King waited. “It’s actually good that you three are here because you can listen in. I’ll get him talking and try to steer the conversation as best I can. Then we can analyze everything he said afterwards.”
I was good at tracking. Scratch that. I was the best at tracking. Never in my life had I failed at finding something in the wilds, but even with all my skills, I still needed to know what in all the hells I was looking for.
“It’s also possible he’ll give you false information that will lead you into a death trap,” Draven said warily. “I cannot emphasize enough how much he cannot be trusted.”
“I’m just going to talk to him and not take anything he says at face value.” I returned my gaze to Draven. “It’s not like we haven’t gotten useful tidbits from him before.”
He was the reason we knew the Unseelie Princes were alive. Somewhere.
Draven looked unconvinced, but Kieran gave me a small smile. “I think it’s worth a shot.”
