Page 89 of The Human’s Heart

My eyebrows rose again because I’d always heard great things about our government helping people, especially when it came to finding appropriate homes. Was all that stuff that I learned in school bull shit? Did our government really ignore people in need like that?

The thought made my belly sour, and I decided to ask Sebastian about it. He’d tell me the truth.

Anithea kept going with her story. “Our lake and forest were polluted and unsafe for our young, so we had to move. Again. We’ve had to move from place to place until we were finally forced to seek out cheaper living in the city. We’ve been down on our luck and have been living in Clairiston City. If you know anything about my people, you know that city living is really bad for nymphs and can do bad things to us mentally. My entire clan has been suffering for a long time.”

I wanted to ask why they didn’t seek out help again. Surely there were people willing to help. Hell, if they’d asked Zay’s grandparents, I knew they would’ve jumped in right away. I understood that no one helped them initially, but they’d clearly not been asking the right people.

Right?

I grimaced at myself because I knew it wasn’t as easy as all that. Sometimes the systems in place didn’t work for everyone… if there were even systems in place to begin with.

“Theroli started looking for help in… um, darker places, I guess you could say. He came across an old friend—Bokkai.”

I tensed at that name. I knew it. It was the real name of the man who’d tried to kill me months ago. My old boss, Bart.

Anithea nodded at me. “Yes, I believe you knew him as Bart?”

I nodded.

She continued, “So anyway, Theroli and Bokkai started talking a lot, spending a ton of time together, and even though none of us knew it at the time, they started making all these plans. Bokkai got it into Theroli’s head that Ailin Ellwood contributed to our plight and that we needed to get him back. Theroli wouldn’t listen to any of us. We tried reasoning with him, but he seemed to believe Bokkai over everyone else. It was almost as if the old kitsune had placed him under a spell. Hell, he probably had. Not that any of us could sense any magic on him.

“Anyway, after Bokkai’s death, it seemed to solidify this whole get-back-at-the-Ellwoods… thing. Theroli decided to take matters into his own hands, or rather, our clan’s hands. He came up with a plan to install some of our members in the Ellwood coven itself, use their influence and money to set our clan up in a good, permanent home, and then take the Ellwoods down from the inside.” She paused for a long moment.

“All of this simply because some kitsune said it was my dad’s fault?” Basil asked, sounding suspicious.

In my head, Zay said, “Bart was a really old kitsune, so he could’ve done something to this Theroli guy, and because there isn’t a ton known about everything kitsune, especially the old ones, can do… well, it’s possible a spell he cast on the nymph could’ve remained even after he died.”

“So none of this is his fault?”

Zay tilted his head back and forth, giving a slight shrug. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Even if he’s under a spell, he’s old and strong enough to… fight against it.”

“So… what? He decided he wants to attack the Ellwoods?”

“Likely so, yes.”

Anithea sighed, looking sad, exhausted, and a tiny bit scared. “I told you. Nymphs living in the city makes us a little… nutso. It wasn’t difficult to convince the rest of the clan that the Ellwoods were to blame for everything bad that’d happened to our family. Honestly, aren’t people always looking for someone else to blame? Isn’t it easier to blame others than to take responsibility yourself? Not that my clan did anything wrong at all. Well, not before we ended up entangled in this… whole thing.”

Basil nodded. “Right. Okay. So what exactly was this plan? How were you trying to take us down?”

She glanced at me for a brief moment, then stared straight ahead at the wall across from her. She seemed very upset, but she kept on going with her story anyway. “Phia was chosen to try to marry into the family, but after she met the Ellwoods, especially Kian, she realized they—you—were all… good, and she didn’t want to do it anymore. She begged Theroli to let her leave Kian, but he wouldn’t let her… he hit her… beat her… a lot.”

I watched a tear roll down her cheek.

“And… well, she stuck to the plan for a while after that, but she felt so guilty. She truly cared for Kian and liked his family, so she told Theroli that she was leaving, not only Kian, but the clan as well. He told her she couldn’t, and she said it was her decision and she wasn’t going to help him with his asinine plan anymore. She said she was going to come clean and then leave the city.

“That was the last time I saw her. Obviously… obviously Theroli had her killed rather than let her give up his secrets.” Another tear ran down her cheek, and she wiped it away without seeming to notice her own movements. She was kind of in her own head, it seemed.

After a moment, Basil said, “What happened after Phia left? After she died?”

She regarded him for a moment. “I didn’t want to believe he’d really have her killed… but my sister, she… she heard him do it. She heard him call someone and order Phia’s death, and I didn’t believe her. And now she’s dead too. My sister… Theroli has truly lost his mind.”

She shook her head and wiped away more tears. “I was with my sister, and while I didn’t really believe that Theroli would do such a thing, I didn’t stop her from calling Phia to warn her. The way Phia believed her right away made me think… well, I stopped trusting Theroli after that.

“Anyway, Phia decided to go to Hugo instead of straight to Kian. She thought the assassin would be set up near Kian’s house or work. She thought she was outsmarting them, but… well, you know what happened. I… I knew it too. I just… I wanted to confirm it with… you.” She looked at me, and I gave her a nod of acknowledgment.

Everyone was quiet for a long time, just processing all of that information. It was… a lot.

Finally, Basil asked, “Was Phia the only one sent to infiltrate us? It sounded like there was more to this plan of Theroli’s.”