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on’t fear me. I was never meant to stay strong,” he adds on a rasp, lowering his eyes. “But I’m still strong enough to get you to him.”
“If this is a trick—”
“I want all of them dead too,” he says, his jaw going rigid. “All of them,” he adds bitterly. “Myself included. You’re the only one who can make that happen.”
He grabs my hand before I can think it through, and my breath sucks in sharply as we’re suddenly moving through darkness. Light filters through, somewhat differently from when Chaz does this, when we’re suddenly in a field.
I see Slade moving inside a house, his steps methodical and leisure at the same time.
“You should know,” the Lokie says quietly, almost distracting me, “Hannah turned your Aquarius’s father.”
My gaze snaps to his. “Leah’s father?” I ask him incredulously.
“Yes,” he says softly. “He’s a man no more, but now a First. Your Aquarius will have to kill him, because he’s stronger than he was, and Hannah is doing everything different this time. None of you will be able to kill him. This battle will be bloodier, Your Grace. She plans to leave you at war while she escapes through the portal to my plane.”
I was right. She’s going for the Lokies—the original power that will level this place. She’ll win if that portal fires and she makes it through.
“We’re coming in stronger too,” I assure him. “Where is she right now?” My eyes flick back to the house then back over at the—
I spin around, but the Lokie is already gone, damn it.
“Slade, stop!” I hear John shout, then I curse as I race to the house, pulling my phone out as I go, and send a text to my father about Hannah coming tonight, hoping I’m not making a stupid mistake by trusting that Lokie.
But his eyes looked as broken as Alton’s…
I slide to a window, unable to move past some barrier holding me back. The magic I feel is Slade’s. He’s locked them all in.
Two women are in the corner, hands raised like they’re ready to fire out power. Five men are in the room with him, but all his attention is solely on John.
“Let’s talk about this like reasonable men,” John goes on, holding his hands up. “You can’t kill me, Slade. My people will come for all of your people if you do.”
Slade laughs humorlessly, oblivious to me recording all this with my phone.
“Let them come defend the traitor,” Slade says bitterly, a familiar book in his hand, hanging open at his side. “I’ll kill all of them too,” he adds, snarling. “I thought it was just the Aquarius who betrayed my family. You masked your faces. You masked your scents. You never spoke,” he goes on. “You almost got away with it.”
John trips, stumbling backwards when Slade takes another step. “You’re outnumbered. I have fifteen people here,” John goes on. “Let’s settle this like civilized gentlemen, Slade. I have plenty of money too—”
“To pay for my family’s blood?” Slade asks him, an eerie calm to his tone.
The others in the room stay ready, like they’re waiting for the signal. But John seems to know exactly how powerful Slade is, because he’s not making any sudden moves.
“There’s not enough money in the world to pay for what my family has suffered while your family thrived and went on like this,” Slade growls, gesturing around at the lavish surroundings in the massive home.
“Your father wouldn’t listen to reason,” John goes on, holding his hand up, still backing up, his profile to me as he faces Slade. “We were in a war—”
“There’s always a fucking war,” Slade growls.
“But this war was one we were losing—”
“To the Aquarius! My mother tried to form a truce, and they betrayed her,” Slade barks. “That’s who you dragged us to! How did that better your war?!”
“Your father wouldn’t test your powers! The Aquarius were never going to just allow your mother to make the rules. She had no authority and expected them to give up too much. He wouldn’t let us see if you could infect humans, so he brought this down on you himself. Could you imagine an army of your kind defending us? We would have won! But instead, we had to work for them, or be next on their list.”
“We can’t infect humans,” Slade snarls. “We’re not bitten fey. So excuse me if I find your reasoning less than up to par.”
“We had to know for sure,” John snaps. “And if we were in league with the enemy, making deals instead of brokering pointless truces with the devil, then our family was safe. Our family didn’t go into those infernal torture chambers because of what I did.”
“Just mine went, then,” Slade says bitterly, tucking the book into his back pocket. “And all the others you turned over for the sake of saving your own hide, despite your place of power.”
