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“We aren’t sure if it’s the entire Council,” Claire answered her cousin. “There are a few members who have been working with us to share information but there have been some very clear suspects as the instigators of the Great War.”
“The ones we’ve been able to narrow down based on all of the journals are Councilmembers Vanya, Roland, and Maxios for certain. Vanya and Roland seem to be the most prominent troublemakers of the group while it’s less clear why Maxios joined them. Or why Vanya and Roland worked together initially as historically the shifters and witches didn’t get along very well,” Zack said.
“We are still piecing together the schedules of who was where at what time as well as trying to identify the person who wrote this journal.” He held up the journal Claire had discovered in the Postulationem room at the Academy. Claire sucked in her breath. The same person who had killed her mother.
Zack pointed to a section on the wall with a list of names. “Andy and Helene gave us this list of students and faculty at the Academy during the time Winona attended. We’re comparing the known whereabouts of the people on this list with the events in the journal to try and narrow down who it could be. It’s a list of over 200 and some of the names died early in the Great War, but we are still trying to narrow down everyone’s identity.”
Claire moved closer to the list of names pinned to the wall. Thick black lines crossed out about three quarters of the names but there were still a good fifty names left. Some of them had stars next to them and some of them had question marks. One name caught her eye.
“Henry Storm,” she murmured, tracing her finger across the ink.
“Someone catch your eye?” Cody asked.
“Maybe,” Claire said, frowning. “Henry Storm is on this list.”
Zack nodded and flipped through a notebook. “He is. He attended classes with your mother before he and his Triad met their Fourth. His other Triad brothers fell in the Great War and… oh.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Bethany griped.
“It says their pregnant Fourth died shortly afterwards.”
Silence fell heavily in the room. His Fourth had been pregnant? Were they mates? Even if they weren’t, that was still a heavy blow. How was he still alive? Claire thought about the weight of grief that he had to be carrying with no one to share it with and her heart ached for him. She remembered the pain that had flashed in his eyes when she ran into him at the Academy. So much pain.
“Does it say how she died?” Holly asked softly.
Zack flipped through a few pages. “I don’t have it anywhere but that doesn’t mean anything. We can look deeper into it. There are a few other names I would put on the shortlist personally.”
“Who?” Claire asked.
“There’s a pretty powerful witch that attended the Academy at the same time as your mother as well.” Zack bit his lip and flipped through the pages. “Let me find her name…” His voice trailed off.
“Wendy!” Cody said, suddenly causing Claire to jump. “Wendy Knoll. I remember because-”
“You could not stop making jokes about her name. We know.” Bethany rolled her eyes.
“I mean come on, the jokes practically write themselves. Wendy Knoll and she has a wind proficiency? Come on!”
Claire shouldn’t laugh but she let out a small giggle. Trying to stay focused she asked Zack, “What put her on top of your list?”
“A rumored relationship with Councilmember Vanya after she graduated from the Academy, and by all accounts she also had a crush on your father, Prince Erick.”
“So we’re saying a jealous witch would have caused the Great War and killed a bunch of people because she had a crush?” Kieran’s voice was tinged with disbelief.
Holly, Bethany, and Claire looked at each other, thinking of Vivienne, the jealous witch at the Academy who was chasing Claire’s Triad. “Definitely.” They all answered at once.
Kieran’s eyebrows shot up but he nodded slowly. “She stays on the list then.”
Zack started discussing a few other people who were close to the corrupt Councilmembers or had a vendetta against the Elves and Fae but Claire’s eyes wandered. A section on the wall caught her eyes.
“What have you found out about that?” She interrupted Zack, pointing at the section of the wall labeled ‘Champion of the Realm.’
Her cousins stood up abruptly, drawing everyone’s attention to them. Kallan and Kieran ignored them as they moved closer to the section. “What are you trying to learn about the Champions of the Realm?” Kallan asked, not moving his eyes from the documents on the wall.
His eyes froze on the letter that Claire had received from the Academy and he whirled to face her. “Are you…”
“Champion of the Realm?” Claire arched an eyebrow at his strange reaction. “Yes? We haven’t really been able to figure out what that means though.”
Kallan and Kieran exchanged looks before Kallan straightened and the emotions were wiped from his face. “We have to go.” What just happened? It was like a complete shift in their personalities.
