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“It seems we both have troublemakers in our midst. It wasn’t mine alone that did this to your pack.” We knew that, but it was interesting that she knew it, too.
Still, how could someone from Donovan’s pack free a fey from underhill? Especially one as powerful as this Bhrunyz sounded?
“Will you come get what you’ve lost?” Donovan asked.
“I was ordered not to contact or aid any werewolves, but I did not contact you, and I offer you no aid. The problem is yours.”
Wow. So she knew exactly what was going on and just couldn’t say?
My gaze slipped to Cosette at the edge of the mirror. She still had her arms folded, but now her nails were digging into her skin. It wasn’t that hard to figure out what was going on. Cosette was in trouble, so the queen was in trouble. That must mean they were in debt to the other courts, which was not a place I’d ever want to be.
“What if sitting out means starting a war?” Donovan’s words were like ice in my veins. He wasn’t asking that as the Alpha of his pack, which would’ve been serious enough, but as one of the Seven. Someone with the power
to actually declare war.
“You won’t find many of us left to battle with. And after that mess in Santa Fe—”
“Mother, please,” Cosette cut in. “I—”
The queen turned to her. I wasn’t sure what passed between them, but the result was Cosette’s already pale skin turning ghostly. “My apologies. I have to go. If you’ll excuse me.” With that, Cosette disappeared from view.
I winced, hoping she’d be okay. She really had gone out of her way trying to help the Weres when she wasn’t supposed to.
The queen turned back to me, staring straight into my eyes. She no longer looked like the kind, beautiful woman I’d wanted to agree with. The shadows on her face darkened and the stench of magic grew, its sweet floral scent turning sour. “I’ve already said what I am able to say. It’s up to you to find Bhrunyz. It would be best if you heeded my warnings.”
Cosette’s warning had come from her mother? I wished I could’ve taken her advice, but I couldn’t. I had to come to Ireland. There was no choice for me.
But I tried to see the positive in this. The queen was leaving the hunting up to us, but she’d given us the creature’s name. It wasn’t a lot to go on, but it wasn’t nothing. We were certainly better off than we were a few minutes ago.
“Then I’ll take care of Bhrunyz,” Donovan said. “I expect no recourse for delivering a final death.”
I hadn’t even thought of that. The fey were hard to kill. Extremely hard. They only dealt out a true death in the most extreme circumstances, and if one of their kind was killed out of turn by a non-fey, they were not above seeking revenge. It was almost as if they all expected to live forever. Death wasn’t in their daily vocabulary. So, when they were reminded of it, they reacted in the worst possible way.
The queen gave us a barely noticeable dip of her chin, and I relaxed a little. At least if we found this thing and somehow managed to kill it before it killed us, we wouldn’t have to worry about the fey courts retaliating.
“If that’s all?” the queen said.
“It is.” Donovan’s voice was cold. All the friendliness and warmth from a few minutes ago had drained away. I got that he was pissed she wasn’t going to do more, but I also understood where she was coming from. Was the creature hers? Yes. Was it meant to stay locked up? Yes. Was it her fault it had gotten loose? Apparently not.
It was officially our mess.
The queen frowned. It was the first hint of real emotion I’d seen on her. “I hope our next chat will be more pleasant.”
“That’s my wish as well, Helen.”
She waved her hand in an arc and the mirror shimmered until we were left staring at our own reflections. I collapsed on the couch, suddenly exhausted.
That was intense. It wasn’t every day we got so close to an epic battle among supernatural races. I still couldn’t believe that Donovan had risked threatening her.
I went over the conversation in my head before speaking. “So, if I’m understanding it correctly, Bhrunyz is something bad. Bad enough that the fey would keep it locked up. The fact that he’s out is an embarrassment to her. She can’t help us catch him because she’s in too much trouble with the other courts. Which kind of makes me wonder what would happen if they found out about this mess…” That was a whole other can of worms. “But since someone in your pack was involved in releasing Bhrunyz, they’re not going to help at all.”
“Our pack.”
It was going to be my pack soon enough, but not yet. I had to start thinking of it as my pack, though. And fast. Especially if I was going to find the traitor.
“It doesn’t seem possible.” Donovan sat down hard next to me. “Shite. This is a nightmare.”
I leaned onto his shoulder. “Agreed, but we have more now than we did an hour ago. We know his name.”
