Moreann glanced at her and shook her head. “I marked each of you, just as I’ve marked every person who has been an Other. I did it so I could find you at any time. I used to tell members of our group that I did it to keep them from betraying me. I knew we were winning against the Kings, and I didn’t think any of you going to them would change anything.”
It was a lie, but one she kept to herself. To show any kind of weakness was to let defeat in—and she wouldn’t do that.
“Do you know where Noreen is then?” Brian asked.
Anger rumbled through her as she turned her attention to the Light Fae. “If I knew where Noreen was, why would I send all of you out looking for her?”
“I-I don’t know,” he stuttered and took another step back.
As if distance would save him if she lashed out.
It was Orun who asked, “How did Noreen remove her mark?”
“The Dragon King.” It was another lie, but it wasn’t as if she would let them know that by Noreen not using her magic, Moreann could no longer find her.
The other human Druid asked, “Could Noreen have left this planet?”
Brian snorted loudly. “And go where? All the Fae doorways are closed.”
“But the Dragon King was the one who jumped them all over the world,” Orun added.
Moreann turned to her advisor and looked into his narrow-set, hooded eyes. “The King made sure to go to various places multiple times to confuse us.”
“Why?” one Druid asked the other. “Noreen should’ve been the one using her magic.”
Brian cut them a dark look. “It was smart, actually, since it’s our magic Moreann can track.”
The humans’ eyes widened as they looked in Moreann’s direction. She then slid her gaze to Brian. “Perhaps you aren’t as stupid as I thought. How did you know?”
“Because Noreen went out of her way not to use magic these past few weeks. I knew there was a reason, but I couldn’t figure it out until you said you marked us. You didn’t actually do that, but you do know our magic.”
Damn him for being so smart. Moreann didn’t respond. She simply returned her attention to Orun.
He ran a hand over his bald head. “Noreen won’t use her magic. She’ll make sure of that, and by being with a Dragon King, she won’t have to.”
“But they aren’t at Dreagan,” a Druid said.
It was the first place Moreann had looked, and she should’ve realized that it was the last place the King would’ve taken Noreen. The Dragon King. She gave an inward shake of her head. Moreann hadn’t thought much about Cain. He stayed in the background, rarely voicing his thoughts or opinions. She’d didn’t believe he would be a problem. Now, she was paying a high price for such idiocy.
“Cain wouldn’t have left this realm,” Moreann said.
Orun lifted a brow high on his forehead. “But if they did?”
“You know how many realms are out there. We don’t have time to search them all.”
The advisor shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe we don’t have to.”
“Noreen has betrayed us. She has no doubt told Cain everything about us.”
“So?” Brian said. “Everything is already in play.”
Orun sneered at the Light. “Not everything, you fool.”
“The important parts are,” Brian argued.
Moreann laced her fingers before her and turned to the side so she could see everyone. “Noreen knows everything. It doesn’t matter what is in play now. She’ll warn the Kings.”
“There were only two more instances,” the first Druid said. “One has already been removed by Usaeil anyway.”
Brian nodded as he looked from the Druid to Moreann. “Exactly. And the other was minor. Everything you put in place centuries ago is what has taken a toll on the Kings. Who cares if they know who we are now? The fact that they’ve not attacked should tell us a lot.”
“It tells us they’re waiting for us to make the first move,” Orun replied in a dry tone.
Moreann nodded at her advisor and then told Brian, “He’s right. However, you also have a point. Let’s forget the final five things I was going to throw at the Dragon Kings and their mates over the next month. We’re going to do this another way.”
Brian rubbed his hands together. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
“Empress, we need a Dark Fae to complete our group,” Orun reminded her.
Moreann thought of Usaeil, who she had locked away. “If I need a Dark’s magic, I know where to go.”
“Will you have time for such a thing?”
She glared at Orun. “I’m going to make time.”
Orun parted his lips as if he were about to reply, but he must have thought better of it because he closed his mouth and stood in silence.
Moreann looked at the Fae and Druids that made up the Others. She had put so much time and energy into her war with the Dragon Kings. No one and nothing would stop her from winning. Her people were counting on her. She wouldn’t let them down.
For every day that her people remained on their world, and the magic continued to die, each of them received less and less of it. They needed that power in order to survive, because being without it meant they would be weak and ripe for someone like her to wipe out.
Her people hadn’t lived for thousands of millennia building their power and strength for nothing. She hadn’t sacrificed lives to get close to achieving victory over the Kings only to lose it.
It didn’t matter that the Dragon Kings hadn’t done anything to her or her people. It was enough that the magic of their realm thrived—even with the Fae, and the poor-excuses for Druids that lived upon it.
Though there were a few Druids who had caught her notice. The Skye Druids for one, but also one mated to a Dragon King—Eilish.
Even more concerning was that she felt the power of other Druids, but it was as if they were hidden from her somehow, though she knew they were in Scotland.
It didn’t matter. None of it did, because as powerful as those few might be, they weren’t her Druids. Which meant, they would all die.
CHAPTER TWENTY
With every word Noreen spoke about Moreann and the Others, the more she found she had to say. She’d known she had a lot of information stored away from all the years she’d spent with them, but she hadn’t realized how much.
Then, on top of that, Cain asked questions about things she hadn’t thought would mean anything. Though, obviously, given his interest, she’d been wrong.
“Moreann has to have a weakness,” Cain said.
Noreen twisted her lips and glanced his way as they walked through more of the forest. He wanted to get a better view of things beneath the canopy of trees, and she found it easier to talk about her time with the Others as she walked. They had trekked for nearly two hours, and while Cain had paused a few times to look at things, they had yet to encounter anyone—or even anything that suggested another person was around.
He grinned at her look. “Everyone has a weakness, lass.”
“Even a Dragon King?” she asked, brows raised in question.
Cain gave a single nod. “Even a Dragon King. For the Fae, it’s humans. The Dark doona hide their hunger for their souls.”