“Fuck you.” I tried to keep my eyes from watering, shutting the walls around me. Nothing felt true anymore... even Warwick. His connection was even more forced. Not something he picked or chose for himself.
“I care about you, but you don’t know the full truth,” Tad said quietly.
“Care about me? You only care about yourself.” I huffed, wagging my head, turning back to Killian, a sneer riding my lip. “You tricked us. Good job. Now what? Lock us all in cages? Force us to be your guinea pigs?”
Killian rubbed his chin with a cool detachment.
“You knew about the nectar this whole time,” I whispered hoarsely.
Warwick’s and Ash’s heads jerked from me to Killian, taking in the information I hadn’t shared with them yet.
Killian dipped his head in agreement, his hands sliding into his trouser pockets. It was what he did when he wanted to show he felt no threat. “I did.” His gaze met mine, challenging, and I didn’t relent.
“I saw you.” My sentence was simple, but my sentiment was full of context. I wanted him to know I saw and heard more than he probably ever wanted anyone to know. Things he might kill to keep quiet.
A nerve along his cheek was the only thing I saw tic, his glare staying cold and elusive, but I knew he understood my meaning.
We stayed locked on each other for a few beats before he turned to my group.
“Lower your weapons.”
“You first.” Warwick vibrated with violence, barely holding back. No doubt he would try to tear through this room while the guards pumped his body with bullets, Ash right next to him.
The seven of us could make an impressive dent, but death would be absolute in the end. Even if it wasn’t Warwick or me, it would be for the others.
I couldn’t chance their lives.
“Don’t.” I spoke to Warwick through our link. “Do what he asks.”
“Not how I work, princess.”
“Don’t let your ego get the others killed.”
Warwick growled under his breath, his weight shifting. It took him a full minute before he very reluctantly dropped his gun, his jaw locked down and anger straining his muscles. Ash blinked at him in bewilderment, shocked the killer wolf was surrendering so easily, before he followed his lead.
One by one, the rest of our group followed suit. Several guards came up, taking our weapons away, more guards staying on Kek and Warwick, as they were the two more powerful ones in the room.
“Not at all surprised by these two...” Killian weaved through us, pointing at Warwick and me, landing in front of Ash. “But you.” He slanted his head. “And here you told me you despised Warwick, that he betrayed you, and you’d kill him on sight.”
Ash smirked at Killian smugly as if saying, “You were the fool to believe it.”
When I first got to his cottage, Ash said he worked for Killian as a healer, but it was something I had forgotten along the way. Now I realized how much Ash had risked coming with us. His friendship with Warwick put his life on the line, but it would always come first.
Killian moved closer to Ash. “Little did I know we had a spy amongst us.”
With all my willpower, I kept my attention from sliding to Zander. Ash was no spy, but Killian wasn’t wrong—he had one among him.
“You know what I do to traitors? I cut out their tongues, scoop out their eyes, and display their heads on a spike along the wall,” Killian declared evenly, like he was stating the weather. The guy I saw in the book, full of heartbreak and palpable anger, was no longer; he had chiseled himself into an aloof leader.
“And I’d still be prettier than you.” Ash’s chin went up, his nose flaring.
Killian’s smile was full of dark humor, his face even with Ash, both not giving an inch.
Gradually, Killian stepped back, turning to me. Any amusement he found with Ash was gone, his eyes growing cold.
“I should kill you,” Killian snarled, traveling to me.
Warwick made a move to me, the guards reacting to his shift with more weapons being stabbed into his skin and bullets ready to enter his temple.
“Both of you.” Killian motioned to both of us. “Bombing my house, killing my soldiers... .” He flicked his head to Nyx. Her entire form vibrated with fury, barely checking herself. “I could so easily let her go... let her have her revenge.”
Warwick scoffed, a mocking grin tugging his lips.
Intrigue danced in Killian’s eyes, his head wagging. “I knew something about Brexley ensnared the infamous Wolf. But willing to give up our truce for her?” His eyebrows curved up. “Become her servant boy?”
Warwick lurched forward, his teeth bared.
“No!” My link stood between the men, my hand pressing into Warwick’s heaving chest. “He’s trying to provoke you. Don’t let him win.”
Warwick’s lip hitched in a snarl at me. Tension and aggression rose in the space, but he eventually eased back.
“The thing is, this will work in my favor. You will protect her at all costs, and I need her alive.” Killian’s head swiveled to me. “For the time being, anyway.”
Dread spread through my stomach like cement.
“I almost had it...” Killian’s hand rolled into a ball like he could feel the object in his hand. “And it slipped through my fingers... disappearing for good.” By a sexy ass pirate and a girl who I had no doubt broke Killian’s heart in some way.
“And you are going to find it for me.” Killian nodded at me.
My head shook. “Why would you think I could find it? How did you even know to set us up? That I had a connection to the book or the nectar?”
“Because I told him you could,” Tad spoke up behind me, rising back up to his feet, his face pinched with pain.
“You?” Hurt flushed once again through me. “How would you even know?”
Tad put his hand on the wall, keeping his S-shaped back from causing him to topple over. He looked even worse than when I last saw him. “I can see Markos did you no favors in not teaching you the power of Druids.”
He was right. Istvan pretty much brushed off us learning anything substantial besides the basics about Druids. There were hardly any in this part of the world, and he thought it was a waste of time, saying they were no more than glorified witches.
“Our magic is different from fae. I can do spells no fae can do. I tried to reveal the nectar’s location... you know what it showed me time after time?” Tad licked at his cracked lips, his gaze twisting rot into my gut. “You.”
“Me?” I jerked back. “Why me? I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either. However, the one thing I’ve learned, we beings can be wrong on many things, influenced by feelings, circumstances, and outside forces. The one thing never wrong... is magic itself.” A flinch of pain crossed Tad’s face as he adjusted his stance. My heart longed to go over to him, to help ease his agony, but I also couldn’t forget his betrayal. “As old as I am, I still do not know or understand everything. This world is full of mystery. I cannot answer your question as to why. I simply know it is. The spell showed me you. The book only allowed you in. You are the key, my girl. I just don’t know to what yet.”
“Wouldn’t the book know where it is? Can’t I go in and ask it?” I had, but it showed me the nectar leaving here, not where it went after.