Agreed, Bryce said.
“Why did Emile run from Pippa?” Tharion asked.
Cormac ran his hands through his blond hair. “He was afraid of her. He’s wise to be. Pippa is a fanatic on a fast track to promotion into Ophion Command. With so many of our bases recently destroyed, Ophion is nervous enough to start considering her ideas—and I worry they’ll soon start following her as well. There are no lines she and her unit of Lightfall soldiers won’t cross. Did your news over here get wind of that story about the leopard massacre a year ago?”
Bryce couldn’t stop her shudder. Ithan said quietly, “Yeah.”
Cormac said, “That was Pippa’s idea, carried out by Lightfall. To use those Vanir kids and babies to lure their parents out of their hidden dens—and then kill them all. Simply for sport. For the Hel of it. Because they were Vanir and deserved to die. Even the children. She said it was part of cleansing this world. Working their way up to the top: the Asteri. Hence the Lightfall name.”
Hunt looked to Tharion—who nodded gravely. Apparently, the Captain of Intelligence had heard that, too.
Cormac went on, “Pippa sees Emile as a weapon. The night of the escape, he took down those imperial Omegas, and she was practically beside herself with excitement. She spooked him with her eagerness to get him onto a battlefield, and he fled on an escape boat before I could convince him that I was there to help. The boy sailed to the nearest port, then stole another boat.”
“Resourceful kid,” Ithan muttered.
“I tracked him as far as these shores.” Cormac jerked his chin at Tharion. “I saw you in the marshes at the abandoned boat. I figured you were on his trail as well. And I watched you find the remains of the Lightfall soldier’s body—so you must have at least guessed that Pippa wants Emile for her Lightfall unit. If she catches him, she’ll drag him back to Ophion’s main base and turn him into a weapon. Into exactly what the Asteri feared when they hunted down the thunderbirds centuries ago.”
His gaze shifted to Hunt. “You asked why I came here, at this exact moment? Because when the mer kept returning here, I figured you lot might be involved somehow—some of the very people I was sent here to meet. I hoped Emile might even be here.” Again, his jaw tightened. “If you know where Emile is, tell me. He’s not safe.”
“I don’t understand,” Ruhn said. “You and Pippa are both in Ophion, yet you’re trying to find Emile to … keep him out of Ophion’s hands?”
“Yes.”
“Won’t Ophion be pissed?”
“Command will never know of my involvement,” Cormac said. “I have other tasks here to complete.”
Bryce didn’t like the sound of that for one moment. She slid off the stool, taking a step toward the dining table. Her mouth began moving before she could think through her words. “You expect us to trust you about all of this when you were so fucking obsessed with a stupid piece of metal that you wanted to kill my brother?” She flung a hand in the general direction of Ruhn and the Starsword in his grip.
Ruhn grunted with surprise as Cormac retorted, “That was fifty years ago. People change. Priorities change.”
But Bryce took one step closer to the dining table, not caring if Cormac deemed it a challenge. “Fae don’t change. Not you old-school losers.”
Cormac glanced between her and Ruhn with palpable disdain. “You Valbaran Fae are such babies. Did you not learn something of yourself, your destiny, Prince Ruhn, because of me nipping at your heels?”
“You put a sword through Dec’s gut,” Ruhn said mildly. “I’d hardly call that nipping.”
Tharion cut in, “Assuming we buy your story, why would a Fae Prince join Ophion?”
Cormac said, “I joined because I felt it was right. The details are unnecessary.”
“Not if you might be working for the Asteri,” Bryce said.
“You think I’d turn you over to the Asteri?” Cormac laughed, dead and cold. “I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone. The dungeons beneath their crystal palace are darker and deadlier than the Pit.”
Hunt said icily, “I know. I was there.”
Bryce hated the shadows in his eyes. Ones she’d do anything to help heal. Do anything to avoid renewing. Team Survive at All Costs—that was her team. She didn’t care if that made her a coward.
Cormac went on, ignoring Hunt, “Sofie was an Ophion agent because the Asteri butchered her family. Her human family, and her thunderbird ancestors. All she wanted was to find her brother. Everything she did was for him.”
Tharion opened his mouth, but Bryce lifted a hand, cutting him off as she said to Cormac, “Tharion came by yesterday to ask about a connection between someone I … knew and Sofie. He was being super shady”—a glare from Tharion at this—“so I managed to get some answers out of him, mainly that he’s looking for Emile for the River Queen.”
Cormac narrowed his stare on Tharion. “What does your queen want with the boy?”
Tharion shrugged.
Ruhn murmured, “Nothing good, I bet.”
Tharion rumbled a warning growl at Ruhn, but Bryce continued, “I don’t care about the politics. Emile’s a kid, and lost—I want to find him.” And get answers about Danika knowing Sofie, but … that could wait for a moment. She wanted to feel Cormac out first.
Indeed, the Avallen Prince’s eyes softened a bit—with gratitude.
Could be faking that, Ruhn observed to her.
Could be, but my gut says he isn’t, Bryce replied before she angled her head and asked Cormac, “The Hind’s a pretty big deal. She went to all that trouble to kill Sofie just for freeing her brother? Or was it because Sofie’s a thunderbird?”
Cormac’s hands curled into fists at his side. “The Hind went to all that trouble because Sofie, as collateral to make sure the Ophion boat showed up for Emile, had gathered vital intel on the Asteri, and made sure Command knew it.”
“What?” Hunt blurted, wings twitching.
“What kind of intel?” Tharion asked, face darkening.
Cormac shook his head. “Sofie was the only person who knew it. She just mentioned to me that it was something big—war-changing. That Ophion would kill to have it. And our enemies would kill to contain it.”
Across the room, Ithan was wide-eyed. Had any of his training prepared him for this? Had any of hers?
Tharion said, “The Asteri probably sent the Hind to kill her before she could tell anyone else.”
Cormac grimaced. “Yes. But I suspect the Hind knew Sofie could hold out against torture, and decided it was best the information die with her.” He shuddered and said, “They ripped out her nails when she went into Kavalla, you know. She told me that they tore out the nails on one hand, and when they asked her for any information, she held out her other hand to them.” He laughed to himself. “One of the guards fainted.”
“Brave female,” Ithan said softly, earning a thankful nod from Cormac that had Bryce wishing she’d said as much herself. Bryce studied her own manicured nails. Wondered if she’d be able to hold out if it ever came to that.
Cormac again turned to Tharion, his face bleak. “Tell me the Hind at least put a bullet in her head before she sent Sofie down to the deep.”