“Synthia, someone has to stay inside to get word back to you,” he argued.
“That’s shit, and you know it. You would be in the enemy’s den. It’s suicide.”
“Synthia, we are the ones who killed Larissa. The Seattle Guild knew it while they stood beside us at her funeral. There were no reports of the girl who played Arianna ever going missing. I started to wonder soon after she was exposed, since something like that would have been reported to us as well as to the rest of the Guild Covens. I started to wonder why—because if you had gone missing, I’d have gone to the moon and back looking for you. I’d have sent a line out to every coven I could until I had found you. They didn’t even contact us for it, let alone warn us that there was an issue. Not until others went missing, one’s who had families that would have reported it. No, I need to stay and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I can’t live with knowing I did nothing to prevent what happened to those girls from the next repeating itself. This is something I need to see through, before I am ‘retired’.”
“Alden, I’m always here if you need me,” I said numbly.
“I know, Synthia. I also know they had me train some of you to become Druids. I didn’t know it at the time, but if it comes down to a fight, you and what is left of your coven have all been trained for this. If it comes down to it, you could fight against the Guild.”
“How is that even possible? Wouldn’t we have known it?” Even as the words came out of my mouth, my jaw dropped to the floor as it dawned on me. “…Oh shit!” Ink.
“I trained you, Adam, and Adrian in the Dark Arts. I injected ink that made it stronger inside of you, intensified it. You three have the ability to prevent the Mages from harming more innocent people. You also know how the Guild works, and functions. I can’t allow them to hurt, or kill anyone; I won’t allow that to happen again.”
“So…I’m a Druid Fae?” I almost laughed, but the implications of it were just straight up messed up.
“Technically, your Fae DNA cancels it out. The ink only increases the magic you use. Sorry, but you’re still only Fae. I need to know something, since you can’t lie now. Did you ever think of me as a father?”
“In a way, yes, but I’ve always kept my father in my heart, and your sister, my mother. I love you, Alden, and you’ve made me into what I am today…minus the Fae part.”
I thought about things for a few moments, reeling over the information that Alden had dropped on me. If the Guild was being infiltrated by the Mages and they had ordered Alden to send me to the Dark Prince…
“Alden, given my past history with the Fae, do you think that the Guild was hoping I would snap on the assignment and assassinate Ryder?” I asked softly, afraid to hear him answer what my mind had already processed.
Alden nodded sadly, confirming my suspicions. So, his being there, close by that day, was to save me from myself if need be.
“Do you think the Guild killed Marie for being close with the Fae?”
Once again, Alden nodded. Yep, shit soup was being stirred and it was simmering now, and getting ready to be served with a side of crunchy crackers. Once the soup hit boil, this was going to get ugly.
He sat back down, and we talked for over an hour about what else was going on inside the Guild. He’d explained a lot that he wouldn’t have under normal circumstances. When he’d left, it was hard, because it felt as if we were saying goodbye for the last time.
Chapter Eighteen
It had only been about five minutes since Alden left, and I was still sitting at the table, unable to make my mind work past the idea of the Guild being the enemy. How could this even be possible? My Guild—which I’d loved, grown up inside, and given my faith to—was the enemy. They had thrown me out because I’d been Fae, and, even though I wasn’t a part of it anymore. I still felt the need to defend them. And I still had yet to get up from where Ryder had knocked me down with his word games and trickery. I must have had a sticker on my forehead that said, ‘Please dump info here’, because I was getting it by the truckloads today.
I had been trained, unknowingly, by Alden to massacre Fae. I looked at the cell phone in front of me on the table. What the hell was I supposed to tell Ryder? Oh, hey, by the way…I am the enemy! Or I was. Oh, and by the way—the Guild was hoping you would trigger me to have a massive freak out, which would result in your untimely demise at my hands. Yeah, that would go over like a truckload of Goblins in a daycare center. I glared at the phone and played out the conversation in my head several times, and it never ended well.