Helplessness races through my bloodstream. How much more can we risk? Lose?
“Thierry Basswood was an Elemental,” Karl informs the starkly silent group. Nobody else knows what to say. Do. Helplessness and rage go hand-in-hand inside every person seated in my living room. “Not too powerful, nor influential—more of a middle-of-the-road worker.” He leans forward resting his elbows on his knees as his wife gently rubs his back. “It’s believed that he was most likely targeted to help bolster the loss of Callieache, although he’s officially classified as missing.” His eyes flit toward Jonah. “He was seen crossing into Annar hours before the rest of the family’s bodies were discovered.”
So much inside of me sinks. Had I not erased Enlilkian’s wife, this man, his family ... they might still be alive. And now, they are dead and he is most likely housing an Elder in his slowly rotting body.
Jonah’s hand finds mine. Squeezes, like he knows I’m on the verge of breaking something near us. “Does anyone know where he is now?”
“No.” Karl’s face is set in bleak lines. “Zthane has the Guard searching, but wherever the Elders are holing up here in Annar is still beyond our reach.” His frustration is tangible in the room. “I went and talked to Bios again, but he had no information about the attack. Or, at least claimed he didn’t.”
“Is he still in custody?” Jonah asks.
It’s Raul who answers. “Yes. He’s been under constant surveillance the entire time. What a character that one is.”
“For all of his protests claiming ignorance, he wasn’t too surprised when we told him, though,” Moira adds.
“But, that’s not ...” Karl’s head dips for a moment before he says, “There’s something else you two need to know. Kate Blackthorn informed us that Basswood’s wife, Tricia, was pregnant—her due date was in a few weeks.”
Gods. Not one, but two children? What kind of monsters are these?
Astrid takes a deep breath, her hands splaying across her lap before knotting together. “The baby was not left unscathed.”
Freeze frame. Stop. Just ... no.
Erik clears his throat. “Was the ...,”—another soft clearing of the throat—“fetus in the same state as the adults?”
His meaning is not lost to me. He’s asking if the tiny body was wizened and drained, too, a husk of what it once was?
Astrid says, voice barely above a whisper, “Yes.”
I think I want to throw up.
Cora is nearly apoplectic, she’s so upset by this information.
“Fucking outrage and tragedy aside,” Will says, voice low and angry, “what does that mean? I’m sorry to have to ask, but I’m figuring you all aren’t letting us know about this travesty for shits and giggles.”
But neither Astrid nor Karl needs to tell him. I know. It’s suddenly all so clear. I know because that bastard has been telling me about this all along, hasn’t he? All my words shatter and fall out of me. “He’s building his strength, even if just by a ...,” I swallow hard, “tiny bit so he can force my hand to do whatever it is he wants. He’s—he’s ...”
Jonah twists his chair until he’s in front of me, hands cupping my face. “No. Don’t go there. This isn’t your fault, do you hear me? You didn’t do this. He did this. These are Enlilkian’s choices. They have nothing to do with yours.”
How did I go from such happiness to this? To more children and more families dead, all because this sick monster is desperate to get me to do his bidding?
“Chloe, listen to me,” my husband tells me, shaking me gently until I blink a clearer picture of what’s in front of me. “I’ve felt him. He ... you and I and every other person in this room cannot understand him, cannot conceptualize why he does what he does, because his feelings and reality are nothing like ours. There is no compassion, no sense of right or wrong, no humanity in him. He just is. Even Bios is different than he is. The only things he truly, and I use this word loosely, feels are pleasure and a justification for what he perceives are his entitlements. So, you cannot allow yourself to get dragged down in a sense of guilt over this, because that’s what he wants. He’s been studying you—studying all of us—for a long time now. While he doesn’t quite understand the reasonings behind our emotions, he knows his actions illicit strong reactions. It’s why he hates Kellan and me so much. Emotionals are ... we’re foreign to him. Unnatural. Because he never created our kind. Rudshivar did. To Enlilkian, emotions are nothing more than weaknesses.”
“But—”