“When I woke up, all the soldiers either escaped or were dead, and my wounds were already starting to heal.” He took a sip of tea, his hand trembling slightly with old age. “Eabha and Morgan healed me enough. And I was able to do the rest.” He lifted his cup to me. “Which I feel is all thanks to you.”
I wanted to believe my mother wouldn’t have left Tad to die, but even if she only helped him because of me, I was grateful, whatever the reason.
“When did they start to change back?” I rolled my glass between my hands, my knee bouncing with energy, though I felt so drained and exhausted.
“Ahh... you are testing my recollection.” Tad took another swallow before setting it on the table. “I find it easier to recall something over two hundred years ago than a few weeks ago.” He closed his lids as if he was filing through his memories. “Now I think about it, it was right after the night at High Castle when I noticed a slight shift in them.”
“Is it my fault they are turning back?” I barely heard my voice leave my mouth, guilt weighing down on me, feeling in some way I was to blame.
“As you know, magic and nature are a balance. They used a lot of magic barricading us against the attack that night. Then saving me.” My mind recalled the blood-red aura I saw streaming from the clan as they murmured a spell, putting up the protective shield to save us. “You certainly have a link to your mother through the nectar since it is a part of her as well—why she will always protect it. So, there might be some truth to your fear, but their magic as witches wasn’t infinite. There is always a cost for using so much magic.”
“The cost for protecting us... me... was their human lives?”
Tad didn’t respond, his blue eyes telling me all I needed to know.
My head bowed, the burden of everything growing heavier. Another thing I had to shove away when other things were more critical. Things I could change. Taking a deep breath, I focused on another topic.
“Warwick and I just came from Istvan’s labs. We know what he is doing.” I glanced over at the Legend. His arms stretched over the back of the sofa, one ankle crossed his knee, Simon snuggled into his side, sound asleep. Warwick appeared relaxed, not a care in the world, but I could feel his energy, the intensity with which he peered back at me. If anyone walked through the door, he would be up, already slicing into their throat before we even registered movement.
The Wolf was always ready to fight. To kill his prey. Protect his family.
“It’s far worse than anyone knows. His reach and connections extend farther than I think most of us thought. Prague, Ukraine, Romania, and probably many more countries are with him now. Soldiers from all these places are taking the pills, making them fae-like. Istvan is building the largest army anyone’s ever seen, while getting powerful leaders under his control.”
“He also has fae working with him,” Warwick added.
“What do you mean he has fae working with him?” Zander jolted.
Right. I forgot how much they were unaware of. “Boyd, for one,” I stated.
“Boyd? He’s working with Istvan?” Zander exclaimed.
“Are you really surprised?” I countered.
Zander blinked, taking in my question. “No, I suppose not.” He scoured his head.
“Also, Killian suspected someone on the inside blew up the palace.” I swigged down the rest of my drink, setting the glass down. “He was right. It was Iain.”
“Iain?” Zander stood up from his perch on the end of the sofa. “No way…I trained him. He was satisfactory at best and not the brightest bulb. There is no way he could pull that off.”
“Clearly, he was smart enough to fool you, pony-boy.” Warwick shot Zander a look. “He was playing you. It was all an act so no one would suspect him.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true.” I pressed my palms down on my jittery knees. “He was at Věrhăza.”
Zander’s forehead crumbled. “As a prisoner?”
“As a guest,” I replied.
“I don’t understand.” Zander shook his head.
Warwick scoffed, ready to respond to that comment, but stopped when I shot him a glare.
“Iain was working as a spy, like you, but just not for someone we would have thought.” I stood, not able to sit still for another moment. “For Prime Minister Leon.”
“What?” Eliza shook her head in disbelief. “He was working for a human leader? Why the Czech prime minister?”
“Because he is the son of Sonya. One of the old Seelie queen’s ladies-in-waiting.” Warwick responded to his sister with a knowing look.
“Sonya?” Her mouth fell open. “That insufferable bitch who is shacking up with Leon?”
A groan bayed from Zander, his hands scrubbing his face. “They want her to sit in Killian’s seat.”
“Yep.” I leaned on the mantle. “A front to deceive the fae, while Istvan and Leon grab more control, eventually flipping the power struggle and taking over.”
“Basically, we’re heading for another fae genocide.” Eliza leaned her elbows on her legs, rubbing her face. “I don’t understand people like Sonya, willing to hurt their own kind. For what?”
“Power and money.” I shrugged a shoulder. “Sadly, coming from her other son, Lukas, she’s always been this way. She will turn on anyone to get where she wants to go. But I feel Sonya thinks at the end of this, she will come out on top. I see her turning against Leon and Istvan once she’s seated.”
“Sounds like her.” Eliza frowned. “We’ve heard about her for a long time. She comes from old noble blood from the Otherworld—ones who believe they are the rightful heirs to power. Now her being with Leon makes sense.”
“If she thinks it will get her to what she wants in the end, there are no limits to what she will do, like Istvan.”
“Our number one priority, though, is getting everyone out of Věrhăza. Every day we wait, more could be dying. Tortured, starved to death. Let’s just say Věrhăza makes Halálház seem a little less horrendous.”
“Really?” Zander blanched, our gazes meeting. For one minute, I could see we both were thinking of the moments we spent together in the holding pen before I was forced out into the Games. The support he gave me, the terror I felt, both of us thinking I might never come out again.
“Istvan has turned it into a labor factory for making fae bullets and sewing uniforms. All preparing to take over Hungary. But he won’t stop there. He will take control of the entire Eastern Bloc, and if he figures out how to use my blood or gets his hands on the nectar, he’ll go after the Unified Nations.”
“And let me guess, he has your blood.” Eliza sighed, sitting back on the sofa again.
“Yes.” I nodded. “We set him back a little when I blew it up, and we escaped the hell hole, but I guarantee he still has some of it.”
“Blew it up?” Tad pipped up. “What do you mean?”
I hesitated.
Warwick curved his brow at me. “You gonna tell him, Kovacs?”
“I got very upset, and I don’t know—sometimes power comes out of me. It destroyed the entire lab.” And killed dozens of men who were in the tanks.
“Was that the first time?” Tad eyed me cautiously.
“No.” I stared down at the borrowed boots on my feet, which were two sizes too big. “I also slaughtered dozens of wild animals with my magic when we were put in the pit to fight them.”
Tad’s eyebrows went up.
“It’s why we need to get them out of Věrhăza now.” I shifted the topic back, not wanting to get into the details. “And since you spelled it. I need your help to undo the spell.”
Tad studied me for a long time, the crackle of the fire snapping in the background, along with the hums of Simon’s soft snoring.
“You think it would be so easy?” Tad tried to adjust his back.
“No.” My arms went out. “But we have to try. I won’t let them die in there like that. Can you do it? Can you unspell the prison?”
Tad sighed, his mouth pinching together.
“I can only do it from the inside. I would have to be taken as prisoner and get in to do it.”
“What?” Eliza sat fully up. “No.”
“There is no way I can unspell some of those enchantments without being right there. I purposely made them that way, so no one could even bend or twist them.”
“That would have been good information to know earlier,” I muttered to myself, thinking how cocky I was, imagining I could pull down Tad’s enchantments.
“There is no way you are going in.” Eliza stood up, her hands on her hips. “Absolutely not!”
“El...” Zander reached for her, his hand touching her back, his figure moving close behind hers.
“He can barely get out of bed. I will not let him go back in there, especially under Istvan. He will kill him!”
“Hey, hey.” Zander’s voice was low and soothing. “It’s okay.”