“Maybe your own house needs looking at,” Galahad said with no mocking or judgment in his tone.
Arthur nodded. “There are people on the council who want me out. There are whispers that I’m not living up to expectations.”
“Hera’s allies?” I asked.
“That’s my guess. There is no proof that Hera and her people have ever acted against Avalon. At least nothing that will reach back to her personally. Merlin appeared to give her carte blanche to do whatever she wanted, and now that I’m trying to push back a little . . .”
“She wants you gone,” I said.
Arthur nodded.
“You can’t really expect me to let these people into my realm,” Galahad said.
“No, I guess I couldn’t. I’d hoped we’d be able to figure out a way to do this so that we could shut whoever is behind My Liege out of Avalon for good.”
“That’s why you wanted people in my realm?” Galahad asked, his tone slightly angry. “So you could find out who’s working against you and grab them? You wanted to use my realm as bait.”
“I wouldn’t put it quite like that,” Arthur said. “But it’s not like I’m swimming in options here.”
“These people would undermine me, Arthur. They would undermine everything my people have worked for.”
Arthur sighed. “So, what do we do now? Because the councilors are still going to keep pushing their agenda, and this Hellequin guy is going to keep committing atrocities in the name of Shadow Falls. Do you know how many have been attacked since I left England to come here? Twenty-seven attacks in ten hours. Over ten thousand people worldwide dead in ten hours. Nearly a quarter of a million since all this shit started. Sorcerers are blowing themselves up; werewolves are running rampant; elementals are attacking people on their way to work. Cardiff, Berlin, Oslo, Tianjin, Cape Town, Lima, Salvador, Accra . . . I could keep going if you like. We need to stop this, and instead of enabling me to deal with it, the council is pressuring me to look into Shadow Falls because some of them have an agenda.”
“They’re using these attacks as a way to get what they want?” I asked.
“I’ve been in a coma for a thousand years. I get out and things are worse now than when I went in. How the fuck could Elaine and Merlin let this happen?”
“Elaine didn’t let shit happen,” I said, irritated that her name was dragged into the mud. “Merlin didn’t let her do shit. Every time she tried, Merlin and his allies in the council would vote it down. She did everything she could just to stop Avalon from turning into a mess.”
Arthur rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I know, I’m just . . . This whole thing is shit. And I don’t see a way to make it better. If I go after the councilors who are against me, they will have me removed from power. Part of me thinks that’s what they want. The days of the king’s word being law were over before I was comatose. Over the centuries, the council has gained more and more power, but they were always fragmented, arguing amongst themselves. Shadow Falls has given half of them a focus for their rage and fear, and the other half are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect.”
I walked over to the window as Arthur sat back on the sofa. “What’s your plan?” Galahad asked. “Because if we don’t come up with something, it’s going to get worse.”
“I know,” Arthur said. “And I don’t know how to stop it.”
I looked up at a clock on the wall, which read the time was midday, then looked out of the window to the city streets below. The block around The Mill usually began getting busy at this time of day, but maybe due to how cold it was outside, there were very few people on the streets. The few miles surrounding The Mill were used almost exclusively by Shadow Falls personnel so that if anyone like Arthur arrived, it would be easier to manage, easier to ensure the safety of all involved. But the lack of people made me wonder what was happening.
I stopped listening to Arthur and Galahad as I stared out of the window at the street below.
“You okay?” Galahad asked.
I nodded but didn’t turn around. “I think we need a break. I’m getting paranoid.”
Arthur glanced at the watch on his wrist. “A break sounds good.”
“I’m going to get some air,” I told them both, and left the room, walking past the three guards in the hallway outside and finding Rebecca downstairs in the bar.
“It’s not going well, is it?” she asked.
“Define ‘well,’” I said. “We’re taking a few minutes to stretch our legs. At the moment, everyone seems to be at an impasse, and it’s not going to be resolved by everyone just sitting around repeating the same argument.”
“I’ll go check on them,” she said, and started off upstairs as I went to the entrance and stepped out into the cold air.
I ignited my fire magic to keep me warm and crossed the road. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to find, but something felt off, and I’d long since come to trust my gut feelings.
I walked a short distance down the road and was a hundred feet away from The Mill when I heard a rumble somewhere above me. In the distance I saw a helicopter flying at low altitude, and I turned and sprinted back toward The Mill, almost crashing through the door and barreling into Arthur.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I think we’re about to be attacked,” I said.
He looked skeptical as I turned and pointed to a helicopter that was no longer there. He looked a little concerned, but the concern soon vanished. “It was probably just a news chopper or something like that. I think it’s a little bit much to think people are going to attack us with helicopters. From what we’ve seen of this Hellequin so far, it’s all about using magic. Helicopter attack feels a little bit out of his usual bailiwick for destruction.”
“I’m being paranoid,” I said, still feeling a little on edge.
“I’m going outside for five minutes. You’re welcome to join me.”
“Without any guards?”
“My guards are in that building over there.” He pointed to a three-story redbrick building. “I still brought guards with me. I just didn’t want them in here.”
“I’m going to go see Galahad,” I told him.
Arthur left The Mill, and I went upstairs to find Galahad, who was on the sofa in Rebecca’s office with a cup of tea. “We ended up shouting,” Galahad admitted. “I’m not sure how this is going to work.”
I was about to say something when I looked out the window and saw someone standing on top of the nearby roof, a little less than fifty meters away. He wore a black mask, and as I stepped toward the window, I saw the white slash across it. He picked something up off the roof and placed it on his shoulder.
“RPG!” I shouted as he fired the missile.
The missile hit the outside of the window, just above where I’d been standing before diving toward Galahad. I created a shield of air as the shrapnel from the explosion rained down through the room, tearing it apart. My ears rang, and I couldn’t see through the smoke and fire that had consumed the office. Galahad lay beside me, his hands over his head.