by Petra Landon
“What kind of slur?” Roman asked with a frown.
“The kind that implies impurity in the Ancient tongue” Atsá answered, his dignified manner unruffled.
The meeting with Lady Bethesda had disturbed Atsá. What had been implied alarmed him to a degree where he had thought to warn Duncan. The Alpha, on occasion, was known to talk matters over with Duncan, and Atsá thought it prudent to give the English Shifter a heads-up to encourage the Alpha to do so at the earliest opportunity.
Atsá’s words shocked a silent Tasia. Battles had been fought for less in their world. The word and its ugly connotations had a long history amongst the Chosen. Using it against a powerful Alpha seemed almost too desperate for a Wizard who’d spent years carefully cultivating the path to her ambitions, laying it out brick by careful brick.
Roman’s black and blue rimmed eyes opened wider. “She called you the U word, Merceau” he said incredulously. The Lady seemed almost reckless or giddy with excitement and overconfidence. Roman didn’t know which one concerned him more.
The Alpha shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
“But think about it” he said slowly. “Torture on you and an ugly slur at me. She seems seriously off her game, Durovic.”
Roman nodded, thoughtfully. Despite the Shifter shrugging it off, her words had disquieted the Alpha. That made Roman uneasy.
Raoul shot a look at Duncan. “She claims to know the Wizard side of my family.”
“From back home?” Duncan’s eyes narrowed. Raoul’s past was intrinsically linked to his complicated family history. Duncan knew that, unlike the others.
“No, the Guardian Academy.”
Duncan cursed silently. The Academy meant only one thing, and Raoul could do without the reminders while he was engaged in a high-stakes duel with the Lady.
“You have family at the GCW?” Sienna gaped at him.
“None I care to acknowledge, Sienna” the Alpha said without heat, his tone taking the sting out of his words.
Sienna changed the subject adroitly to the matter that puzzled her. “What does she mean by alluding to your fealty to Faoladh?”
“She’s implying that she’ll have Faoladh command the Alpha to side with her” Simeonov said smoothly.
“How?” Sienna looked even more at sea. “Why would Faoladh ever ask the Alpha to help her? It is Faoladh who put together this investigation that finally has her on the run. Without him, the Wizards could never bring her to justice. Not before, and certainly not now.”
“She believes she has something on Faoladh, Sienna” Jason explained, his eyes reflecting his disquiet. “Something that will force him to do her bidding.”
“This is good news” Elisabetta said abruptly. “It’s very good news.”
“How so?” Sienna asked the female Shifter. This seemed like a horrendous piece of bad news to Sienna. Faoladh commanded extraordinary respect in the Chosen world. If his influence was used to soften her mother’s image in any way, it would help Lady Bethesda enormously.
“If Lady Bethesda thinks she can make Faoladh dance to her tunes, she’ll soon learn her lesson.”
Elisabetta met Sienna’s eyes directly, the picture of confidence. “Faoladh is very old, with centuries of experience under his belt. You think it was easy for him to get where he is, Sienna? He’s fought off challengers more powerful than her before, many times. He knows every trick in the book. Whatever she thinks she has on him, she won’t succeed. She’ll learn soon that he’s not easy to manipulate.”
“Elisabetta is right, Sienna” Duncan chimed in quietly, noting the uneasiness that Sienna could not hide. “Faoladh is a formidable adversary, and if Lady Bethesda thinks to go up against him directly, she’ll soon learn how mistaken she is. But despite her current missteps, Lady Bethesda is no fool. If she feels confident enough to reveal this bit to Raoul, then it behooves us to take it very seriously.”
“What can she possibly have on Faoladh?” Hawk, the youngest of the Shifters, was unfazed. To him, the idea of anyone getting the most powerful Shifter Alpha in generations to do anything against his will seemed preposterous.
“A more interesting question is, if she has leverage on Faoladh, then why has she not used it yet?” Roman glanced squarely at the Alpha. “Why let your team get this close before she decides to use the nuclear option?”
“I don’t believe the stakes have ever been this high for her before, Durovic” Raoul said slowly. “When you think about, she hasn’t lost yet. Not once. Bianchi has lost all his moves against us, but I’m not sure she has.”
Roman looked arrested by the Alpha’s words.
“The locket …” Sienna looked from the Alpha to Roman.
“Yes” Raoul agreed. “She wants the locket, probably because it is hers. Something she sacrificed in the quest to get where she is today. But it isn’t a serious setback for her, Sienna.”
“She lost Nandini” Elisabetta pointed out. “That’s two out of three daughters now ranged against her.”
“She offered to give up Nandini for the locket, Elisabetta” Duncan countered. “I doubt she considers it a huge loss … more like a minor setback.”
“She did?” Elisabetta looked at the Alpha for confirmation.
Raoul nodded.
“But …” Sienna stopped.
Raoul sighed silently. “Yes, The Prophecy cannot play out without the three sisters coming together. It begs the question — why offer access to Nandini, after she has successfully whisked her away from under our noses?”
“We’re missing something” Roman murmured, thinking out aloud.
“She knows what will bring her daughters together” Tasia murmured without conscious thought, her mind whirring through the possibilities.
As they turned collectively to face Tasia, she seemed to abruptly realize that she was now the cynosure of all eyes.
“What?” she asked in some confusion, her eyes alternating between Sienna, the Alpha and Hawk, the three in her line of vision.
“You said something about Lady Bethesda, Tas” Hawk prompted her. “That she knows what will bring her daughters together.”
“Oh.” Tasia seemed to lapse into thought again.
“Spit it out, witchling” Raoul said, the gold eyes holding hers. “What are you thinking?”
“This event The Prophecy talks about” she said slowly, choosing her words with care. “The one to bring the siblings together.”
“Yes, what about it?” the Alpha prompted.
“We don’t know what it is, but what if Lady Bethesda does? In that case, giving Nandini up in exchange for something she wants is no big deal” Tasia suggested. “When the time comes, Nandini will be where she’s supposed to be.”
“Tasia is right, Merceau” Roman said into the silence. “The Lady has been guided on her path by The Prophecy. Giving Nandini up now holds no risk for her only if she’s confident that her daughters will eventually unite to fulfill it.”
The witchling’s explanation seemed plausible, but Raoul was grappling with a frustration that had been building in him for a while now. A frustration that had everything to do with The Prophecy and his lack of access to it.
Atsá chose that moment to enter the fray unexpectedly. “She did let slip something interesting about the siblings from The Prophecy, Alpha” he reminded Raoul.
Raoul nodded, content to allow Atsá to continue.
Atsá glanced at Sienna once. “Her husband told her on the night he foretold it that her daughters would change their world.”
What else had he told her, Tasia couldn’t help but wonder. Had the Oracle known that his words would spur his wife to embark on a murdering spree, to ensure that it was her daughters that fulfilled his prophecy? And the most pressing question of all, how did her estranged daughters’ destiny help the ambitious and power-hungry Wizard?
“No mention of her in the mix” Duncan muttered under his breath, understanding perfectly why Atsá considered this important.
&nb
sp; “Yes” Atsá confirmed.
“Even if we take her at her word” Roman said slowly. “It still doesn’t give her what she desires.”
“Not the power she craves” Jason murmured aloud what everyone else wondered.
Raoul’s expression darkened. “She also told me something else. Something she says the Oracle states clearly in the official prophecy records. An influential and powerful Chosen will rise up to protect her from the past. To allow her to fulfill her destiny, as she put it.”
“Her?” Roman said sharply.
“According to her, this Chosen will protect both her and her daughters.” Atsá recounted the details precisely.
“There’s an easy way to confirm this” Raoul said.
“The Prophecy records.” Jason sighed, his regret clear. “My apologies, Merceau, for not getting you access.”
“She enjoyed taunting us about the records” Luis interjected.
“Trevor Bergdahl” Sienna said abruptly.
“Who?”
“The brother of my best friend in high school. He’s a Guardian now, went to the Academy with Jason” Sienna explained in a rush. With everything going on, the conversation with Trevor had almost slipped her mind. “He came to me in San Diego after Anderson was in custody.”
“At Wizard Headquarters?” Jason inquired.
“Yes. He wanted to talk to me about something, but we were headed out, so I gave him my number and asked him to call me.”
She glanced from the Jason to the Alpha. “He might be able to get us access to the GCW records.”
Raoul glanced at Jason. “Would he be willing, LaRue?” he asked bluntly.
“He might” Jason said slowly. “He stays clear of the factionalism in the Guardians. He’s not a First Wizard loyalist, but neither does he participate in the GCW’s in-your-face confrontations with her.”
“You trust him?”
Jason nodded, without hesitation. “He’ll tell us to our face if he can’t do it. Trev is a straight shooter.”
“Okay. Reach out to him, Sienna. And do it fast.” Raoul paused. “I’m hoping we haven’t left this too late.”
“You don’t believe that Faoladh would ever ask you to support her, Merceau?” Jason’s incredulous voice was the first one to break the silence.
Tasia felt a frisson of alarm bloom in her at what she glimpsed on the Alpha’s face. He wore his usual mask, but she was starting to read the man under it, every now and then. It was slow going but every day, she thought she got better at it. What she saw on his face did not bode well for them at all.
“We have a bigger problem on our hands, LaRue” Raoul said grimly. “This is not about Lady Bethesda blackmailing or manipulating Faoladh to do her bidding. If that was the case, my money, as always, would be on Faoladh.”
“Then, what?” Jason looked curious, and even somewhat relieved.
“This champion The Prophecy foretells — Lady Bethesda believes it to be Faoladh.”
His words seemed to stun the others into silence. Tasia, equally stupefied, caught the utterly gobsmacked look on Hawk’s face. Even Sara, not as intimately involved in the investigation as the others, went pale.
Elisabetta was the first to rouse herself.
“No” she refuted vehemently, her eyes flashing. “I don’t believe it. Faoladh will never tie himself to someone like her. She stands for the very things he despises.”
“You can’t believe that, Alpha.” Her green eyes met his. “Lady Bethesda is playing games — sowing seeds of doubt in our minds.”
Before the Alpha could respond, Atsá spoke up.
“You’re correct, Elisabetta. Even setting aside the past allegations against her, Lady Bethesda’s world view is diametrically opposite Faoladh’s. He has espoused the cause of Chosen co-operation for centuries. She repudiates everything he stands for.”
He glanced at the others. “Yet, what she said about Faoladh rang true.”
“She regretted revealing the bit about Faoladh, almost immediately” Raoul said, looking squarely at Atsá. “I could almost sense her itching to take it back before she’d completed the sentence.”
Atsá nodded, confirming the Alpha’s statement. “You turned the tables on her, Alpha. She was trying to goad you into showing your hand but instead you goaded her into revealing this.”
“This makes me uneasy” Raoul admitted. “Yes, her beliefs, actions and past go against everything Faoladh believes in. And yes, it is Faoladh who initiated the investigation into her. But she believes that Faoladh will be on her side. More importantly, she believes that The Prophecy foretells it.”
He turned to Duncan. “She is getting sloppy, Duncan, and it is because she’s increasingly confident of the outcome. Frustrated by what she sees as Faoladh’s intransigence in joining her cause, but confident nevertheless. She believes Faoladh will stand by her, using his influence to ensure she doesn’t face any repercussions for the past. Something’s driving her confidence on this and that makes me take it seriously.”
“We’ve been wondering why she hasn’t emerged from the shadows yet” Duncan murmured, his voice heavy. “It’s certainly not the investigation, for we’re far from piecing together the past.”
“Yes, she’s waiting for Faoladh to publicly throw his support to her. Without him, she’ll be forced to fight other battles before she can go after what she wants.”
Jason roused himself from his stupor. “We’re not seriously considering that Faoladh …” He shook his head.
“I’ll talk to Faoladh from San Francisco” Raoul responded. “He needs to know about this. I’m as skeptical as you, LaRue, but if there’s one thing I’ve learnt during this investigation, it’s that the Oracle’s prophecies have a way of coming true.”
“This is not good, Merceau.” Roman did not mince his words.
Raoul glanced around the room. Sienna had gone white and silent. Elisabetta, no shrinking violet, was fluctuating between confidence and disbelief. Simeonov watched them all silently. Jason’s face could not hide his pallor. In the depths of Duncan’s steady eyes, he could read his own worries reflected back. Atsá and Luis, who’d had the time, like him, to process this, looked grave and somber. The witchling, who had the most to lose if their world turned on its head to be ruled by a ruthless Chosen like Lady Bethesda, seemed shell-shocked.
“It’s a fucking disaster is what it is” he said bluntly. “And if, as she implied, this is laid out clearly in The Prophecy’s official records, then I’m to blame for this.”
“No, Merceau” Jason protested. “This is not on you. You know how bad things are with the Guardians. This is …”
“Either way, LaRue” the Alpha interrupted the Guardian. “This has gone on long enough. We’ve known for a while now how crucial this prophecy is to her, yet we’re no closer to getting our hands on the official record despite everything we’ve tried. We get bits and pieces to puzzle on, while she marches on in her merry way to spread her brand of evil on our world. No more.”
His strong words seemed to rouse the others. Like zombies waking up from a deep sleep, they blinked their eyes to focus on him.
There was a hard note in his voice now. He had clearly come to a decision. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about Wizard dysfunction. The Guardians can wallow in their pity party for all I care. I’m done playing by their rules.”
The flat and implacable edge to his voice made it clear that there would be no compromise on this.
“I’ll talk to Trevor tonight” said a shaken Sienna. “To get access to the records.”
“I’ll give your friend a week, Sienna. After that, all bets are off.”
“What do you mean, Merceau?” Jason asked.
The Shifters remained silent. They understood how the Alpha meant to handle this.
“I want the official records of The Prophecy.” The gold eyes hardened into chips of ice. “If I have to lay siege to Wizard Headquarters again to get them, so be it. But this time, I’m not listening to
any excuses. It’s not a state secret I’m asking for. They have no reason to withhold it from us.”
Jason glanced from Duncan to Atsá to Roman Durovic. No one said anything. Even Sienna seemed oddly fine with the Alpha’s threat to raze Wizard Headquarters to get access. Jason resigned himself to the inevitable. He had known for some time now that they were headed for a collision with the GCW. The Alpha was not a patient man, and he had cause to be urgent on this. Lady Bethesda was a bigger threat than any Wizard infighting, and the bit about Faoladh had raised the stakes to where they could no longer afford to sit back and allow the Guardians to get their house in order.
He sighed. “You want me to tell the Guardians, Merceau?”
“I will” Roman offered abruptly, surprising everyone.
“Let’s keep Jason away from this, Merceau.” Roman’s eyes telegraphed a message to the Alpha.
“Agreed” Raoul assented with alacrity. “You’re our only connection to the Guardians, LaRue. We need you with your ear to the ground.” And frankly, Jason had done more than enough already. It was not fair to expose him constantly to the brunt of his Guardian colleagues.
Jason opened his mouth to protest but Sienna stepped in abruptly to side with the Alpha and the Ancient.
“They’re right, Jason. Roman carries no baggage with him. The Guardians will listen to his message without the usual arguments with you.”
She turned to Raoul.
“For what it’s worth, I agree with you, Alpha. If Faoladh is meant to stand by her, we have much to do. There’s no time for wrangling with the Guardians.”
“I’m done trying to keep the GCW happy” Raoul said, more mildly this time. “If the last few weeks have proved anything, the Guardians will never side with me. So, I’ll go it my way from now. I won’t make the same mistakes again.”
He glanced at Roman Durovic. “One week, Durovic.”
“I’ll make sure they know” the Ancient said.
“I’m afraid, Jason” Sienna said starkly. “For the first time since we started this journey, I’m frightened for the future.”
