Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Viviana took his hand and came to her feet. “Blanchard and Laurent are united in this.” Then she let Barron escort her out.
The rest of the Fae assembled watched as the line was drawn in the sand. It wasn’t clear which side those still in the room were on, but if it was Fordham’s power that kept them in line, then so be it.
Kerrigan knew this was only a first step, that it was all far from over. But they had won today.
“Good,” Fordham said smoothly. “Now, start over with where we are on the army.”
Chapter Three
The Solution
“I wasn’t sure if it was going to get bloody in there,” Wynter said once the council had dissolved some hours later.
“From me or her?” Fordham asked.
Wynter shrugged. “All of the above.”
“Fair,” Kerrigan said as she flopped back into a seat and rubbed her temples.
Prescott shook his head. “Barron is not going to accept any of this.”
“He’s not,” Wynter agreed.
“Before Arbor died,” Prescott said, choking on the word. Arbor was his sister and closest friend, and she’d been killed for treason in the capital. Fordham had recalled Prescott back to the House of Shadows. He seemed to just be coming out of his fugue state. “I…had a relationship with him.”
“With Barron?” Fordham asked, aghast.
“It was purely sexual,” Prescott said. “I stopped it at Arbor’s insistence. He’s a little violent.”
“You think?” Wynter asked with a shake of her head. “What were you thinking?”
“He was a good time,” Prescott said with a shrug.
“Could you rekindle this relationship?” Wynter asked.
“We’d never ask you to do that,” Fordham said quickly. “I wouldn’t risk you.”
Prescott glanced between them. “He’d know it’s a trick. Plus, I’m not who I once was, not without Arbor. Unless…”
“Unless?” Wynter prodded.
Prescott glanced between them. Sometimes it was uncanny how much he looked like Fordham. Before Arbor died, he’d been this vivacious character who could charm the pants off anyone. Apparently that meant Barron Laurent. “Unless you humiliate me and he thinks I’d have reason to defect.”
Fordham pursed his lips. “I don’t like this plan.”
“We should consider it,” Kerrigan said.
Prescott sighed. “If this is how I make up for what happened with Arbor, then I’ll do it.” He came to his feet and ran a hand through his hair. “I should probably go set the stage at least.”
“Pres, you don’t have to,” Fordham argued.
“I know,” Prescott said. “But it’s what Arbor would do.”
Then he left the war chamber behind. Kerrigan’s heart went out to him. He’d been a pawn for so long, and now it looked like he was yearning for redemption.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Wynter promised Fordham. He just nodded.
“Viviana is also going to be a problem,” Kerrigan added.
“She always has been,” Wynter said. “And now, without our father to temper her anger, she’ll be worse than ever.”
“Suggestions?” Fordham asked.
“Kill her,” a smooth-as-honey voice said, filling the room.
Kerrigan’s head snapped up as Dozan Rook stepped into the war council chamber. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew how to access the room. He had always been as slippery as a snake and twice as dangerous. He was dressed in his typical Wastes garb—black suit, red vest, and bloodred cravat with the Rook R pin at his collar. No matter that the Wastes had been destroyed in the Red Masks’ coup of the city. Dozan would forever be an underworld king.
“Should I be concerned that there are spies within my halls?” Fordham growled.
Despite Fordham’s displeasure, he and Dozan had learned to work together. They had both been fighting for Kerrigan. Dozan had been her first obsession—first everything—but he’d respected Kerrigan’s choice in the end. Anyway, she was pretty sure something was going on between him and Wynter, even if neither of them would admit it.
“I’ve cleared out the others,” Dozan said with a smirk.
“Do I even want to know what that means?”
Dozan shrugged, unconcerned, as he ran a hand through his brown-red hair and came to Wynter’s side. “I didn’t do it for you,” he said as his eyes moved to Kerrigan’s, “but for her.”
Wynter stepped away from him at that admission. “Regardless of why Dozan is here or his methods, it’s hard to deny that they are effective. We need every manner of tool we can get.”
“And as to his…suggestion?” Fordham asked.
“Killing her is the easiest solution,” Dozan said with another shrug. “Publicly, for her dissent. Then no one will question you.”
“Why am I not surprised the guy who murdered his whole family to become king of the Wastes would suggest this option?” Kerrigan quipped.
Dozan arched an eyebrow and leaned his hip into the war table. “Always here for good advice, princess.”
“Killing her would bring all the Blanchards down on our heads,” Fordham said.
“They’d appreciate the power move,” Dozan argued.
“He’s not wrong,” Wynter said. Fordham opened his mouth to argue, but she held up her hand. “But it’s not the right move here. We need them all on our side. We need a power play. Something stronger than you walking into a room with Kerrigan on your arm. Something bigger than your mother’s ring and our father’s throne.”