Chapter 6
Chapter Six
WARWICK
“Repeat that again.” Killian stared at us from across the table.
Tonight a fire crackled in the hearth, illuminating his clenched jaw.
We all were back in the command room, except Birdie, who was getting patched up downstairs, and Caden, who took off the moment we arrived back here, getting as far from me as possible.
I was all for that.
“The men were my mother’s.” Lukas folded his arms, hiding all traces of emotion.
“It was her insignia they wore.” When their bodies were all scattered across the road in parts, it was easier to get close and see what was embedded in their tops.
A woman with wings curved into a harp. It was a symbol used by British monarchies in the past, but for fae it meant something completely different.
A secret emblem to all the fae living among humans before the wall fell.
Over the centuries it had been twisted into a symbol of fae purity.
Representing pure fairies as the true rulers and fae being above all humans.
“You said the people fighting were human?” Mykel paced in front of the fireplace, maps and plans spread over the table, the two leaders working late into the night when we returned.
Scorpion’s gaze went to Hanna. She stared at the ground, shifting her weight between her feet.
“We’ve been watching them for two weeks. She only had a handful of guards at the palace.” Killian looked to Ash as if he could make the pieces fit. There were over two hundred tonight, far more than what we saw night after night at the palace. “Where did they come from?”
“Maybe Leon’s troop is still faithful to her,” Mykel responded.
“They weren’t trained soldiers.” From the back, my voice ground through the room, turning every head to me. “Men and women, young to old. Most were extremely malnourished. They were people you’d find in the Savage Lands, not a skilled army.”
“They were like me.” Hanna’s voice barely rose above a whisper but somehow screamed through the room.
“What?” Mykel whipped to her.
“They were on the pills.” She swallowed, lifting her head like she was facing down an internal battle. “I could feel them.”
“Feel them?” Killian tilted his head.
“I can’t describe it, but I just know. They were all turned into monsters.”
Killian pressed his hands into the table, his head bowing, exhaling in and out slowly. “This is how she will solidify her rule and stay on the throne. She will make her own army.”
“My mother will use and kill her own kind to stay in power, and human lives mean even less. She can easily toss them away.” Lukas confirmed Killian’s claim.
“But how did she get the formula? I thought the lab was destroyed?” Mykel scratched at his beard with frustration.
His question had my mind jumping back to when Kovacs and I were first brought to the labs, Sonya’s voice responding to Istvan as we were being taken to the dungeons below.
“Actually, I would like to see the labs. I need to understand what is going on and am quite interested in the process.”
“She stole them straight from the source.” I wrapped my hair back in a tie, the adrenaline from my kills still rolling in my veins, needing an outlet. “Istvan took her and Leon on a tour of the labs when Kovacs and I were brought there.”
A scoff filtered from Killian, his head shaking. “I have to give it to her. She was even ten steps ahead of Istvan.”
The woman had been sleeping with the enemy for years, building up her plan to take over.
Sonya was old school. No instant gratification.
She played the long game, setting up all her pieces to ensure victory.
She was the next Aneira. Cruel, clever, shrewd—maybe even smarter because she had learned from the past queen’s mistakes.
More than Istvan, Sonya had been the biggest threat, but no one saw it coming because of how subtly she wiggled in and took over. Her beauty, charm, and pretty words had the fae completely enamored with her as their leader.
She wouldn’t stop there.
“They’re all dead?” Killian straightened, his hand running over his forehead as if he had a headache.
“Yes.” I nodded, glancing at Ash, Kek, and Lukas, the enemies’ blood still covering us. “We made sure.”
“Most fun I’ve had in a while.” Kek tugged on her blue braid with a mischievous smile.
“What?” Ash’s arms went out in a feigned hurt.
“Guess you’ll have to step up your game tonight, fairy.” A coy smile tipped up her mouth, her one shoulder lifting. “You too.” She winked at Lukas.
Lukas’s face went red, his gaze going to the floor, but I could see a small tug at his lips, his eyes shooting to Ash, then back to the ground. He was a shy one compared to Kek and Ash.
Killian’s lids closed briefly. He seemed ready to snap in a million pieces. The moment he opened his eyes, he was back.
Noble.
In charge.
“We’ll talk more about this tomorrow and start planning for our next mission.” He nodded at the container Scorpion had put on the table. Two body cameras and a handful of high-tech earpieces. “Get some rest.” He dismissed us.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. My body ached with unshed energy.
Anger.
Violence.
I needed a shower. I needed a drink. I needed to punch the shit out of something. But most of all, I needed her.
My muscles clenched as frustration and ire made me want to obliterate everything around me. To kill. To feel death in my hands.
Or fuck the entire whore house until my body gave out.
But I didn’t do either . . .
Fuck you, Kovacs. A snarl flicked at my lip. I was nothing more than a housebroken lap dog.
“Warwick?” Scorpion called after me. My boots thumped up the steps and headed for the front door. I needed to get the fuck out of here. “Hey, asshole!”
With a growl, I stopped, turning back to another person I wanted to kill, but because of Brexley, I couldn’t, which fueled my fury. She was part of him, shared something with him like a fucking annoying twin brother.
“What?” I snarled.
Scorpion ignored my response, his eyes darting around, then motioned for me to follow him.
“If you don’t talk soon, I will snap your neck.” I huffed, begrudgingly following him to a small room off the side.
“Then shut the fuck up,” Scorpion volleyed. “Believe me, you are the last person I want to spend extra time with, but this is about Brexley.”
My entire body tensed, my shoulders rising, but he had my undivided attention.
“I didn’t want to say anything to Killian until I told you.” Scorpion kept his voice low. “When Hanna and I met my contact the other night . . .” He swallowed, hedging how to say the next part.
“Spit it out.”
“He knew about Brexley.”
“What?” I stepped back, a slight panic huffing into my lungs. “What do you mean he knew about her? How?”
“That’s the least of our worries.” For the first time since I’d known this guy, he looked nervous. This only tripled the adrenaline in my system. I could feel the air pumping heavier in and out of my lungs.
“The king and queen of the Unified Nations have somehow found out about her—and the nectar. Worse, they’ve classified Brexley as a threat.”
Sucking in sharply, my entire body rose higher. Fear and panic slammed into me, almost blurring my vision.
“Their bounty hunters are coming for her.”
In a breath, I had Scorpion against the wall, my fingers digging into his throat.
“You waited until now to tell me.” Every syllable shot out like a dagger, my anger expanding my frame.
“Get the fuck off me.” Scorpion struggled against my grip. I locked my hand firmer around his throat. Fury bloomed behind his eyes, but he stopped fighting for a moment. “You weren’t exactly around to tell, fucker.”
Any time I wasn’t on a mission here, I was out searching, going through any town she could have passed through. He was right; I took off for days at a time. I would hunt her down. Find her. Even if she clearly didn’t want to be.
I released him with a snarl, stepping back.
“Still nothing for you either?” Scorpion muttered a few moments later.
A wave of emotion burned up my esophagus, and I turned my head to the side, slightly shaking it.
“Think it’s on purpose, or her powers are still depleted?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered with a shrug, hating that this conversation was even happening.
“We have to find her soon, especially if the Unified Nations have sent their bounty hunters after her.”
“You don’t think I fucking know that?” I barked, my boots squeaking over the floor as I paced. If the rumors were to be believed, the pair who worked for the royals never failed to get their mark. Ever.
This time I would be standing in their way.
“Look, I know you want to find her, to tear apart this world, kill every person, including me. I get that. I want to find her too. You aren’t the only one who feels .
. .” Scorpion tapered off, a nerve flexing in his cheek.
“But what the fuck are we supposed to do? She could be anywhere by now. Anything could have happened to her. She could be—”
The look I shot him slammed his mouth shut.
“No.” I shook my head vehemently. “She’s fine.
” Before, when the link went dead, there was still a sense the person was alive.
A vibration within the bond. This time I couldn’t feel anything, like she had died and taken everything with her.
But I knew she was alive. A sixth sense in my gut connected me to her beyond the link.
Though we knew all too well, alive was far from all right.
Knowing that made me want to lose my fucking mind.
I had lived centuries; my time with Kovacs was a blink in the scheme of things, but I couldn’t handle not being connected to her for a moment.
To not know where she was. To not hear her voice, see her smile, feel her skin, taste her, capture her moans. Everything felt off.
Wrong.
I saw no color.
“Anyway, thought you should know.” Scorpion huffed, strutting past me, leaving me spinning in more rage. I was a bomb ready to go off at any moment. And this country was a powder keg—on the precipice, about to take down the entire Eastern bloc with it.