Chapter 32 #2
But this woman was.
Hanna let out a loud yowl before her body slumped into the bed, the drug working through her system, easing Scorpion’s hold on her. That’s when she started convulsing, her skin slick with sweat.
Another healer came around, an older fae woman. “She needs to be detoxed, get the toxins out of her system.” She faced my mom. “Rebeka, get me an IV drip.”
Mom acted instantly, retrieving a bag filled with liquid and rolling it over to the healer, knowing what to do as they inserted the needle into Hanna’s arm.
“Will that work?” Scorpion asked.
“It has magic-laced salts and electrolytes. It will help cleanse her system quickly,” the healer replied, her mouth pinching. “But I don’t think that is what you are really asking.”
Scorpion and I both gazed down at Hanna with the same worry. She might get “clean,” but would she ever be “okay?” Would the pills kill her anyway?
Staring at my longtime friend and what she had become, I felt the weight of my father’s actions.
The guilt she had lost her parents and herself because of my family.
Another victim in my father’s pursuit of power.
We were both turned against our will and became something else because of my father’s greed.
My intuition suddenly flicked on like a blender, jolting magic through my bones. An overwhelming sense of Warwick. Of his alarm. Apprehension.
Danger.
It was instinctual. I whirled around for the door. “Scorpion!” I called to him, knowing he’d follow without question. With fighters like us, you reacted first and asked questions later. “Mom . . .” I paused in the doorway, glancing back. “Watch her.” I flicked my chin to Birdie.
She nodded her head in agreement before I took off, Scorpion on my heels.
The pounding of our feet echoed off the wood stairs. As I reached the ground floor, I spotted Ash and Kek beelining out the front door in pursuit of the others. Scorpion and I raced right behind, my hand on my gun, ready for what was to come.
Shouts and commotion directed Scorpion and me toward the gates, falling in line behind Warwick, Brexley, Killian, and Mykel.
My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, a torch beaming on the pair on the other side of the gate, causing a gasp to stick in my lungs.
A small petite woman with torn bunny slippers held up an old man, his face half burnt.
“Oh gods!” Brexley cried out, pushing past the guards, tugging at the locked gates. “Let them in!”
Killian motioned for them to do what she said. The metal squealed, the two people on the other side barely making it across before they fell to the ground.
Esmeralda held Olek in her arms, both weak and exhausted.
“Brexley, my girl.” Though it was Esmeralda’s voice and body, I knew it was Tad speaking. “I can’t hold on to her much longer. She’s so weak.” He reached for Brex as she dropped to her knees in front of them.
“What happened?” Brexley touched where Esmeralda’s hair had been singed, her concern dropping to Olek.
“They found us.” Tad struggled to speak, his words almost lost between Killian’s orders for gurneys and healers.
“Who found you?”
Esmeralda’s dark eyes went up to me, indicating something I felt clenching in my gut.
“And tell Brexley I know where the nectar is. It was easy when you follow the ones who follow it.”
“Istvan.” I muttered my father’s name like a stranger, needing to distance myself from him. He no longer deserved the honor of being called father.
“Istvan found the hideout?” Panic pitched Brexley’s tone.
“He had it burned down . . .” Tad nodded, peering down at Olek. “We barely got out.”
“How did you know to come here?” Mykel’s attention drifted around as if he was expecting an army to be coming up behind in attack.
“The book,” Tad spoke more to Brexley than Mykel. “It showed me where you were.”
Ember’s attention went to Esmeralda and Olek, seeing they were carrying nothing. “Where is the book? Did it burn up? Where is the nectar?”
“The book . . . will always find its way,” Tad replied, glancing over at Ash. “If I had a guess, I would say it might be tucked away in someone’s bag here already.”
“The nectar?” Brexley tensed up; terror expressed in every syllable. “Where is it? Did Istvan get it?”
Tad slowly reached inside Esmeralda’s nightgown pocket, pulling out an object wrapped in a hand towel.
“No, my dear. I promised you I would keep it safe.”
Brexley let out a sigh, relief washing over her face, her hand automatically reaching for it.
She stopped. Her fingers dangled over the item.
“Thank you.” She struggled, breathing through her nose. I could tell she was trying to fight the need to touch it. Take it as hers. To hold the power.
“Is that it?” Mykel leaned over, his eyes bright. “I never thought I would cross paths with it again. To be this close. To feel its power again.” A flicker of something I recognized all too well went over his features. I had seen the look on my father’s face so many times.
Greed.
Desire.
“What that small thing is capable of . . .” Mykel’s hands rolled into fists, his chest heaving, his gaze intense on the wrapped object.
I could feel it too. With that much magic, no fae or human couldn’t.
It prickled at your skin, whispered in your ear, gave you ideas of what you could do.
What could be accomplished. Even if your intentions were good, power had a way of corrupting even the most virtuous of minds.
It seemed to sing louder to those who craved authority.
The healers rushed up to us, moving Mykel back, surrounding Esmeralda and Olek and lifting them on gurneys.
“Are you sure no one followed you?” Killian asked while the healers picked up the stretcher, heading them back to the clinic.
“I made sure. I was cloaked.” Tad was fighting to keep hold of Esmeralda. “I don’t know how they found us. How they knew the nectar was there.” Guilt and confusion glistened in her eyes.
Killian clasped Esmeralda’s hand, speaking to Tad. “Don’t worry about it. You kept it protected and got safely here. Now just relax, my dear friend. We’ve got it from here.”
“Here, my lord.” Tad held up the nectar.
“No.” Killian jerked back, his head shaking, staring at it like it was a snake. “I don’t trust myself. I don’t want it.”
“That is why the burden falls on you.” Tad slurred with exhaustion, placing the nectar in Killian’s hands. “How much you have changed, my lord. You are worthy of it now.”
Killian’s throat bobbed, his expression almost torn with pain.
“You have the strength to fight it. Protect it with your life.” Esmeralda’s lids closed, her body going limp as Tad let go of her, allowing her to fully rest.
I stood in place while everyone headed back indoors, my father’s sentiment echoing in my head.
“I know where the nectar is. It was easy when you follow the ones who follow it.”
Was he talking about us? Who else could follow it?
My gaze went out to the dark forest, thick fog threading through the trees as a howl of wind raced over my skin, spreading goosebumps over me.
Except it wasn’t the icy air that chilled me to the bone, it was the sensation of being watched.
Like death was waiting in the shadows.