Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Shock grinds his jaw, arms crossed. Why is he brassed off? The tension is so thick, a machete might not even cut it.
“While we’re waiting, care to explain your disappearing act of late?” Bram continues. “Hard to plan an attack when our only spy goes AWOL.”
I stifle a gasp. An attack on Mathias? Sabelle said the evil wizard is weak now, so it would make sense. My heart races at the implications.
“You dragged me here at the crack of dawn to interrogate me?” Shock snarls behind his dark sunglasses. “I’m not your fucking puppet.”
Bram’s eyes narrow dangerously. “So you only answer to Mathias, then?”
“I have to make my loyalty look real, you git,” Shock spits. “Or are you too thick to understand that?”
“Thick, no. Suspicious, always. Your family’s reputation precedes you, Shock. When you vanish for days, I’d be a fool not to wonder if you’re really Mathias’s man.”
A double agent? My mind reels at the possibility. But I completely understand Bram’s skepticism. The tough, tatted-up bloke in leather hardly strikes me as Mr. Upstanding.
Suddenly, Shock’s head snaps in my direction. Even through his dark glasses, I feel his gaze boring into me. Heat floods my cheeks.
Busted.
“Speaking of untrustworthy, we’ve got an eavesdropper,” Shock drawls.
Bram rounds on me, his scowl thunderous. “This isn’t for your bloody online tabloid. These warriors’ lives are at stake if you leak information.”
I’ve already inadvertently caused harm. Shame washes over me. “I’m not after a story. I want to help. When Mr. O’Shea arrived last night, I realized that magickind knows nothing about Mathias’s return. They need to. I have experience. I interned at the BBC. I can—”
“This must be the ‘nothing’ Caden warned me about,” Bram cuts in. “Shock, go to my office so Zain doesn’t see you. We’ll finish our chat in a bit.”
Shock complies with a grumble, leaving me alone with a furious Bram.
“Honestly,” I tell him. “I’m not trying to—”
“Save your breath. The Council—”
Before Bram can finish his thought, the front door slams open.
Tynan O’Shea bursts in, rage emanating from every pore. “People are dying because of the bloody Council’s stubborn stupidity! The Pullmans would be alive if someone had warned them about Mathias. Stop being a coward and act like the future of the Council you’re meant to be.”
“Watch yourself. I started the Doomsday Brethren in secret,” Bram argues. “If the Council catches wind of it, they’ll oust me. Who do you think they’ll replace me with? Someone backward. Someone who thinks like them. We have to be smart about this.”
Magical politics? How fascinating. I can’t take it in fast enough. Being one of the few humans to know about this world within a world is amazing. So is being in a position to help, because despite what Bram says, magickind deserves the truth.
“What about the next family attacked?” I interject, stepping through the door. “If a transcast could save them—”
Bram gapes. “Who the bloody hell told you about that?”
That doesn’t matter. “I’ll do it. Just show me how it works. No one has to know you’re involved.”
Bram’s incredulous stare burns into me. “Do you understand the danger? Mathias and every Anarki scum will hunt you relentlessly. They’re banking on the Council being useless and paralyzed by their fear.”
“So why give them exactly what they need to flourish?” I counter.
“She has a point.” Hurstgrove’s calm voice cuts through the tension as he drags in a bedraggled figure, wearing a T-shirt that says: Do not disturb. I’m disturbed enough already.
My breath catches. Zain. The man who hurt Aquarius.
Clearly, his T-shirt is appropriate.
“We’ll discuss this later,” Bram snaps before turning to Zain. “You’re going to perform the helbresele spell.”
“If I expended the energy to hurt someone, why would I bother healing them?” Zain’s sneer is pure venom.
At his flippant tone, white-hot fury floods me.
“Because I said so,” Bram snarls. “And if you don’t…” He glances toward Tynan, a cruel smile playing on his lips. “Remember Auropha MacKinnett?”
Zain’s nonchalant nod makes my stomach turn. “Abducted her myself, straight from her virginal bed. The Privileged bitch gave Mathias enough power with her screams to last days. Can’t heal her now, though. Very dead. So sorry.”
“Fucking bastard!” Tynan lunges, his raw grief and rage promising a brutal end for Zain.
But some invisible magic of Bram’s holds the grieving man back.
“If you don’t cooperate, I’ll happily let Auropha’s mate-to-be avenge her however he pleases.” Bram’s voice is chillier than a deep freeze. “No one will mourn you, you sodding little shit."
“How does threatening murder make you any better than Mathias?” Zain challenges, but I see fear creeping into his eyes.
“I view your extermination as preventative maintenance,” Bram replies coolly. “At least fighting Tynan would be fair. Or do you only feel manly attacking defenseless women?”
Zain flushes an angry red. “Piss off.”
Tynan strains against the invisible restraint, murderous intent clear in every line of his body.