Flamebound A Lone Star Witch No(57)
“Right now we have a bigger problem than what happened to me. We both know that the Council, even now, is scrambling to figure out what happened to Alride so that they can annihilate the threat.”
“That’s all I’m trying to do, too, you know. Annihilate the threat to you.”
“Yes, but you don’t have the full backing of Hekan law behind you. They do,” I tell him with a roll of my eyes. “But that’s a different story. It won’t take them long to start running through the list of people who would want a Councilor dead. And once they do that, it will take even less time for them to land on your name. Or mine.”
“Don’t kid yourself. They’ve already landed on our names. I’m expecting to receive notice of a command performance any hour now.”
Just the thought makes my stomach hurt. “What are we going to do?”
“Not much, besides go see them.”
I stare at him incredulously. “Are you kidding me? Tell me you don’t honestly want to walk straight into the belly of the beast—knowing its claws and teeth are aimed straight at you.”
“I already told you what I wanted to do,” he answers with a sardonic lift of his brow. “And you didn’t seem any more impressed with that plan than this one.”
He’s right. I know he is, know I’m being impossible, but I don’t know what to do. I’m a princess of Ipswitch, have been surrounded by the dark power struggle that accompanies politics all of my life. If my powers weren’t forcing my involvement, none of this would be all that new. No, Councilors haven’t been murdered in my lifetime—all part of the power and stability my mother brings to the throne—but it isn’t the first time in history this has happened. And it probably won’t be the last.
But that doesn’t mean I want Declan, my family or myself to be caught up in it in any way. Because when things like this go bad, they go really bad, really fast.
“We need to stop this,” I tell him.
“Kind of hard to stop it now. Alride’s already dead.”
“Yes, but there’s no guarantee another Councilor won’t follow. We need to figure this out before someone else dies.”
There’s an urgency to my tone that I know Declan hears, but for the first time in forever, he doesn’t respond. Instead, he just leans his back against the wall and watches me, his arms crossed over his chest. Though he doesn’t say anything, I know him well enough—even after only a few weeks—to recognize a hell no gesture when I see it.
“We can’t just let them all die.”
“No one’s saying anyone else is going to die. This could be a one-off thing with Alride.”
“You don’t really believe that.”
“No.”
“Then we need to do something.”
He lifts a brow. “Why? Seems to me whoever’s doing this is taking care of a problem. I’m more than okay with that.”
“Taking care of a—they’re killing people, Declan.”
“People who need to die. I already told you I have no compunction whatsoever about that. I’m not a hypocrite, Xandra.”
“I never said you were. But we’re talking about people’s lives here—”
“The same people who had no problem fucking around with your life. The same people who actually hired someone to kill you. I’m not going to forget either of those things just because you want me to.”
He bends down, starts yanking on his boots while I search desperately for something to say that might change his mind. Even as I do, I have a feeling I’m too late. In his head, Declan condemned these people to death—even the innocent ones—the moment he realized they were responsible for what Kyle did to me. The fact that someone else is killing them might bug him—knowing, as I do, that he wants to do it himself—but at the same time, it must be kind of nice. He gets the outcome he wants without having to face me after doing something unforgivable.
“But what happens to the Council?” I finally ask. “If all the Councilors are dead, what happens to the whole Hekan community?”
“Same thing that always happens. They’ll be replaced by more corrupt witches and wizards and the whole thing will start all over again.”
“Exactly.”
“So, what’s your point?”
“The point is, killing them isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Yeah, but their gruesome deaths will stand as a warning not to mess with you.”
“Who else is going to mess with me? It’s not like my birthright doesn’t offer me some protection.”