“I’d feel better if we had a plan—”
“Which is what we need to devise,” Merc said as he entered the kitchen. Liam followed him in, and I couldn’t quite get past how strange it was to see the fey king’s former minion so close to a being who would have, only days ago, torn him limb from limb if we hadn’t needed him. How quickly enemies had become allies in this war with the fey.
If Liam wasn’t enough of a testament to that, our alliance with Kingston, my once arch-enemy, surely was. Thankfully, he was with Reinhardt and absent from our impromptu strategy meeting. Neither one would have been especially welcome. It was a toss-up as to who was more despised at the moment.
Before I could let my mind wander down that path, Merc’s words dragged me from thoughts of the two warlocks and back to the matter at hand. “Since it is apparent that none of us can focus on anything else, we should discuss the fey royals.”
“They made it pretty clear that they’d be coming for us soon,” I said, cringing at the thought.
Merc walked over to my side and let his gaze linger on my face before turning to Knox.
“I do not believe they will attack us here—yet. Their power is strongest in Faerie. Larken is too smart to abandon that advantage.”
“Unless she knows something we don’t,” Knox countered.
“Which is pretty fucking likely,” Brunton added, “especially if the fey king is adding fuel to her fire.”
“Brunton’s right,” Foust said, his voice tighter than I’d ever heard it before. The laid-back wolf was nervous, which didn’t bode well. “Phineas is a master of tricks, and if his power has been restored by his reunion with his wife, I can’t even imagine the shit he could come up with to use against us.”
The group was silent for a moment, undoubtedly remembering the golems the fey king had sent to collect witches to power his land as its magic had waned; magic that had likely returned, as Foust suggested.
And that would not be good for us.
“But if she won’t risk coming here, then what’s the problem?” I asked. “She can’t force us into Faerie.” Everyone in the room cocked their heads and stared at me. “Oh yeah, right. I guess she kind of can,” I muttered under my breath, “but only if she can leverage us somehow. So as long as none of us gets taken, that won’t work…right?”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Knox said soberly, though the look in his sympathetic eyes said he wished that weren’t true.
“So then what’s the plan?” Kat asked as she perched on the countertop. “Because this all feels oddly familiar, and I really hate déjà vu. I think our best course of action is to do what the fey will least expect.”
“Which would be to attack them outright, and soon,” Brunton said, pinning her in place with his razor-sharp stare, “and that would be fucking suicide.”
Kat shrugged. “What can I say? I like playing with fire.”
His eyes narrowed. “Until you get burned.”
She hopped down and strode over to the surly werewolf who—I’d become convinced—understood my best friend in a way that not even I did.
“Burns heal.”
“Death doesn’t,” he countered.
Her shoulders went stiff as she winced at his harsh truth, then relaxed. “You know why they call me Kat?” she asked rhetorically. “Because I have nine lives. And I have plenty left to use on the fey royals bent on killing my best friend. I’ll use them if I damn well please, and I sure as fuck don’t need your permission to do it.”
“Nobody will be running into anything half-cocked,” Merc said, breaking up the brewing fight. “We will need everyone thinking clearly and very much alive.” He slid Kat a pointed look before continuing. “That said, Kat is not wrong. We need to do something the fey do not expect, and going to Faerie would be just that. But without a way to arrive unnoticed, it is not possible.” The vampire king turned his gaze to the alpha at my side. “Unless you know of such a way.”
Knox shook his head. “No such thing exists, as far as I know. Liam? You got anything helpful to add here?”
The blond wolf took a step forward when called, hands clasped behind his back. “The king has many portals and hidden passes, but none that can be traversed without his knowledge.”
Kat’s eyes sparkled with victory. “Looks like we might be going in half-cocked after all, your highness—”
“We will not,” Merc replied. The note of finality in his tone was thick, and even Kat knew not to push him further.
“So, what? We’re just in a stand-off with them indefinitely?” Dean asked.
Merc shook his head. “We need information about their plan.”
“And how are you going to manage that?” Knox asked. The suspicion in his eyes was duly noted, as was the shift in Merc’s to where Liam stood.
“We send in a spy.”
Knox stepped between the two. “I think you’ve forgotten the fact that the fey king already knows Liam is compromised.”
“I have not.”
“Um, Merc,” I said, edging in front of him, “I think I speak for all of us when I say that this sounds a bit like you’re sending Liam to his death, which might have been a widely accepted plan a few days ago, but now will likely start a tiny war within our ranks, and I don’t think we need that at the moment.”
“Piper—”
“I will do it,” Liam said, cutting off the vampire king before he could plead his case. “I will return to Faerie.”
“And deliver them the leverage they need to force our hand?” Knox argued. “I don’t think so.”
“I am not leverage,” the golden-haired wolf replied. “I would not expect to be rescued if captured, and I would make that point plain to them. If possible, I would end my life so that they could not achieve their goal through me.” His sad eyes turned my way. “I have caused you and your friends enough pain already, Piper. Let me do this.”
“Liam—”
“Let him go,” Merc said.
“The fuck I will,” Knox spat. “He’s not one of yours.”
“And I am not one of yours,” Liam said softly. Regretfully. “Not anymore. My decision is made. I will leave whenever the vampire king thinks it best.”
“This is a bad idea, Merc. There’s no way Liam will be able to learn anything and return without dying in the process. My mother will make sure of that.”
“It is this or wait for them to make a move, and when they do, I can assure you it will be because they know they will win. Larken is many things, but careless is not one. She will ensure her victory before she embarks upon the battle. She knows the strength of your power now. She will not underestimate you again—especially now that she knows exactly who you are.”
“And in the meantime?” Knox asked, still fuming about Liam.
“In the meantime, we organize our allies and prepare them for either eventuality: that the fey royals will arrive here, ready for war; or that the war will be taken to them, and we will need every supernatural being of power at our sides to win.”