Queen Alpha (NYC Mecca #2)(32)
Seamus crossed in front of me, and I wondered what he was doing as he disappeared behind a bookshelf. He was back in moments, dragging this huge white board across the room so we could all see it. I focused on the writing, recognizing my friend’s messy scrawl. The words Operation Nuke Fae were up the top, underlined five times. I shook my head at Violet; this was typical of her, completely not-politically-correct. Beneath the title were dozens of bullet point notes. I started from the top:
Tuatha de Danann are thought to be immortal. They do not age and die, but can be killed by magic and by weapon. Never underestimate them, they’re very difficult to kill.
Weaknesses – they can burn out on mecca if they are forced to absorb too much of it or if they have too little of it at their disposal. Their magical objects of power are tied to all of their lives, and having one in your possession can control the mecca power of the court it originated from.
They cannot lie, but do a very good job of telling half-truths.
They struggle to produce young. Their long lives have slowly lessened the amount of Tuatha young that are born.
Their magical essence can be trapped during a special binding process, weakening them considerably. Iron can hurt them, as well as some manmade plastics and metals.
The five boroughs when divided are weaker. They must be joined to be at full power.
This point gave me a moment’s pause. What did that mean? Could Kade and my friendship, the first royal alliance in hundreds of years, actually be a thing that helped us in this battle? Did we just have to figure out a way to join our powers? How did we do that? Shaking my head, I read a few more points.
The mecca is a blanket of energy which zaps constantly between the many mecca stones, on both sides of the veil. It flows between the two sides, keeping balance.
The mecca can easily move between both sides. All of the stones are joined.
Holy crap. I stopped reading at this point; this was information which could be vital in our battle against the fae. Kade, reading over my shoulder, his heat wrapping around the back of me, moved closer as he said: “So if all of the stones are joined, it stands to reason we should be able to move the energy between them.” He had reached the same conclusion as me.
Violet jumped in then. “Yes, so now that you know you can tap into the mecca energy, see and feel it through the stones, we just need to figure out how to move it around. Visualize where it needs to go and restore the balance.”
“When I touch it, I feel this massive consciousness,” I said slowly. “Almost like there are thousands of different facets to the stone’s energy, but maybe it’s the other stones I’m feeling. How did the energy move here in the first place though? What did the Red Queen do to make that happen?”
Had she used the mecca stone to start this pull of energy? It was too big a coincidence that the mecca energy changed the night she died. We already knew she’d done something to it. Now it was about figuring out what.
Jesabele was still holding her book, clutching it tightly to her chest. “It’s almost as if the Red Queen had some sort of trigger in place. Upon her death the mecca would shift toward the Earth side. It has to be a spell, but so far we haven’t found anything with that sort of power.”
I let deep breaths calm me. Not only was the queen’s death upsetting, the mess left behind for me to clean up was getting harder and harder to crawl through.
“Keep researching, I’m going to go and speak with someone who might be able to help.”
I’d been thinking since the night I found myself in the brownstone across the city, that there was another reason Calista had sent me to the secret house with the special key. Like she wanted me to know there was someone with vast knowledge who I should be utilizing. Sir Baladar. After all of these years, he had to know some information which might help us.
Chapter Eight
All that glitters is a gold mine of information.
Calista and my dominants would not let me go to Baladar’s on my own, so I promised them they could accompany me there, but that Kade and I would go inside to speak with him alone. We were the king and queen of the Earth side mecca, the only ones who could really fix this issue, and I wanted privacy if we were to speak of such sensitive things.
As Kade and I stepped out of the car and approached the door, I realized my palms were slightly damp. Nerves were getting to me. Glancing back, my guards spread out around the blacked-out SUV, arms crossed. They had their hands aloft, ready to grab weapons if needed.
Calista was inside the vehicle with Violet. My advisor was no doubt nervous about being back here, close to the shifter who called her the love of his life.
Reaching the door, I pulled out the special key before pausing and looking at Kade. “So this guy is … different … and his place is very magical. And possibly dangerous.” I didn’t know how to prepare Kade for the onslaught of loud music, glowing flowers, and dancing shifter socialites. Not to mention the random fae who seemed to show up there.
Kade gave me a sideways grin. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
With a shake of my head, I worked hard to not roll my eyes at him. This damn bear certainly knew how to push all of my buttons. I stepped forward and slipped the key into the lock. The second it clicked, an eerie calm swept over us. I could no longer hear the street noise, or any noise really. Just the sound of my own breathing.