Rise of the Seven (The Frey Saga, #3)(30)
Rider leaned forward. “Why would they admit their own involvement? Why not just fight with full force if that was what they wanted?”
“For that matter, why would they help you by handing you the enemy?” Ruby asked.
I noticed Chevelle tense the slightest bit beside me. Both questions could be answered by Veil’s interest in me.
“I don’t understand,” Rhys said, “why they would risk it at all.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “They’ve been doing it for ages, never mind that half of them are killed. They don’t consider it risk, just a good night out.”
“There’s something else,” Grey said evenly. We all took notice of his tone. “They didn’t offer a trade.” It was obvious what he meant. They had wanted Ruby.
The room was silent for a long moment before Anvil finally spoke up. “It means nothing. Veil would not soil his hands so publicly in such an arrangement. By coming, by his presentation, he has already placed himself on unstable ground.”
“About that,” I interjected, “this was the largest force I’ve seen for a very long time. There were no fire fairies.”
Anvil nodded. “Hard to say at this point, but I am hoping they support your choice.” He paused, considering. “That’s not to say they would not welcome her return, unwilling as it were.”
Steed graciously changed the subject. “As for the pendant, is the blood meant for death, or lineage?”
“That, as well as the bone, can be interpreted in many ways,” Anvil answered. “The fey are not easy to read. And they like it so.”
Rhys was outwardly disgusted and annoyed with his first fey experience. “Then this token is worthless.”
I shook my head. “No. Even if we don’t understand their motives, even if we never decipher their clues, it tells us one thing for certain. The two attacks were connected and the fey know how.”
“If this is a threat,” Steed shifted uncomfortably, “then no response is an act of battle in itself.”
Ruby nodded. “And Veil’s going to work up a good lather over your refusal.”
“And then they’ll be back.” Steed added. “In force.”
“No.” Chevelle’s voice was cutting. I wasn’t positive he’d meant to speak at all.
I sighed, needing to explain to the others but not wanting to voice the problem. But I had to. The fey loved a good war and if they could manage it, they’d be back soon enough. The group we’d dealt with had been nothing, merely along for the ride, toying with us over Ruby. A true raid would have left us more damage than a few scrapes and bruises.
“Some fey have the ability to manipulate the magic of others. A strike against them can be turned, distorted...” I shook my head. “Let’s just say it’s ugly. The problem now is, with my magic in such a volatile state, I would be risking not only myself, but the release of these powers to the fey.”
“To Veil,” Chevelle said.
There was a long pause while everyone in the room imagined the flying amber god with the combined energy of his own, myself, and all that Asher had amassed.
Ruby had gone pale. I decided to throw her a bone. “Finn and Keaton may be able to assist with this. They have brought us Rhys and Rider for a reason, and I believe their connection plays a part. When the wolves return, we may have one less problem to worry about.”
Ruby immediately lost all concern for our crisis. “The legends are true? The wolves are the ancients?” She stared at me a moment before her scarlet curls whipped around to find Rhys and Rider, both of whom donned arcane smirks for her. I would have to remember to thank them for that later.
The meeting ended with nothing at all resolved. Anvil hadn’t been able to discover anything useful in his first attempts, but he intended to try again now that we had released our captive fairy back into the wild. Grey and Steed were planning a trip to Camber under the guise of guard duties to see if they could learn anything useful. Ruby had flatly refused their offer to go along, which I attributed to the sparks that were flying between her and Grey and to the possibility of her missing Finn and Keaton’s return.
I watched her follow Rhys and Rider from the room, but they were tight-lipped. They seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and I wondered what she’d done to them to merit the torment.
Chevelle and I were all that remained in the study. He stood staring at the pendant on the table.
I watched him. “You think Veil made the offer because he knows of my uncooperative powers.”
He let out a breath before raising his gaze. The emotion in it was crippling. “No. He has always wanted you.” His eyes fell to my lips and my throat went dry.
“You think we should trust him?” I rasped.
A sardonic smile answered my disbelief. “I think he wants you safe.” Chevelle’s templed hand slid across the table, moving closer. “For him.”
I purposefully directed my gaze to the pendant. “Then it’s a warning. But a warning against a fey campaign, or someone else?” The twisted strands of silver and ice caught the flicker of the torchlight, shimmering like the ornament of a fairy, not an elvin lord. “If it is someone else, we need to decipher it. And if it is the fey, then there is no way to stop them from coming for me.” I contemplated the devious, underhanded war tactics of the fey, thought through what would happen, and then remembered what Chevelle had said, thinking aloud. “And he wouldn’t let them have me, would he? If they come he can’t stop them. But he won’t... can’t allow them to have my power. He would take me.”