Blood Lands (Savage Lands #5)(70)

“Blew it up?” Tad pipped up. “What do you mean?”

I hesitated.

Warwick curved his brow at me. “You gonna tell him, Kovacs?”

“I got very upset, and I don’t know—sometimes power comes out of me. It destroyed the entire lab.” And killed dozens of men who were in the tanks.

“Was that the first time?” Tad eyed me cautiously.

“No.” I stared down at the borrowed boots on my feet, which were two sizes too big. “I also slaughtered dozens of wild animals with my magic when we were put in the pit to fight them.”

Tad’s eyebrows went up.

“It’s why we need to get them out of Věrhăza now.” I shifted the topic back, not wanting to get into the details. “And since you spelled it. I need your help to undo the spell.”

Tad studied me for a long time, the crackle of the fire snapping in the background, along with the hums of Simon’s soft snoring.

“You think it would be so easy?” Tad tried to adjust his back.

“No.” My arms went out. “But we have to try. I won’t let them die in there like that. Can you do it? Can you unspell the prison?”

Tad sighed, his mouth pinching together.

“I can only do it from the inside. I would have to be taken as prisoner and get in to do it.”

“What?” Eliza sat fully up. “No.”

“There is no way I can unspell some of those enchantments without being right there. I purposely made them that way, so no one could even bend or twist them.”

“That would have been good information to know earlier,” I muttered to myself, thinking how cocky I was, imagining I could pull down Tad’s enchantments.

“There is no way you are going in.” Eliza stood up, her hands on her hips. “Absolutely not!”

“El...” Zander reached for her, his hand touching her back, his figure moving close behind hers.

“He can barely get out of bed. I will not let him go back in there, especially under Istvan. He will kill him!”

“Hey, hey.” Zander’s voice was low and soothing. “It’s okay.”

She turned to him, taking a deep breath, not noticing Warwick was catching every single nuance of their interaction. His gaze burned into them, a nerve in his cheek twitching, his jaw locking. He was about a second away from lurching up and tearing Zander’s hand off his sister.

“Look.” I tried to distract him. “I wish we could keep Tad far from there too, but thousands of lives are counting on us. Do you want Ash or Killian to die in there? Kitty? Sloane? Almost the entire Sarkis army?” I flinched at the last part, fighting to keep back the haunting memory at bay.

Sarkis was leaderless now.

“Of course not.” Eliza folded her arms.

“Brexley?” Zander ambled closer to me, concern etching his face. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“Andr—” I cleared my throat. “Andris.” My nostrils burned with tears. “He and Ling are both dead.”

“What?” Zander jerked back as if he had been shoved. “Andris is dead?”

All I could do was bow my head.

“Istvan killed him?”

“Yes,” Warwick growled.

“No,” I replied at the same time.

“Istvan is the reason Andris is dead,” Warwick stated, his gaze drilling into me. “Ling, Zuz, and Maddox too.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I am.”

“No, you aren’t. Do not put that on yourself,” Warwick’s shade hissed next to me, but my focus stayed locked on the man. I wouldn’t hide from the truth.

“Istvan pitted Andris and me together in the Games.”

“Oh, gods,” Zander uttered. He knew what that meant better than anyone. Only one walked out.

Sorrow started to worm back up, wrapping around my esophagus.

“The blame is on Istvan,” Warwick spoke. “He had Andris thrown into a firepit, burning him alive.” Eliza gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. “She was only putting him out of his misery.”

“Brex...” Eliza twisted to me. “I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to discuss it.

“I will do everything I can to get the rest of his people out. Everyone in that hell.” I lifted my chin, clamping tightly down on my emotions.

“We can’t do it alone.” Tad slumped deeper into the chair, appearing exhausted. “The prison is too much for just us to take on. And it will take me some time to break all the spells. What we need is a distraction.”

“Now that I can do,” Warwick smirked, his hand absently running over his nephew’s head, the boy sleeping soundly through all this.

“We need more than bombs. They are a good diversion, but not enough. Bombs won’t hurt the prison since they made sure to build it deep.” I tracked back and forth over the rug. “What we need is an attack on the prison. For all the HDF to be so focused outside the walls, then they won’t realize the prisoners are breaking out from within.”

“And where do you plan to get these people to attack?” Warwick lifted his arms. “We’re not swimming in numbers here, Kovacs.”

“But my uncle is.” I faced the group, the fire flaming behind me. “The leader of Povstat should probably be aware of what his prime minister and fae mistress are doing.” The plan formed in my head. “He has a lot to lose too. His people are also in the prison. If Istvan wins, the entire Eastern Bloc goes down. Prague has just as much stake in this as we do.”