Peri’s eyes widened, and she turned to look at Andora, the sprite queen who was standing on the left side of the platform with four other sprites. They had not joined the group, which wasn’t surprising to Peri. They were used to being observers, even though they’d joined in the Arizona battle. It was probably going to take a minute for them to remember that they were now participants. Andora’s blank face gave no indication of whether the seer sprites had witnessed anything. Peri hadn’t really expected the queen to offer any insight. The sprites weren’t supposed to interfere with the future, and they had already. Peri knew there would be repercussions for that, or maybe there already had been. Perhaps Vasile and Alina were the prices for the information Andora had given Vasile when the Keep came under attack.
“How powerful is this djinn?” Fane asked.
“For our people, she is quite young, which would usually mean less powerful,” Thadrick said. “But, she absorbed the power of the elder whom she killed. That will give hermuchmore power than she would normally have. Not only that, but the elder she stole power from possessed an extraordinary ability, one that could prove catastrophic to supernaturals as a whole. ”
“When you say catastrophic, are we talking about a ‘wiping out whole cities’ type of catastrophic?” Jen spoke up from across the platform. Peri should have known the hellion wouldn’t be able to hold her tongue for long.
“The mere loss of a city would be trivial compared to this,” said Thad. Jen’s eyebrows rose. “We’re talking about the ability to interfere with the recorded history kept by the djinn,” Thad said. “Since I saw her join with the Order, things have been… How should I put it? Disorganized and jumbled. Instead of the history coming to me in a straight line as usual, it is as if the images and words are being thrown into the air and then hit by a tornado.”
“And you think she’s using an ability she stole from the elder who was killed?” Jen asked. “And my condolences,” she added. Peri could tell despite her ire, she was trying to sound sincere.
“Some of our elders have unique abilities. I won’t go into detail about the powers each one of us possess. That wouldn’t be my place. But for example, one of us might be able to see a person's past and intentions, another could possibly change any healing that has taken place in a person’s body to digress to the original wounded or sick state,” Thadrick explained. “Since she is gone, I can tell you Lyra’s power was the ability to jumble a person’s mind. She could make their past seem like the present and the future seem like their past.”
“All abilities that have to do with history or memory,” Jacque noted.
Thad nodded. “It’s sort of our thing,” he said with a humorless chuckle. “Apparently, Myanin inherited the power when she absorbed Lyra’s magic.”
“So, we had the potential to at least know what they were planning after they made the decision because that would have been recorded in your history brain bank,” Jen said, “but now we’re back to basically being reallocated to human status when it comes to knowing what to expect.”
Peri saw Jen’s eyes immediately snap to the sprites. Yep, the hellion was thinking along the same lines as her. The sprite could see what was coming andcouldwarn them. But again, at what cost? Peri couldn’t say with complete certainty that the warning would be worth the price. She’d bargained with the Fates before, and the cost had been a life for a life.
“With that said,” Thad continued, “before she met up with the Order and began messing with the flow, I managed to see some more history that I had been given. Your battle against the Order in Arizona was supposed to be a surprise attack, right?”
There were suddenly growls filling the air, one of which was Peri’s mate’s, and next to him, even louder, was Fane’s.
“That’s correct.” Peri nodded.
“But that is not what happened. The Order had been warned, minutes before your arrival, and used their loyal fae to get to the battlefield.”
“You know who warned them,” Fane’s wolf growled.
“I do,” Thadrick said. “And it is a serious accusation to accuse a royal of any race of defection. But the history we retain, and by that I mean what has already been stored before Myanin’s meddling, is not capable of being distorted. It is complete, unaltered truth. Your betrayer is King Ainsel of the pixies.”
Peri’s gaze pierced the crowd, and she saw that everyone else was looking around as well. They were looking for the pixies. They weren’t there. How had she missed their absence? But then, there was one, flying down from one of the arches in the great ceiling.Adira, Peri thought fondly. The pixie who’d been so loyal to help the five new healers. Of course, she would be present even if her king was not.
Peri used her power to manifest a stool for the pixie to land on so she didn’t have to hover or stand on the floor at everyone’s feet. Adira nodded her thanks and landed on the makeshift platform.
“This is Adira,” Peri announced. “As you can see, she is a pixie.”
“It is good to see you again,” Thadrick said to Adira.
The pixie smirked at him. “As good as a thorn in your foot, I’m sure.”
Thad chuckled good-naturedly. The two hadn’t been fast friends. But in their defense, neither of them was exactly BFF material.
“Thank you for coming, Adira,” Peri said. “I know you’ve no love lost for your king. Is there anything you can tell us?”
“His idiot brother aligned himself with the Order.” Adira crossed her arms in front of her and tucked her wings tightly to her back. “From what I’ve heard through the pixie vine, Ainsel negotiated his brother being released from whatever deal he’d made with Ludcarab if the pixie king gave them valuable information on their enemy, meaning you guys,” she said, pointing at their group.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Ludcarab didn’t keep his end of the bargain,” Peri said dryly.
“Your limb will hold fast,” Adira acknowledged. “Ainsel knows that there is no negotiating with evil.”
“As much as that sucks, at least the mystery is solved,” Peri said.
“Glad somebody said it,” Jen said.
“Peri,” Adira said, grabbing her attention back, “there are some pixies loyal to you. You know that. And this betrayal will only bolster their loyalty. They will be at the Blood Moon ceremony and in any battles that follow.”
