“The man I love will die. You understand that, right?”
“Yes.” He swallowed. “It’s very sad, and I wish it didn’t have to be this way. But I can’t, in all consciousness, allow Samael to live when he is the mages’ biggest threat.”
I stared at him. “You said you were thinking of leaving the Council. You said Albert was a bigot!”
“I was. And he is. But after what happened the night you were kidnapped, I was convinced to stay.”
Had someone drugged me when I wasn’t paying attention? I couldn’t understand this for the life of me. I glanced at Kyla, but her face was pale, her expression cold as she studied Keigan like she was wondering what his insides looked like.
“There is a sickness within the Council,” Keigan said. His lips firmed. “And when I learned about the events of that night, I realized I needed to remain part of it in order to drive that sickness out. If I help you with this, I will be excised from the Council, and I truly believe I can do some good in the Council, and ultimately the world, by staying.”
“The Council is rotten at its core,” I snapped. “You don’t try to cure rot, you cut it out.”
“I don’t expect you to understand. Don’t even expect you to ever forgive me. But I believe this is the right call.”
“You’re damn right I’ll never forgive you.” I raked my eyes over him coldly. “Enjoy being Albert’s lackey for the rest of your life.”
I turned to stalk out the door, and Kyla let out a snarl that raised the hair on the back of my neck.
Uh-oh.
I whirled, but she was already holding Keigan up against the wall.
“That life will be mighty short, mage. Because when Samael dies, so does Danica, which means I’ll come right back here and make you regret the day you were born.” I clamped my hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged me off, sending Keigan a vicious smile. “Maybe we’ll see if you have the werewolf gene. I think my Alpha would like that.”
I gaped at her. To Keigan’s credit, he didn’t piss his pants. But I watched as the blood drained from his face, and he looked over Kyla’s shoulder, his eyes meeting mine.
“You’ll die?”
I sighed. “It’s more than likely.”
He wriggled in Kyla’s hold, and I elbowed her. “Enough. Let him go.”
Keigan brushed the wrinkles out of his shirt and turned to me, ignoring Kyla as if she wasn’t there. Oh, she’d scared him alright. Obviously, he wasn’t keen to see if he had the werewolf gene. I tucked that threat away for future use.
“I’ll help you,” Keigan said wearily. “Text me the details.”
My mouth dropped open. “You will?”
“Yes.” He looked like he’d agreed to poison himself, and he turned to climb his stairs, pushing past Kyla. “You can see yourselves out.”
* * *
DANICA
With Keigan onboard—however reluctantly—and Vas figuring out the unseelie representative, I texted Mere the details, receiving a dancing girl emoji back.
There was nothing else to do except talk to Aubrey. I’d texted him earlier asking if he was in town, and he’d said I could stop by if I needed to talk to him. I had a feeling he knew what I was going to ask for.
Kyla gave the plants a suspicious look as we stepped up to his front door. “You think they’re really alive?”
“Yes. Plants are alive. That’s kind of how it works.”
She elbowed me. “You know what I mean.”
I shrugged. “Aubrey acts like they are. Who knows what he can sense that people without his affinity for plant life can’t?”
The door opened at that moment and the fae himself beamed at us.
