Xander scoffs. “Using the basilisk?”
“Basilisk power is, essentially, instant death,” I explain. “At their highest escalation, they seem to have the power to destroy en masse.”
“Mace has been making Ghoul practice this technique,” Aurelia says grimly. “But it seemed to turn on him the first time he tried it. And that’s what landed him unconscious.” Aurelia waves her hand down her own spine. “His own power was wrapped around his spine, suffocating it.”
Lyle frowns where he leans against the wall. “It almost seems like a self-preservation technique from his animus. Stopping him from completing itandgetting to meet you in the process. Perhaps he knew you would eventually be called in to assist.”
Aurelia nods. “That’s what I’m thinking. In one of his memories, he saw me getting ready to leave town.” It also explains the second warehouse. They needed a place for him to try this new skill.
“I can’t believe Mace wants to get rid of us!” Savage says. “I mean,everyother animalia except serpents?”
Xander scowls at the room. “Think about it. It would give him the highest position above the humans. There’d be no one to challenge him, and he’d have free rein over the population.”
“My father is nothing if not ambitious,” Aurelia says. But when her eyes meet mine, I’m delighted to see they glitter at this new challenge. “He doesn’t expect anyone else to know about it. He killed Halfeather for what tiny information he knew about me. There has to be a way to stop it. Ghoul told Eugene to find me.”
I think back to the hyena matriarch. She had been right. Whatever information she had led her to a similar conclusion. But now she, Katerina, Damien Agnis, Flores Drakos, and Tiberius Clawson are all dead. The big players are out of his way. One by one, Mace had eliminated his so-called allies, who were really enemies. Pitted them against one another until they wiped themselves out. The ones he didn’t kill were mind-controlled by basilisk venom. Aurelia must have been thinking the same thing.
“We’re the only ones who can stop him,” she says.
“I need a fucking drink,” Xander mutters, striding away.
Savage possessively takes up Eugene, stroking his head frills. “Poor bugger saw all that and it fucked him up in the head, I just know it. He’s delicate.”
“It’s lucky hedidsee it,” I say, eyeing my regina, who hasn’t moved from the window.
As if she feels my eyes on her, Aurelia turns around. “He was the key all along.”
“I want to know what you are thinking,” I say, denying myself from going to her. I know her well enough now to remember that she needs space in times like this.
Lyle shifts uncomfortably. “What’s anyone supposed to think upon discovering their father wants to kill everyone they love?”
Aurelia smiles wryly. “I think I’ve always known it would come to this. Not this specifically,” she sighs. “But something like it. He always had such hatred in his heart for those who are not like him.”
Savage sways gently with Eugene, and the rooster closes his eyes with the motion. The bird’s aura is a sickly green, but light in colour, meaning it’s not physical but mental. He too has been affected by seeing those memories.
“We need to talk to Minnie,” I say.
Aurelia frowns. “Why her specifically?”
My lips quirk as I look at her. “She killed Titus in front of all his males, Aurelia. They bent the knee to her. Minnie is considered the head of the tigers. Word has spread. Xander has distributed the security camera footage across social media. And with Ablo Obon gone, she has sway over the entire feline court. They wait for her in one of my safe houses.”
“Minnie is queen?” Aurelia whispers.
“Well, it’s certainly not me,” Lyle says a little too happily. “There are other candidates, but a clear execution won’t be disputed by anyone.”
“Especially with Marduk and Yeti at her side.” Aurelia nods. “How the tables turn.”
Our meeting with Minnie and Marduk goes as expected. Marduk rubs his beard and nods. “He was always crazy, that Mace Naga. You can see it in a beast’s eyes, shark-friend.”
“Indeed,” I say. I see it in my own eyes near daily.
Marduk gives me a look that says he knows what I’m thinking. “He has no regina to calm him and make him see sense. There is only one way from here.”
“He needs to die,” Aurelia says flatly.
Minnie takes her best friend’s hand. “How do we even go about stopping this…thingfrom happening? Ghoul cannot be stopped?”
“He doesn’t want to do this, but he’s bound to be my father’s slave.” Aurelia shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do.” The way she looks at me breaks my heart. Her fifth mate, the cause of her problems and yet also the solution. I want to rid her of her problems and give her everything she desires, but this is going to be a difficult puzzle to solve.
