Gawain scoffed. “Not at all. Just making sure we’re all on the same page.”
“There’s one piece of good news,” Lainey said. “He won’t be able to use the Lux. Not for several days at least.”
“How do you know?” Fallon queried.
Lainey nodded at the chamber around them. “This place was built to deprive it of a key element it needs to work. Until it gathers enough of it, the Lux will be little more than an ornament.”
“So, if we retrieve it fast enough, then there’s a chance we can do so without having it turned against us,” Braden said in a slow voice.
Lainey hesitated, looking back at Patrick for support. “We think so. This is all based off information passed down from guildmaster to guildmaster.”
“Did Victoria know this?” Shea asked, the sight of her body reminding her of the leak they’d had.
Lainey’s head tilted as she frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think so. She wasn’t interested in the details and I don’t remember ever imparting that information.”
Shea pressed her lips together. That was one good piece of news, if it was true. Another thought occurred to her, “When was Victoria brought in on this?”
When Shea had been banished, Victoria hadn’t quite reached her current position.
“Not until very recently. The last few weeks,” Lainey answered, seeing where Shea’s thoughts were going.
This entire chain of events had started long before this. Shea was sure of it. Perhaps as far back as when she’d still been assigned to Birdon Leaf. The escalation of beast activity had been so gradual it was easy to overlook until it was almost too late.
“So, the question is, how did Griffin know about the Lux?” Fallon asked, his mind jumping to the conclusion Shea had already reached.
She looked back at the pedestal, a niggling feeling at the back of her mind. The answer to that question hovered just out of reach. She had a feeling it had everything to do with the dreams that had been haunting her over the last few weeks.
“There is one other advantage that you have,” her father said, his gaze on Shea.
Fallon noticed where he was looking and went still, denial on his face. Shea took a deep breath as she turned to face him.
“No,” Fallon said, the word a vehement negation.
“He’s right. He’ll head for the Badlands, and I’m the only person here who would know where to even start looking,” Shea said, staring up into Fallon’s face, mentally willing him to understand.
“Give us the room,” Fallon barked, his voice hard.
No one dared argue. The clan elders filed out. Her parents lingered. Her mother lifted her eyebrows, asking without words if Shea wanted her to stay. As much as Shea appreciated the gesture, she knew it was unnecessary. There were words that needed to be said that would be better received without an audience.
Lainey nodded, the movement elegant before she turned toward the door. Her father waited, his eyes lingering on Shea’s for a long moment before he too was gone.
“You too,” Fallon told Caden, not taking his gaze off Shea.
Shea sensed Caden’s hesitation and assured the other man. “There’s no other way into or out of this chamber.”
It should be safe from assassination attempts.
Fallon waited until they were alone, the door to the chamber shut behind the rest before he turned back to her, a rage on his face that once would have sent her searching for cover. Now, she felt only a sadness for the powerlessness he must be feeling. Her poor warlord. This was his worst nightmare come true.
“You’re not going,” Fallon said, his face set, the muscles tense. “Don’t even think it,” he repeated, giving her a look of such desperation, the bridge of her nose prickled as emotion threatened to swamp her.
“You think I want to?” she asked in a soft voice. She stepped close, the urge to touch him, to comfort him, strong. Her hand hovered just above his chest before she withdrew it and straightened, looking up into his face with a soft expression. “You know my nightmares. There are times I close my eyes and I’m right back there—being hunted, feeling like any moment could be my last. I see my friends’ faces in my dreams, hear their voices as they remind me of my mistakes. I would do everything in my power to avoid that place and all it means.”
He looked away and she moved with him, not letting him run from this. “You know as well as I do that there is no choice. I’m the best chance we have. We can’t let him get away with the Lux. Everything you’ve worked for, everything you’ve sacrificed will be for nothing.”
“I don’t care,” he hissed.
“But your people will,” she said. “They deserve to have their loyalty rewarded. It won’t just be us Griffin comes after.”
