No one here seemed to know what it meant, but they could tell something was wrong, and all of them backed away as if scared.
Can they smell it?
Some eyes shot to me, making the connection. Connecting the dots and thinking that a witch had done this to him. Maybe even me.
Adrian turned to me, a sinister smile spreading across her face.
“I guess your little witch pet is going to be useful. How about you tell everyone what this is?”
This is why they dressed me up like they did. They were putting me on display so I could answer this one question. Aurelia and Caspian were sending me messages with their eyes, and through the bond, I could tell what they needed me to do.
But I was still caught off guard because Adrian asked the question like he already knew. Like we weren't revealing anything to him.Aurelia promised to deliver a traitor, but was General Lee truly one?
And, more importantly, if Adrian knew about this, how did he know?
Who taught them? The White Lotus themselves?
“It's a soul siphon,” I forced out through the knot in my throat.
“And what does it do?”
My eyes traveled to Aurelia, who gave me a pitiful look. We needed to force his hand, soI needed to play this up. I needed to twist it in a way that would leave him no choice but to take action.
“He has been stealing the souls and magic of witches to make himself stronger. Stronger than any other vampire out there,” I replied. Flashbacks of my parents in the middle of the rune back at the coven flashed through my mind. The similarities were too striking. “You don't want his blood. It will poison everyone here and inject dirty magic into them. Their bodies won't be able to take it.”
That was when the general knew that things weren't going to go well for him. He tried to escape, but her brother was there, holding on to him.
“And why would you need to do something as radical as this? What does Kyan feel about this?”
I was finally starting to see Aurelia’s plan. The general had two options: he would either confess that the council had been stealing the souls of witches in front of everyone and threaten to pull us into war, or admit he had been doing it for himself, and if that was the case…
“She doesn’t know,” he said, his eyes looking ahead.
“So you did this for yourself? Why, when you already have such a good position? Unless… you want to overtake someone more powerful than you?”
This was it. This was how Aurelia was going to pit them against each other. Even through my fear, my pride for her skyrocketed.
Adrian was said to be crazy. Truly and deeply deranged. He killed his own people left and right for no reason. Now, if he let the general go without punishment, it would seem weird to everyone here. Weak.
His hands were tied.
In seconds Adrian had his hands on the general’s head, attempting to pull it from his shoulders, but magic burst from him. I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from gagging as the feeling of it washed over me.
Vesper was ready to take off toward them, but I took her hand, unable to stop the tremors.
“Don’t! He’s too dangerous, and you’re not healed.”
She shot me a look. Anger burst through the bond.
“But Aurelia?—”
“She’s got it. Look.”
She and Caspian were already moving toward the right side of the room and away from the fight. Everyone was inching away from them, not wanting to get caught in the crosshairs.
The general pushed her brother off, his movements fast. Almost too fast for my eyes to make out, but I could tell that they were evenly matched. Her brother recovered fast, grabbing his clothing and forcing him to the ground. More magic started wafting from him, and I had to hold Vesper to steady myself.
This much magic… Dozens, if not hundreds, of witches.
