The bitty woman was pure magic.
Like two balloons deflating, each man walked away from the other to stand on separate sides of the room. They weren’t happy about it, but neither wanted to kill the other. Their arms crossed over their chests, they avoided eye contact while they stared off into space.
Poppy was left in the middle of the room.
She nodded once. “That’s better. Let’s see if we can’t work this out, yes?”
Alaric cleared his throat, and asked, “Theron, I take it the man pictured was the last seer?”
He grunted, and rasped, “Yes. His name was Joshua Striker.”
My head snapped back. “Wait a second. Did you say,Striker?”
Alaric glanced in my direction, warning me to tread carefully. There were delicate waters with sharks swarming nearby. Blood would be spilled if not handled correctly.
Theron snapped at me. “Yes. Why?”
“Because he told me his name wasEthanStriker.”
“That’s his brother’s name.” His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “His twin brother.”
Alaric coughed, his features scrunching. “Is it a possibility you killed the wrong brother? Were they identical?”
Theron uncrossed his arms and rubbed at his face. “He used his power when I took him down. It couldn’t have been his brother.”
Cass’s head snapped in his direction, the first civil words out of his mouth yet. “Actually, it could have been.”
“What are you talking about?” Theron questioned.
“A seer can transfer some of their power to aid another, though it will turn that seer dark.” He shook his head. “That’s why I never did it with Godric. I would have been a fucking black hole to this world thanks to my added little gift.”
“I’ve never heard of that before,” Theron mumbled, glancing off to the side. “That was the day we all met our mates, the day you were all conceived.”
My eyebrows rose on my forehead. “So, if he transferred some of his power to his brother, then you killed the wrong man. The man you killed, his brother, didn’t actually die because you can’t really kill him. The seer turned dark that day. And all of the newfound mates that day turned dark. Am I getting that right?”
Poppy blinked. “That’s what I’m getting out of that mess.”
The quiet in the room was dark.
Cass snorted. “Fucking hell.”
Jonathan strolled into the room. “I know why he punched me now.”
My head snapped in his direction. “Why?”
“Because I was the one to drag in the fake-seer before our king for judgment. I beat the shit out of him.” He shook his head. “He used Faith’s fists as revenge for beating up his brother.”
“Actually, there is one issue with all of this.” Theron cleared his throat and his nose scrunched, finally speaking. “After I killed him, I dumped the bits of his body into lava. I remember that lava hardened over time. That shifter would never have been able to escape that hell, even if he managed to regenerate inside the lava rock.”
I choked, and muttered, “Oh my god.”
Theron shrugged. “I’m thorough.”
Poppy gagged. “You mean that there is a shifter stuck in a rock somewhere? Dying over and over again? For the lasttwo hundred years?”
Cass ran his fingers through his hair. “Maybe there wasn’t enough room to regenerate. That would be the better of the two.”
“Except psycho seer thinks Theron has had his brother all these years,” I groused. “Why would he wait so long to start the fight, though?”
