The room was looking at me, waiting. “…We need to make my death look gruesome.”
Audrey’s eyes widened in alarm before she breathed, “Excuse me?”
“I wouldn’t go down without a fight,” I explained. “We need to make it look believable enough to fool Ilia. Slowing my heart rate so Ilia can give me a once-over is great, but notenough. I need to be beaten and…wounded.”
Audrey paled, and she was shaking her head at the same time Liam spoke up, “That isn’t a bad idea.”
I lifted a finger at him. “Watch it, you.”
Liam gave me a forlorn look as he explained, “I am not eager to see you wounded, Van.”
I gave him a skeptical look and replied, “If you say so.”
Liam gave me a small smile. “Whoever is important to my mate…” With his words, he laced his fingers together with Audrey’s, tugging her closer to his body. “Is important to me. However we choose to see a plan through, your safety will be a priority.”
I believed him, returning his smile in thanks before facing the two sirens and nereid in the room. “I think this could work. But I need to look like I put up agoodfight. My clothes should probably be torn. Go as far as to trash my bedroom. Like you jumped me when I wasn’t expecting it—just in case Ilia feels the need to send scouts to confirm your story.”
Hush and Sergei shared a look, before Hush addressed Fergus, “When can you get us that herb?”
“Give me two hours to lyskift there and back,” Fergus replied with a wink thrown at me, before disappearing out the door.
“Okay.” I ran my fingers through my hair, nodding, hyping myself up for the plan I helped put together. “Okay. So, you knock me unconscious and then beat me up and drain me of some blood to sell it.” I glanced up at Hush as I rested my hands on the back of my neck. “Then what?”
“I’ll heal you.” Audrey waved a hand as if this was obvious. “If your wounds are as bad as I’m assuming, it’ll take me some time.” She gave me a soft expression, reminding me of how far back our friendship went. “But, I’ll do everything I can to make it feel like you never experienced the physical trauma in the first place.
“Good,” Hush said, focusing back on the topic. “That should be enough time to let Fergus’s spies get their affairs in order, before Ilia discovers the missing sirens.”
“Ilia still doesn’t know where the missing sirens are?” Liam questioned.
“No.” Hush shook her head. “He suspects Amber might be onto something, but he doesn’t have confirmation.”
“But how do you know that?” Liam pressed. “How can you be so confident assuming what Ilia actually knows?”
“I just am.” Hush sounded tired as she stood next to Sergei, her golden gaze flitting over the map.
Liam pressed, “I just don’t feel as confident as you are. If Ilia sent his militia here once, he must be confident about his suspicions. I consider us lucky that Fergus’s storm managed to fend them off.”
“Ilia has suspected that Audrey and Van are behind the missing sirens for a while,” Hush lifted her gaze to Liam with her reply. “He currently suspects thatImight be assisting you both with the missing females and children. But he doesn’tknow. He has doubts.”
“How do you know he has doubts?” Liam asked.
“I know,” Hush snapped.
Sergei gave Hush a nervous look as Liam argued again, “How, though?”
“Because no one knows Ilia’s mind asIdo!” Hush yelled, slamming her palms down on her desk.
An uncomfortable, weighted silence pressed on all of us. It clicked for me then, and I inhaled a shocked breath. Everyone turned toward my gasp, studying me with various levels of confusion and suspicion.
So I said it out loud, “You have whismerra.” Audrey and Liam stilled, before staring at Hush with wide eyes. Sergei didn’t look surprised. He just kept his gaze locked on me. Waiting.
“You have whismerra, too?” Audrey whispered.
Hush rolled her eyes before exhaling an annoyed breath. She stepped around the front of the desk, a deep pinch formed in her brow before she yanked her mask down. A perfectly symmetrical and familiar feminine face was revealed—soft pink lips, a button nose. Hush almost looked unreal. Digitally drawn. Her beauty was otherworldly, even when she was dressed in her siren militia leather uniform.
“If we go through with this ruse, I need everyone to stop questioning me andtrustme,” Hush spoke, curling her top lip back at Liam in annoyance—so different from the starry-eyed expression she gave him at Bandthral. “So stay quiet, and let me share some context with you as a form of mutual trust.” She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, preparing herself, looking as strong and confident as I expected her to be, before she opened them and announced, “My name is Caelena Shaw.”
Chapter 24
