I stood there awkwardly, having no clue what she was doing. I often didn’t, where our pack’s healers were concerned. My job was fighting people, not patching them up after.
But when her eyes opened a moment later, they glowed with her wolf. “I have an idea, but Kane isn’t going to like it,” she whispered.
“Okay. Not sure I like the sound of that,” I whispered back.
She turned slightly so her back was half angled toward the circle and only Galyna and I could read her lips. “Even if the wolfsbane and phlox root don’t kill Bran, they’ll temporarily weaken him while he heals, much like I had to heal Kane after his attack.”
“Okay…”
“His blood is tainted, and not just by the plants. There’s… another influence on it. I’ve never experienced it before, but it’salmost like Narcissa’s power is represented as aphysicaltaint. I can sense it, even from the tiny bit of his blood I touched.”
“That’s not good,” Galyna murmured, now invested in our side conversation.
“Maybe it is. My wolf thinks we can heal it. If we could remove her influence, give him the chance to see clearly again, even for a few moments… maybe, just maybe, he might be willing to take her out.”
I rocked back, considering. “But if you heal that taint, won’t it also heal everything else that’s wrong with him, meaning he could snapyouin half if he wants?”
She nodded grimly. “That’s exactly what it means.”
Galyna made a choked sound in her throat. “You know I can’t do anything that puts you in danger. My oath?—”
“Is one I’m no longer bound by,” I said, cutting her off. I felt a little numb, following the train of thought to its logical conclusion. “How certain are you?”
Brielle worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “There’s no sure thing, not with a situation as complicated as this. But… I think it’s our best chance. I don’t see how we convince him otherwise.”
The males were still arguing loudly, so no alternative solutions would be found there.
“So how do you want to do this?”
Chapter 69
Elodie
We all returned to the battle a short while later. We had three different options, with different people in charge of executing them if the opportunity arose. So far, there had been no sign of Bran since Dirge sliced him open, but Narcissa’s soldiers were still viciously holding the tree line, neither progressing nor retreating.
It was tense, and everyone was on edge. Plan A was for Kane and all the alphas to form a wedge, then break through their line. Once they were through, they would try to find Bran and end him before he recovered his full strength. I wasn’t certain what they would do if they got to him and even a beheading didn’t work.
Hopefully, they’d all survive it. I heard the signal, and Valens turned to me. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
I shook my head, feeling awful for not telling him that we had a plan of our own. But he couldn’t know, because Kane couldn’t know. “No. Someone has to hold the line, make sure they don’t collapse back on you and block your exit path.”
He nodded, clearly torn between protecting me and executing the high alpha’s plan. “Go,” I insisted, pressing a firm kiss to his lips. “You can make it up to me later.”
He grinned wolfishly, eyes briefly glowing. “I plan on it.” One more kiss, and he jogged away to join the rest of the males. I watched him go, then retreated to the back of the army, waving to a cluster of goblins working their catapult as I passed. They cheered, always in good spirits, even in the middle of war.
By the time I reached Brielle at the castle wall, I knew Valens was already fighting his way through. I felt a twinge of guilt that Iwasn’twatching his back, as he expected. But if our plan could work, we had to try.
Brielle’s expression was conflicted when I spotted her. “You closed the bond?”
She nodded. “I convinced Kane I didn’t want to distract him, which is technically true. If he knew what I was doing, he’d be very, very distracted.”
I snorted. “I think furious is the word you’re looking for.”
“He’s already furious.”
True enough. “Where’s Shay?”
Tired as she was from grabbing us all earlier, we needed her to drop us behind enemy lines. We were lucky to have Shay on our side, but even a greater fae had limits, and the power was still new to her.
