I nodded. “They’re cursed. I’ll have a better chance to fight her there.”
“We,” Sawyer amended, “will have a better chance to kill the queen there.”
“She has your wolf?” Luka asked.
I inclined my head.
“And she wants your blood to siphon your power?” he asked.
I looked at Sawyer, who shrugged. He had clearly told Luka everything.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Then you can expect she’ll have already fed on your wolf and be fighting fully juiced up.” He said it so nonchalantly, like it wasn’t the most horrible thing you couldeverthink of.
Fed on my wolf?Fuck.
My face must have betrayed my shock, because he softened, his strong jaw and predatorial gaze relaxing. “That knowledge will help us to be better prepared. And no one can compulse the queen. She’s above all of us in power, linked to all of us in a way that’s hard to explain. Similar to your pack bonds, I imagine.”
Okay, that was interesting information, and cool of him to share. Maybe this vampire dude wasn’t half bad.
“So you can’t help?” My voice was more defeated than I would have liked. I could lure her, like I had before, but I’d be winded by the time I got her to the Dark Woods and I really wanted the element of surprise.
Luka grinned, and it was a feral look of satisfaction, the points of his canines pressing onto his bottom lip. “Oh I didn’t say that. If there is one thing my aunt wants more than obtaining your power, it’s me. She’d like nothing more than to pull my head from my body, but vampire law states you can’t kill another royal lest your entire line be slaughtered, and you lose your reigning position.”
Wow, he was just giving us all the details on vampire society.
‘Told you he was cool,’Sawyer said in my mind.
‘Okay fine, you were right,’I acquiesced.
“So, if she can’t kill you, then what makes you think you will make good bait?” Sawyer said what I was thinking.
“She can’t kill me. But her lackeys can. They’ll get thrown in jail for murder and she won’t lose one night’s sleep about it. But she’ll want to be there to make sure the job is done.” He sounded so sure of himself.
“How would the Magical Creature Council even know if it was her or one of her henchmen?” I said. There were so many councils in the supernatural world, but I knew the MCC were involved in sentencing.
Luka looked to Sawyer and something passed between them. They were hiding something…
Sawyer finally nodded, and Luka returned it. “The MCC is made up of one representative from each of the races. The newest witch representative has … a unique power. One that has made court cases and DNA testing obsolete.”
The table started to murmur at that. What kind of power could make an entire court hearing and presenting evidence no longer necessary?
“She’s a human lie detector,” Star said so suddenly I jumped. I’d forgotten she was here. “She can invade your memories, displaying them onto a blank wall like a movie projector.”
Holy. Fucking. What?
“What do you mean? She can replay Luka’s death to see who really killed him and free the queen of guilt?” I asked.
Star nodded, but Luka held up a hand. “For the record, I don’t plan on dying.”
“Right,” I muttered, completely frazzled by this latest development.
It hit me then why Luka and Sawyer shared that look. Why Sawyer’s case and sentencing had been moved up so quickly.
“Sawyer, did she…?” My voice cracked.
His hand slipped under the desk and squeezed my thigh. ‘It’s okay,’he said, and everyone looked down at their hands as if inspecting their nails.
