For a second, she just stared at us like she had to process that the meeting had started. She inhaled sharply, hands folded in front of her. “I apologize on behalf of all the humans. We have no control over what the Human Resistance Network is doing, but we apologize for their actions. We do not agree with their stance and the crimes they’ve committed. We want to make things right with the supernaturals. I do not want the peace treaty to be lost due to a rogue faction.”
“Perhaps you should focus on your people, then,” Rowan snapped, “instead of pleading with us for lenience.” Smoke streamed in two small plumes from his nostrils as he spoke. His fiery eyes burned through the projection.
Evelyn’s mouth snapped shut. Shock flashed across her face, as if she’d actually expected us to offer to help with their little civil war.
Humans were nothing if not entitled.
“We do not expect you to clean up after us,” Clara Blackwood, the human diplomatic relations officer, interjected smoothly. “We only wish to make sure that our peace treaty stands, and that we do not break it. It was the Human Resistance Network?—”
“The Human Resistance Network are humans, aren’t they?” Kaelith, the dragon representative and cultural liaison, cut in, her brown eyes glued to Clara’s image.
Clara inclined her head. “Yes. That is unfortunately true, but?—”
“But nothing,” Ted spoke up, his voice airy and disinterested. His gray hair was slicked back as always, and his pale eyes were half-lidded. His phantom power coiled around him like mist,and his form flickered faintly. “You do not even have control over your own media.” He lifted his gaze to Evelyn. “They hacked the Kalista News Sector right after Apex Elite Academy’s House Gauntlet. Let us not forget that during that broadcast, the humans threatened the lives of supernaturals.”
A third human council member shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but she didn’t speak.
“They did threaten you, and we apologize for that,” Evelyn attempted to placate us quickly. “That wasnotus. That reporter has been fired, and so has that entire branch.”
“They might be fired,” Sabine hissed, “but they’re ssstill alive. Breathing after inciting murder on live broadcast.Ridiculous.”
Fiona Carmichael, the humans’ cultural liaison, flinched before she forced herself to straighten. “We can’t apologize for that.” She smoothed a hand over a stack of papers in front of her. “Our cultures are very different. Between humans and supernaturals, I mean. We don’t just murder those who do wrong. We try to rehabilitate them.”
“Right,” Rowan said, unimpressed. “And that is why you have so many problems.”
“There is a time for rehabilitation,” Dante muttered, his voice a low purr, “and a time for putting someone down.”
“Correct, Dante.” Sabine lifted her chin slightly. “I am the executioner and agent coordinator on thisss council. We do not kill every criminal. Sometimes we do rehabilitate them, if they dessserve it. Mossst of the time, they get locked up.” She shrugged, “Or offed. It’s just the way supernaturalsss work.”
“Yes, well, humans are not like that,” Fiona replied softly. “And we do not plan to become like that.”
Sabine rolled her eyes. “How about we talk about the fact that your humansss kidnapped my daughter, took her DNA, and are now giving her power to humansss who are threatening to kill usss. Humansss are such a weak vessel considering just howpotent her venom is. I wonder how they sssomehow rigged it to work, but I doubt it’ll last long.”
I propped my elbows on the table’s surface and leaned forward. “I would also like to know how that works. Human bodies don’t do well with supernatural power. So, how exactly are your people using Rune’s venom, which is arguably one of the most lethal abilities I’ve ever seen?”
A breath of uneasy silence crossed the feed.
“I don’t know how they did it,” Evelyn murmured.
“Not to mention,” I added casually, “Rune is my mate. So yes, I very much want to obliterate all humans on principle, just because they took her.”
Every human face on the projection went a shade paler.
Evelyn swallowed, throat bobbing. “We do not wish to fight the supernaturals. We do not?—”
“If I wanted to wipe your kind out,” I said, smiling pleasantly. “I wouldn’t need a war to do it.”
I kept my smile plastered on my lips.
That fact was undeniably true. I had never used my full power at maximum strength in a lethal way…not that I could remember, anyway.
Rowan gave me a sharp look before he interjected smoothly. “Drecken is acting on behalf of his mate, who was taken by your kind. We have no intention of starting a war with you.”
I rolled my eyes, but I let it go.
“Yeah,” I agreed against my better judgment, leaning back in my chair. “The Human Resistance Network is about to be obliterated as soon as we find them, but not all humans.”
Evelyn nodded, tension carved into every line of her face. “That is exactly what we want to do. We are having the worst time locating the Whettlocks and the Human Resistance Network. We cannot find where they are operating out of. They’re off-grid.”
