Page 15 of Iridian

With the fabric of her long white dress in her hand, she moved around Madeline and the table. She was now barely three feet away from me, looking down at me and assessing me with her eyes the same way I was assessing her.

The memory of her sword with the handle made of bones was in the center of my mind. How long until she drew it this time?

And was I really going to just sit here and take it?

No,I thought.Fuck that, I won’t.

Except…what exactly could I do against the most powerful Iridians in the world when there were six of them and one of me—withoutweapons or magic?

Sweat on my brow.

“Have you found him?” Madeline said, as the rest of the Council members came around her and spread about the room, all their eyes on me. Some—the Blackfire and Bluefire—were already helping themselves to a glass from the cabinet.

“No,” said the Greenfire woman, her copper hair shining golden, too, under the lights as she slowly crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised her chin so she could look down at me better. “We haven’t found David yet, Madeline.”

My stomach turned.

“And the IDD?” she asked.

“The IDD is fine.” The Redfire threw Madeline a look. “The managing body is perfectly capable of taking care of business for a few days without a director.”

Madeline didn’t look happy about that. Of course, she cared about the IDD. As far as she was concerned, that was herbaby.

“She spoke to me, told me what happened,” my grandmother said in the end, her cold amber eyes falling on me.

Now every Council member was looking at her, as the Blackfire and Bluefire offered everyone drinks.

“And?” asked the Mud as he threw back the contents of his glass at once, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Please, sit down,” said Madeline, raising a hand as she whispered. Red flames danced on her fingers as her magic came to life. Two chairs that were near her desk and the armchairs on the other side of the room slowly slid toward us, and all the Council members took their seats, leaving a good distance between each other as if they were disgusted—no, as if theydidn’t trustone another enough to sit closer together.

Only I remained seated on the couch, even though Madeline’s magic no longer held me back.

“I’ll tell you everything she told me,” she said, and she began without wasting time, while the others used their magic to bring themselves liquor bottles and filled their glasses and drank.

I closed my eyes, focused on breathing, on the way the air went down my throat. I focused on my limbs, my muscles, clenching and unclenching them to make sure they were working properly. I focused on my fingers, too, and my magic.

It was there. It waslividas it slithered under my skin, searching for a way out, for an anchor, a gateway through which it could protect me. I had none on me, though. No bracelet and no ring.

I was completely naked in front of these people.

Madeline told them everything I had told her in detail, and she didn’t stutter. Her voice didn’t waver.

And even though I was constantly trying to think of a plan of escape as I looked in the faces of the Council members, I came up empty-handed.

The windows were on the other side, the drapes drawn, so I had no clue if it was even daylight outside. I had no clue how much time had passed since Radock took Taland away from Silver Spring or when I came to this mansion. Goddess, I wished I could see Poppy right now. She’d tell me what time it was and what had happened. She’d help me—I was sure she would.

But Poppy couldn’t even come through the doors now that the Council was here. And I was glad for it—the ugly voice in my head knew that I wasn’t going to get as lucky as I did with them that first time. The ugly voice in my head insisted that I was going to die soon. This time it sounded like it reallymeantit.

And in the mansion. In Madeline’s fucking office, the place I despised the most. Here was where I’d die, after everything I went through. Taland in prison and the torture of the Tivoux brothers and the Iris Roe and the Devil’s Regah chamber. I survived all of that just so I could die at the hands of the very people who were supposed to protect me. Thegoodguys—what a fucking joke.

No way out. For real this time. There was no way out. Even though no magic was holding me back now, the moment I tried to stand they would turn on me. The moment I tried to move they would attack me.

No way out.

“And you believe her, Madeline?”

My attention fell on the Greenfire woman, who spoke after that moment of deafening silence when Madeline finished telling them the story as I’d told it to her.

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