Page 98 of Iridian

Right there, in the middle of the city.

Buildings were much farther away than I’d realized. This place had definitely been spelled with illusions before, because there was an open space, possibly over a mile, in front of the chambers, with a fountain in the middle that was barely noticeable now in the sea of bodies. Thank Goddess, the houses, the shops, everything was far enough away that I could hope the damage wouldn’t be too severe by the end of this.

Meanwhile, what looked like an open field behind that house was brimming with more soldiers, I had no doubt about it. We saw a few of those who were standing to the sides with machine guns in their hands, watching, but there would be more. A lot more.

“How many—” I started, my voice breathless, but Taland answered before I could finish the question.

“Three hundred in the front. I don’t have eyes on the back yet,” he said, those white eyes of his scanning the area like he was a damn robot instead of a man.

I stepped closer to him, took his hand in both of mine, and he squeezed my fingers. “Breathe, sweetness. We will be okay.”

“I can’tbreathe,” I said. “Taland, all these people. They don’t compare to the IDD. Those aretrainedsoldiers against unarmed civilians.” The death toll was going to reach numbers higher than I was prepared for.

But Taland said, “Look.” And he turned to look behind us again, toward the city.

There, four of his soldiers were pushing civilians back, separating the majority of those who were coming closer from the group that had already settled in front of the chambers.

And that was a good thing, but it wasn’t enough.

“Do you want to hear?”

I whipped my head to the other side again, to the house, to find that Radock and the others had already stopped in the narrow space between two groups of a hundred and fifty IDD soldiers, standing in ten perfect rows on either side of the front yard.

The Laetus that Taland had sent with them were at their front and back, keeping them safe, and the Council members had come all the way outside, too. They stood in a triangle with Helen Paine at the head, shoulders back and chins raised.

The blood in my veins turned cold.

“Yes,” I whispered, and then Taland’s voice transformed completely.

“We’re glad you could join us. We’ve been waiting for you for days now.”

For a moment, I was confused, and I almost asked him what he was saying, but he continued.

“It’s our pleasure. We had some logistics issues to figure out, but here we are.” Before the last word left Taland’s lips, I saw Radock waving his hands to the sides, and realizedhehad said that.

And the first to speak had been Helen Paine.

Taland was repeating everything they were saying because he could hear it through the ears of the fifteen soldiers who were down there with the others.

“And you’ve brought friends,” said Helen, and Taland repeated the words for me. We were too far for me to read her lips from here, but I could have sworn that she was smiling.

“They insisted on coming to meet you, since you ran awaylast time,”said Radock, and if I’d been there, I’d have been itching to slap him on the back of his head.

Because right now we didn’t want the Council angry. We didn’t want them to be more pissed off than they already were. A fight was inevitable, but what if we could make it end very quickly?

Wishful thinking, though. All the Council members were here. At the sight of Nicholas standing behind Helen, my stomach turned.

Had they somehow made him Laetus, too? Had they chargedhim with another source of energy? Could he use the bracelet now like we could?

Ireallydidn’t want to find out.

“You’re far too kind to bring them to us,” said Taland—but the words were Helen’s. She brought her hand to her chest, too. White leathers covered her from head to toe, and it was obvious that she was here to fight. “Exactly where they belong.”

Taland didn’t even take in a breath before he continued, “I believe we agree on that. This is where they belong. Wherewebelong. In charge of this country you’ve so thoroughly screwed over—starting with us.”

This from Zachary, I thought, because the others had turned their heads toward him. Their backs were to me, so I couldn’t see their faces.

“I’m afraid you’ve got your priorities twisted. We were, are and always will be in charge of this country and its people,”Taland said while Helen spoke, and maybe the people heard her, too, because I could have sworn that the whispers and the voices of the crowd around the bus, waiting for the fight to break out, turned louder.

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