Page 224 of Night's Fall
“WhatIbelieve, the task force believes, and the agents at theRICbelieve is thatArnaudis gearing up to do something.What, we haven’t been able to figure out.Buteven as insane as he seems to be, no one wants the dragons to fly.”
This was without a doubt.Evennow, with modern weaponry, our dragon squadrons were feared in twenty realms.Thatsaid, our military was nothing to sneeze at.Evenwith no war for nearly a century, we were a warrior realm, and always had been.
We didn’t have the magic of the witches and the fae.Inour human forms, we didn’t have the brute strength and speed of the demons.
But the creatures we shifted into were exponentially more powerful than their animal counterparts.
And our dragons were nearly unstoppable.
“And so?”Iprompted.
“And so, whileFourRealmsare tied up in all that’s going on with me and my mate, he might have an opportunity to do it while no one is paying attention.”
“I can’t imagine everyone inSky’sEdgecares that much about what’s happening between you and me,Aleksei.”
I said this, but the social tapes were worldwide, and we did seem to be on a lot of beings’ minds if the tapes were anything to go by.
“Yes, but the male who was engaged to thePrincessRoyalofDawn’sBreak, a female who is beloved by her people, is now engaged to another female, just three months from their breakup.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“And as such, the only other realm who is feeding off of us, perhaps in a different way, but just as ravenously asNight’sFall, isDawn’sBreak.”
“Again,I’mnot getting it.”
“There are two possible scenarios,” he shared. “Butwe feel the first is part of the last.”
“The first?”
“Dr.Buildlorewas recruited because of his past withAnna.We’vefound he was a male who was easily bought.Thehysterectomy he performed outside his patient’s knowledge was purchased by her ex-husband after a highly contentious divorce.”
My eyes grew huge. “Ohmy gods.”
Aleksei nodded. “Ifhe was indeed recruited in the current plot for this reason, this would lead us to believeAnnawas behind these things, and it did lead us to that.Thiswould mean tensions would be strained betweenNight’sFallandDawn’sBreak, even strained to a breaking point, pitting us againstDawn’sBreak.”
“The point of this being?”
“Distracting us from what’s going on inSky’sEdge, at the same time lining us up to be an ally.”
An ally?
An ally in what?
“And?”Ipressed.
“That brings us to the second scenario.”
“That being?”
Another deep breath fromAlekseibefore he asked, “Whatcauses a military, and a country, to band together under one leader?”
Oh hells.
I finally got it.
And in so doing,Ifelt the blood run out of my face and repeated, “Ohmy gods.”
“Yes, darling.Thewriting is on the wall.Arnaud’sreign is nearly at its end.He’sexhausted all legal remedy.He’sout.It’sa poorly kept secretTanynis gearing up for a coup ifArnauddoesn’t step down, and he has a tremendous amount of support.Thismeans, unlessArnaudcan find another way to stay in, and at this juncture, that way has to be dramatic, rallying his beings behind him, he’ll be deposed.Therefore,IthinkArnaudintends to solidify his rule by finding or creating some reason to invadeDawn’sBreak.Ifurther thinkDawn’sBreakhas no idea this is going to happen.Butonce it does, theFallandLand’sEndwill start with sanctions.However, ifArnauddoesn’t pull back, which he won’t, we’ll have no choice but to get involved in the fighting.”
