Page 81 of Suspicions on the Stage
The Prince waves a delicate hand at the whiteboard. “Then the location of these deaths isn’t random,” he says. “It has to be strategic because otherwise, the kills could occur in places where they would essentially stay unsolved by these dimwitted supe cops.”
Yeah, I can see that logic.
His dragon bestie snorts, little electric sparks zinging over his forearms. “Duh. The damn bodies have been almost professionally staged, for fuck’s sake. And they were arranged to be found by wealthy heirs to different kinds of supe empires. Just because Slade knows he hates his parents doesn’t mean everyone knows it.”
“So this could be less about the people who were killed than the ones being framed?” I ask.
Liam shrugs. “It’s possible,maschula. I don’t know what that kidnapping out west is achieving because we don’t have full bios on those new friends yet.”
“Great,” Slade mutters, voice muffled. “Bringing my parents’ territory and city into this even more than what we saw at that damn event. Just what I needed.”
Iggy leans into his computer, clicking a few links and typing, and then he frowns. “The chatter online about it is...bad. Some of the forums are saying the guy they suspect is the son of Council members out there. He’s one of the players, I guess, and one of the guys Rogue had with her.”
“Council member kid?” Lucas asks, his eyebrows raised.”Fuck, that brings in heavy weight. I mean… local Councils like here aren’t nearly as powerful as ones in places as big as Bay City. That’s going to get Society notice.”
“Especially since he’s connected to two Guardians, remember?” Iggy glances up at us, his face grim. “Though, my guess is they’ll try to keep it away from their bosses. No one seems to know who we can trust anymore.”
I tap my finger on Lucas’ thigh. “Yet we aren’t seeing any show from the Sibbies or even my taskmasters at the Society yet. Weird.”
“Because they’re too busy covering their own asses to notice we’re getting picked off,” Kaspar says wryly. “They never get involved until it’s far too late to stop things.”
The Prince sets down his cup with a click. “My theory is that unless it’s a public moment, they simply don’t care. The structures of multi-realm governing are obviously crumbling; look at how this faction is operating with little resistance. My father has been struggling to contain the Hand for a very long time and failed. They must have been coordinating with someone who's helped them, just like now.”
Everyone looks frustrated and I get it. This shit has gotten so big that it feels impossible to wrap our heads or hands around it.
“Here’s what we know,” I say. “The bad shit is escalating. Whoever’s behind it is using human proxies and rogue supes, but they’re definitely being directed what and where to hit.”
Kaspar nods. “The police are being bought, threatened, or both.”
“Which means we can’t rely on the system, so we're on our own but for the allieswepick. Despite that, we have a few advantages.”
Lucas leans in. “Like what, babe?”
“Like we know something is going on and they think they have fooled everyone. We are building a network they don’t know about. We have a lot of powerful people at our disposal, which might help us beat them.”
Iggy snorts. “I’ve never pegged you for an optimist, M.”
“I’m not,” I say, meeting his eyes. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to lose to a bunch of assholes like we saw at that stupid party. Fuck that.”
If they want to bring the fight to us, we’ll build a foundation so strong they don’t have a chance of rocking it.
father of mine
IGNATIUS
The trick with mornings is to meet them on your terms.
I wake long before Slade, with enough time to shower, press my shirt, and review what I have on my plate before we stop by the kitchen to grab coffee and head to our respective destinations. I escorted him today because we both had very early morning commitments in the same part of campus, while Lucas and Morgana are going to the opposite end with the Prince and the grumpy dragon.
Yesterday was an unexpected debacle of the first order, with the chaos of the body, the idiot cops, Thorne’s kinetic energy, and the worry about the two youngest members of what I consider the coven.
Of course, if you ask each of our varied species members what they call our group, I guarantee they have their own thoughts regulated by their supernatural sides.
There’s a light frost on the sidewalk that I nearly slip on, and when I glance to see if Slade caught my stumble, he’s alreadyyards ahead, scarf tucked to his chin, hat pulled down to the point of cartoon.
I make it to his side, panting theatrically. “I see you’re in a rush to expose the undergraduates to your musical stylings. It’s the only reason anyone should ever move this fast before ten am.”
He doesn’t answer—not right away. There’s this trick to talking to Slade when he’s overwhelmed by life: don’t crowd him when he’s bleeding. Instead, offer him quiet and he’ll open up on his own.
