Page 97 of Shattered Veil
Lochan’s still glaring daggers at Marius.“You’re not part of anything. Get out.”
Marius doesn’t budge.“I’m staying.”
I step between them before Lochan can throw a punch.“He stays. We need all the help we can get.”
Lochan’s hand makes a fist, but he backs off. Barely.
“So,” Eira says, clearly trying to get us back on track.“The Council is going to use Brigid as a vessel for the Morrigan. To harness her power for themselves.”
“That’s the gist of it,” Callen confirms.
“But we don’t know the full prophecy, or how they plan to do it,” I add.“Just bits and pieces.”
Eira’s brow furrows.“I may be able to help with that. There are some obscure texts on magical vessels and divine possession. I’d need to look into them more closely, but there might be something useful there.”
“Great,” Callen says.“Where do we start?”
“The archives,” Eira replies.“But we’ll need to be careful. If the Council or the new dean catches wind of what we’re researching...”
“They won’t,” Lochan says firmly.
I catch Marius eyeing Eira with a hint of suspicion. His gaze flicks to me and he gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
Interesting. I’ll have to ask him about that later.
I nod, trying to keep my voice steady.“Okay, so we hit the archives. But we need more than just research. We need to figure out how to stop them. Once we know what they’re planning, how do we stop it?”
Lochan’s voice is terse.“We take the fight to them. Cut off the head of the snake.”
“That particular head just happens to be my dear dad.” If Callen feels upset by what Lochan just suggested, he doesn’t show it.
The room falls silent. I can feel the weight of what we’re considering pressing down on all of us.
Marius speaks.“Cut the head off the snake only to have another grow back. The King isn’t the point. The entire Council is corrupt.”
I close my eyes, trying to center myself. When I open them, I meet each of their gazes in turn.“Let’s... let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we focus on gathering information and staying ahead of them.”
They nod, and I feel a rush of gratitude. Despite everything, they’re here. They’re with me.
I just hope it’s enough.
Chapter Forty-One
Lochan
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor, Loch,” Callen says
I stop pacing and sigh, running my fingers through my hair. The longer I leave this the worse it’s going to be. Seeing Brigid now is a special kind of torture. The smell of her lingers in the room. I stare at the door.
“Just go talk to her, you fucking eejit.” Rory tosses a piece of popcorn up in the air and catches it in his mouth.“You can probably still catch her.”
“I thought the plan was for us to stay away from her in public.” The plan. My plan. Stupid plan.
“Fuck the plan, my friend.” Callen adjusts the cuffs of his shirt.“We found out what we needed to know.”
Tiernan’s standing at the window, staring out.“I don’t think we fooled anyone, to be honest.”
I close my eyes. Of course he’s right. The Council’s always been two steps ahead. All we did was deprive ourselves of time with our mate. Time with Brigid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I grind the heel of my palm into my forehead.
