Page 131 of Owned By the Fae
Isbeth’s face twists in anger and frustration. ‘Varrik wants the Underhill. He’s always thought he could rule it better on his own than as part of the Council, even before he betrayed us. You’re a fool if you think otherwise. Why else would he build an army?’
‘And what of his crimes?’ she continues. ‘His experiments to harness the power of the Dark Realms, the way he’s used his own people to keep his fold open? Make no mistake. Should he yet live, he will find his way here, and when he does, it will not be to coexist with us.’
‘Who will go back and begin the evacuation?’ one of the other females says. She snorts. ‘Obviously, this discussion is a formality,’ she chuckles dryly at Isbeth’s frown. ‘Come, Isbeth. We all know that Brakil has already prepared a warded camp for them just outside the village.’
The older fae speaks, leaning back in his chair. ‘If he is alive. Can we simply kill him? He’s some powerful entity these days, no?’
Lia steps forward and speaks up. ‘Varrik’s experiments with the Dark Realm have made him very powerful. Even with the Harbinger at full strength, it might not be able to destroy him now.’
He sneers down at her. ‘Is that because the Harbinger is in ahumanbody?’ he asks. ‘Would a fae one not be better?’
I snarl at him, ready to defend my female, but it’s Lia who speaks up, sounding so much like herself before the fold that I find myself relieved.
‘Varrik put the Harbinger into many fae while he was trying to resurrect it. I was the only one who survived the process for more than a day, but if you would like to cull the precious fae of the Underhill,’ she gives him a small, vicious smile, ‘then by all means, try to succeed where Varrik failed.’
Isbeth gives the councilor a dark look, and he closes his mouth.
‘Then it’s settled. The only problem now is that we don’t have control of the Gates in the fold itself. Only Varrik does. The Harbinger will open the Breach.’
‘Yes,’ Gella nods emphatically. ‘The Harbinger can open it and go?—’
‘No,’ I say, stepping forward before Lia can answer this time. ‘The Harbinger will not be entering the Breach again.’
The other male councilor snorts. ‘I don’t mean to offend,’ he scoffs, ‘but that is the Harbinger’s purpose.’
‘Liais with child,’ Kallum says, and I see Lia wince.
So does Isbeth.
I take my female’s hand.
‘Who is Lia?’ the councilman mutters. ‘Oh, the human.’
‘Our femaleis with child,’ Dane snarls. 'She will not be traveling the Breach again, no matterher purpose.’
‘She won’t have to,’ Kallum states. ‘All she needs to do is open it. We have a fae in the fold we can trust, a healer named Jak.’
‘Very well. Thirty guards will accompany you.’
‘No,’ I say.
Isbeth blinks, and her sharp gaze lands on me. ‘No?’
‘With respect, Kallum, Dane, and I should be the only ones to reenter the fold. The fae there know us, and we might be able to convince them that Varrik has ordered them to go.’
‘You wish to trick them?’
Dane nods. ‘I’ll be faster than trying to explain. We don’t have time.’
Isbeth turns to the others, and they confer in low voices.
‘Very well,’ she says a moment later. ‘You will travel to the fold. You will begin the evacuation. The Harbinger will send you, and after half an hour, she’ll open the Breach again at the same location. We’ll bring them straight to the area we’ve set aside. They’ll be treated kindly and given whatever they need.’ She turns to one of the others. ‘We’ll need to get information together for them to learn about the Underhill and who we are to them. Can I leave that with you, Gella?’
The councilor nods at Isbeth. ‘Of course.’
‘Go, then,’ Isbeth says. ‘Lia, if you open the Breach in the camp, will it open in the same place in Varrik’s fold?’
Lia nods. ‘Yes, the Harbinger says that the tides of the Breach won’t change too much in half an hour. It should open in the same spot exactly both times if I open them in the same place here.’
