Page 39 of Vicious Fates and Vast Futures
WE RETURN TO RIVER’SEdge Tavern where we had met the heads of our EA last time, before the Full Moon rite where Adi killed several Fae who desperately needed it. En, Rory, Weyland, and I are settled at a table upstairs instead of the water tables. I wanted Filib off-kilter and I know he prefers his waterhorse form.
He climbs the stairs, trailed by Elen. I’m shocked by the fact that he took it upon himself to invite her.That jackass.Though I must admit, I’m slightly impressed at his first-ever show of spine.
I nod to them both as they sit at our table, Filib looking nervous and Elen calmly arranging her lightweight gown. A quick round of introductions and I jump straight to it.
“We need your support.”
Elen’s magic rolls over me. I haven’t spent much time in close quarters with gwyllions, but I believe her magic to be conscious and that annoys the fuck out of me. It’s one thing to be wrapped in an aura that is magic, that you have no control over, that causes people to react to it. And it’s another thing entirely to push that magic out consciously. I let my annoyance show on my face, because I probably shouldn’t openly say anything. I dislike her magic forcing me to find her attractive, so I let my anger about it hit her and smirk when she gasps. I feel her magic pull back as she puts up her personal shields.
Filib clears his throat, obviously feeling my frustration as well. “Bryn, I thought we had shown our support and loyalty at your, uh, last meeting.”
The one where I dropped a few council members to the ground. I smile at the memory. “The Upper Council is meeting in secret. None of the heads from any of the FECs have been notified.”
Filib’s eyes widen but Elen understands immediately. “You think the council members you killed were in league with the Upper members.”
I nod. “Yes. I think there are plants in every Lower Council. Similar uprisings to the ones in Glario are being seen in all the FECs I have informants in.”
“But the uprisings hereended,” Filib says with a bit of whine in his voice.
I spare a moment to remind myself that I shouldn’t call him an idiot in front of everyone. “Yes. Because Osmund, Rory, Weyland, and I killed them all.”
A strangled, surprised noise emerges from Filib but Elen nods. “The dead council members were leading them?”
“Indeed.”
Elen’s eyes settle on Nairna, who has been sitting silently with her best distant-but-on-edge guardsman face on. En ignores her with the utter disregard only a haughty unseelie can produce.
“But why would the Upper Council be causing riots and planting people?” Filib blithely complains.
I close my eyes for a moment but manage not to rub my head. Nepotism at its best. If his father and uncle weren’t the richest and most infamous kelpies ever to grace the Earth, there would be no way he’d be here. Thank Goddess Elen isn’t stupid, at least.
I lean forwards, placing my forearms on the table. “I think they intend to overthrow the US government.Now. I don’t believe they will wait on the Lower Councils’ vote of approval. Because they most likely won’t ever get it.”
“How would uprisings make that happen?” Filib asks.
A look crosses En’s face and her eyes flick to me. I bite my cheek to keep from chuckling. Once you know her, her face is as easy to read as Adi’s and I love it, the cold-hearted bitch. She thinks he’s an utter moron. She’s not wrong.
Filib continues blathering on aimlessly. “This just doesn’t make any sense? What would they gain?”
Nairna apparently can’t take it any longer. “Are all kelpies this dense?” she asks, looking at me. “Or is this a trait particular to him?”
“I beg your pardon?” Filib blurts.
En raises her sculpted grey eyebrows, disdainful look firmly in place. “Thenbeg,Filib.”
Silence, interrupted only by the clink of silverware from nearby tables, surrounds us for a few heartbeats until Rory, unusually tactful, clears his throat. “Uprisings and riots will make the populace feel unsteady. The Upper Council is sowing discontent. They want the Fae outraged at the US government so they will support a larger uprising. The Upper Council has realized that the Lower Councils won’t push for such radical change. It probably started when we, I mean, Bryn, put down the splinter cell after the Mabon Bombing.”
“No, Rory,we. You have been instrumental,” I correct quietly.
Weyland’s eyes flick to me in approval. He clears his throat, his hand on the table curling into a fist. “My brother Elias is in FEC3. He and his husband have been...involved in some not-strictly-legal activities. I have a feeling he’s connected to the EA there. That is, Bryn, if you need more eyes on the ground.”
Elen nods. “My sister is in FEC6. She is the partner of a powerful family’s scion. I can see what she knows as well.”
I nod slowly as I process the implications of their offers. The Upper Council wants Fae to feel oppressed. This will cause them to either rise up naturally or, at the very least, support the pushto separate from the US. A wide-scale approach will be needed to keep bloodshed to a minimum. We need to cow them into submission. Or at least back into waiting in the wings.
“Good, good. Contact them.” I turn and my eyes take in Filib, sitting awkwardly, shaggy brown hair half covering his eyes. I smile at him. “I have a special job for you.”
He swallows noticeably. “And what might that be, Bryn?”
