Page 114 of Lethal Souls
Killian picks his mother up in his arms, and I don’t miss the tears accumulating in his eyes as the top of her head presses against his cheek.
“I’ve got you, Mum,” Killian whispers, walking past me and Hassha. “You’re all right.”
“What the fuck just happened?” Rowan shouts, grimacing at Hassha and Korah. “You swore we were protected! You swore we were safe until the bloody war. That is our mother, for Vakeeli’s sake! She could have died.”
For once, Hassha falters. “I truly don’t know how this has happened. It shouldn’t have been possible. We sealed all barriers. We made sure there could not be any leaks.”
“You don’t know?” Rowan shoots back. He clenches a fist, and his face reddens. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this serious, this angry. “My mother nearly died, and you don’t know how she was attacked?”
“Selah shouldn’t have been able to reach your mother,” Hassha says. “Every single territory is protected from her energy, so that means she shouldn’t be able to infiltrate any of them—especially not Blackwater. There is nothing she can do until the war begins.”
“What about gaps? Like the fight you had with her in the village?” Rowan asks. “Those creatures crawled right through because you weren’t focused on protecting that part.” Rowan’s knuckles whiten as he grips his gun tighter.
“I guarantee you, she cannot breach the barrier,” Hassha declares. “We made sure.”
“So how did this happen?” Caz’s voice is laced with anger too.
Hassha and Korah glance at each other, uncertainty swirling in their sparked gazes.
“You promised us the truth.” Caz’s voice is darker, dripping with fury. “Spare no detail.”
Korah takes a sharp inhale before setting it free. “There is only one sure way we can think of where Selah could’ve breached us and gotten to Maeve,” she says.
“It means there is a traitor in Blackwater.” Hassha looks at each of us with skepticism. “Someone here has made an agreement with Selah.”
SEVENTY
WILLOW
“No one under this roof rests until we find out who the traitor is. Is that understood? No one!” Caz slams the door to his office as soon as we’re all packed inside.
Not that I thought it would be anyone from his clan, but Hassha and Korah did readings on all of us. We went with her to find Killian and Maeve so she could read them too. After checking Makoto last, I sighed, relieved. He and the whole clan are clear.
But there are so many new people in Blackwater. Even the civilians could be suspects.
There’s Valden, for example. How he suddenly just dropped in to “see” The Regals. Maybe he was coerced to come here but is using Alora as a front.
And then there’s Danica who was spying on me and Korah. My heart hurts to think it could be her. After all, Hassha and Korah did kill her mate. Maybe she knew she could be healed by Hassha—maybe Selah told her—and she took her chance to get better just to strike. I’d like to think she’d never side with the woman who tainted my brother’s mind and forced Hassha and Korah’s hand, though. No, if anything, Selah is the greater evil.
“Killian, I want you to bring Danica to me,” Caz demands.
Killian nods and heads out.
“I’ll search deeper into Valden’s mind.” Hassha is already at the door.
“Can you not tell who it is right now? Without having to read their minds?” Caz asks before she can walk out.
“Not unless they’re nearby.”
“I just don’t understand why anyone would side with her.” Juniper slouches deeper in a chair.
“Knowing her, she promised this person something,” Korah says.
“What could she possibly promise them if the whole world will be destroyed?” Juniper counters.
“If Selah is to destroy this world, she will not let it lie in ash without a puppet,” Korah says. “She’ll need someone who doesn’t think like those creatures she’s created. Someone who doesn’t care about the fate of Vakeeli as long as they survive and get what they want.”
“That could be anyone,” Caz mutters. “Do you know how many people curse the land of Vakeeli everyday? How many people hate it here?”