Page 119 of Lethal Souls

All the Rippies? My heart pumps faster, but I grip my gun tighter, refusing to let him get a reaction out of me. “On your knees.”

He sighs, and when he drops to his knees, his shoulders slump like he’s been relieved of a great burden.

“I know you’re angry, but there is no way we can win this war, Caz,” he says. “My people suffered long enough under Decius’s spell. Most of our lives were robbed from us, and we were used as pawns. We don’t want that again—I don’t want that again. And before you go chasing after the Whisper Grovians, you should know it was only me who took the Rippies out. I poisoned their food. No one else knows about Selah, but she spoke to me in my dreams. She promised that once the war was over she’d create my wife and daughter again, just as I last remembered them.” He swipes at his face to remove the fallen tears. “She said she’d make me the new leader after the war. Said I would be the one she chose to rebuild Vakeeli.”

“She lied to you,” I rasp. “Have you learned nothing?”

“I know that so far she has attacked every single territory but mine,” he counters matter-of-factly. “She hasn’t done anything to Whisper Grove, and that must be for a reason. She chooses us. I’ve learned that the best way to beat this is to join the winning side. She’s a lot stronger than the other two. I’m sure you can sense that.”

“But she’ll never be stronger than what I become,” I tell him.

I clench my jaw and tap in with Willow.

Willow, tell Korah to meet me near the forest behind the tavern. I found our traitor.

You did? Who is it?

Conan.

I throw up my mind’s wall. I don’t want her hearing what comes next.

As I keep my gun pointed at him, I feel a familiar buzz on my skin. Korah appears out of thin air, standing a few steps away and glaring down at Conan.

“Search him,” I say, and she doesn’t hesitate to rush him and grip his head, digging deep.

Conan cries just as Alora did, possibly louder, until Korah snatches her claws away. With a step back, she looks at me and nods.

“He watched Maeve in the gardens for a while. Waited before he spoke to her,” Korah says. “He took her hand and shook it before he departed and forced Selah’s energy onto her. Maeve assumed he was making a casual visit to prepare for the war.”

And he did all this right under my fucking nose. Tainted my aunt. Nearly killed her, Willow, and Juniper.

I was wrong about Alora.

Wrong about Danica.

Wrong about Valden.

All of these were people ready to help me. None of them asked me for a damn thing, and I broke their trust. Even if we survive this war, my alliances with them will never be the same.

I’ve been wrong so many times in the span of hours, and I feel like I’m failing. I feel like I’m losing my fucking mind, and it’s exactly what that evil bitch wants.

She wants me to lose my trust, to lose my faith. She wants me to lose myself.

She and Conan hit me where I was weakest. They forced my hand on the people who were only willing to assist.

The rage courses through me, and I swear the silvery moonlight bleeds red the longer I stare at him.

Korah shifts closer to me. “Caspian, allow me to handle hi?—”

The blast of my gun ricochets through the hollows of the forest. With a bullet in the middle of his head, Conan’s body thuds to the ground.

I drop my arm, still staring at the space where he kneeled before.

Korah says nothing, but I feel her looking right at me.

I turn away from her to face the forest.

“Tell Willow I’ll return soon.” I leave before she can ask where I’m going.