Page 74 of Wicked Enemy
“What brings you here?”
He fiddled with the button on his shirt sleeve while his gaze flitted around my throne room again, as if he felt intimidated by the massive throne and the high ceiling and all the chains that hung across it. Which was of course the exact reason why I had designed this room to look like that. I wanted people to be intimidated by my power.
Or perhaps he was simply intimidated by the sheer number of dark mages that filled the room. Regardless, the result was the same.
Then he stopped fiddling and stood up straighter. Blowing out a bracing breath, he met my gaze head on. “We’ve come to warn you.”
Surprise flickered through me, and I raised my eyebrows. “About what?”
He motioned towards one of his companions. It was a man in his thirties, with matted brown hair and brown eyes that pulsed with worry.
“I, uhm,” the man began, meeting my gaze with those uncertain eyes. “I own a tavern on territory that belongs to the House of Lightning. And I overheard some of Mr. Bale’s men talking about… well, about an attack.”
My interest sharpened. “What kind of attack?”
“On you, sir. It sounded like the House of Lightning has joined forces with both the House of Stone and Onyx because they were talking about a joint attack on your Court.”
“When?”
“In the next few days.”
Fuck. It took all of my self-control to stop myself from growling that and instead say, “Thank you for the information.”
He nodded and then moved back half a step before glancing over at Ralph.
The restaurant owner just held my gaze as he said, “That’s not all.”
Breaking eye contact, he motioned towards his second companion. The woman was wearing a well-cut blue dress, and she looked a lot less scared than the other guy had been.
“My husband works on the north side,” she said, meeting my gaze. “And that whole side has been in an uproar since your people…” She glanced at the mass of dark mages all around her before finishing with, “Escaped.”
“Go on.”
“The parliament is furious with the constables for letting the prisoners escape. And now, to save face, they’re planning a full-scale attack on the south side.”
“When?”
If she answered,in the next few days, I was going to scream.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she replied, “Soon.”
Which was just as bad. But I thankfully managed to suppress the urge to hurl a metal sheet at the wall just to hear the satisfying bang it would create.
Instead, I narrowed my eyes at her and then Ralph and asked, “Why are you telling me this?”
She blinked in surprise, and then both of them looked towards Ralph. He also stared at me in confusion.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Warning me about the attack from the other Houses, I can understand. Or at least I can now after you’ve told me that you prefer to be ruled by me rather than the other dark mages.” I cocked my head. “But why warn me about an attack from the white boots? You don’t like dark mages. Don’t you want the constables to sweep in and bring law and order to the south side?”
The three of them exchanged what could only be described as a guilty look.
Ralph cleared his throat a bit self-consciously. “It’s true that we are not particularly fond of dark mages.” His gray eyes flitted across the four of us. “No offense.”
“But…?” I prompted.