Another thought occurred to me. “Can the coven use these archives to traverse our world as well?”
“Yes,” Vasco answered slowly. “There are only four at any given time, one established for each compass point. Their tethers can be moved, but it requires great strength and a large coven to anchor them. I had no idea the southernmost one had been relocated to Atlanta until Bishop texted me.”
How or why Bishop had him on speed dial wasn’t any of my business, so I didn’t ask.
“It can’t have been here long,” he continued. “I would have noticed the smell.”
“The archive smells?”
“Like home,” Vasco said wistfully. “It will draw fae to it like flies to honey.”
“And the coven will kill them,” Bishop said harshly. “Or worse.”
Meaning they would add the interesting ones to the coven’s growing collection and dispatch the rest.
“That explains why they’re impossible to find these days.”
This might also be the reason Liz blew her cover. She was active prior to my family’s arrival, meaning the coven had been willing to sacrifice a critical asset even before they diverted her focus to keeping me too busy to discover what they felt was worth the loss of a well-liked and well-established mole to accomplish.
“You have the sight,” Vasco agreed. “It forced them to hide in less obvious places.”
“What would have happened if we had stepped into the archive?”
The sound of Midas’s voice brought my head up and my attention to him.
“A thing possessed cannot be possessed,” he said to Midas while staring at me. “You, however, would have been taken. The souls are hungry, and the wearing of them is all that sates the gnaw in their guts. It’s a phantom sensation that only eases when they’re working in concert with the coven. That’s how the coven controls them. The ravenous things are all too eager for relief when they’re called to ever turn down a summons.”
Blocking out the horror of their existence, I focused on the details. “You’re saying I can go down safely?”
“Down, yes. Safely, no.”
“You’re incredibly helpful.” I slow-clapped for him. “Really. I mean it. A true giver.”
“Shadow child, nothing in this life is free.” A cruel smile twitched on his lips. “You ought to know the cost of ambition better than anyone. Who are you to judge the price or those willing to pay it?”
Temper on the rise, Bishop intervened. “Enough.”
“We’ve reached the end of our bargain,” Vasco told him. “My portion of our business is concluded.”
“Agreed,” Bishop exhaled. “I’ll stop by later with the payment.”
Lust glittered in Vasco’s eyes as they swept over Bishop’s grim face. “I look forward to collecting.”
Under his breath, Bishop muttered a response in a language unknown to me that made Vasco laugh.
From the way Midas stared at the floor, I got the sense he understood but wished he hadn’t.
I was definitely asking him about it later.
After our guest left, through the window, which had me questioning how functional his tattoo might be, I flopped down onto the couch, sank into the cushions, and debated shutting my eyes until I fell asleep. I must not be the only one wishing I could sleep off the nightmare scenario Vasco had dumped in our laps. The others claimed their own spots, and we all just sat and let this latest revelation settle around us.
“Do we have to poke the hornets’ nest?” Lisbeth wondered out loud. “Can’t we ward it to keep others out, them in, and leave it be?”
“We could,” Ford said, thinking along the same lines, “but that would mean dumping the problem in someone else’s lap to solve later.”
Oh, how tempting that would be. To drape it around the next potentate’s shoulders when the time came. Except for the fact I had untold years ahead of me and no idea how many of them I would spend as champion of this city. The pack was here, so Midas would stay, which meant I would too, but early retirement sounded sweet right about now.
Thanks to Remy, I had a budding sheet empire to fall back on.
Thanks to Midas, I was co-beta and had a pack to help manage.
Thanks to Linus, I had the cash to do pretty much anything I wanted.
But thanks to Ambrose, I was in a unique position to fight back against the coven.
Atlanta was my home now, and its citizens were mine to protect. I had family here. Midas, Tisdale, Remy, Ford, Bishop, and the rest of the team. I had worked too hard to walk away from my duty because it was hard or scary or—let’s be honest—likely to kill me.
“We can’t,” I contradicted him. “Natisha wants those beating hearts for a reason. Seven of them. That’s a magical number.” I flicked a glance at Bishop, who had warned me realm walking might be in her plans. “Now we’ve got a much clearer idea what doors she can unlock if we give her the right keys.”
“She’s right.” Midas lent his weight to my argument. “We can’t hand Natisha that type of power.”
“You must honor the bargain.” Bishop frowned in Ford’s direction. “You won’t like the consequences if you don’t.”
“We’ll honor the bargain,” I assured him, since we had no choice if we wanted to keep Ford alive. “We’ll just have to find a way around giving her what she wants.”
Lisbeth curled into Ford’s side. “How do we do that?”
“I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “I’m working on it.”
“I’m sorry.” Ford rubbed the base of his neck. “I didn’t mean to make more work for you.”
“You’re worth it,” Lisbeth said with quiet certainty. “You’re a good man, Ford.”
“She’s right.” I smiled at him, but it was as tired as it was true. “You are worth it.”
“The coven is an issue she would have faced regardless.” Bishop tossed in his two cents. “The archive is too. Your role in the bargain is one complication in dozens, the proverbial needle in a haystack by comparison.”
Brow wrinkling,
