Destined (War of the Covens 2)

Maybe I’ve got Marita all wrong. Maybe it’s me with my stupid trace. Maybe being a half Midnight means my trace is broken. Maybe I’m the delusional one.

The truth was that she didn’t want to believe all these people she trusted were wrong and she was right. What about Marion and Magnus?

What about Albus?

What about her father?

Were they wrong? Did they give their lives to a lie?

Goddess, it was too awful to conceive.

Then she let herself feel Laila’s trace, and her gut twisted.

Could her trace really be so off that she would feel this sweetness from a girl who was evil? Was there ever really just good and evil?

Ethan had certainly been evil.

But was that like condemning Austrians because Hitler was a soulless fiend?

My head hurts.

She flopped back on her bed, staring up at the heavy silk canopy above, wishing she were anywhere but where she was.

“You have to make up your mind, Cy. Time is running out,” she snapped at herself. At this moment she was supposed to be at a water lecture. That’s what she had told Mordecai, anyway. When he realized she wasn’t there, he’d come looking for her. She was surprised, in fact, that there wasn’t a gaggle of bodies outside her room, but she guessed the ordinary candidates couldn’t access her floor.

Muffled voices suddenly floated through her walls from the hallway and she moved quick and quiet to press her ear against her door. Sure enough, she could hear voices coming from the elevator, which was at least fifteen meters around the corner and down the hall.

She recognized them. Mordecai and Marita.

Artemis, she loved her lykan hearing.

Grinning jubilantly, she pressed harder and felt her pulse race at the conversation.

“I don’t know what this plant of yours is going to pick up, Mordecai. From all accounts, she has had no one in her room.”

“The lykan. Lucien. Surely she’ll invite him into the room. We should learn something from that conversation.”

“And this plant? You’re sure it will go undetected by her?”

“Well, you could put a faerie in there if you aren’t confident in me.”

“One: Stop being impertinent. Two: You know why I can’t put a faerie into her room. It’s that bloody faerie of my sister’s, Saffron. She’s too influential among the faeries here and she happens to hold Caia in the deepest of respect, which is saying a lot for the sarcastic relic.”

“This will work, I promise.”

“And you’re sure you personally can’t learn anything more from her?”

“I told you, Marita, I got all the info I could on her special ability. I tested that tree she blew up and still nothing of any consequence. We won’t know for certain until we see it in action. But I maintain that I believe her when she says she has it under control.”

“And Jaeden?”

“I’m not going to get anything more out of her on that subject. Hence the plant.”

“Do you think she’s even aware of Jaeden’s … abilities?”

“I don’t know. But we’ll find out.”

“You better. We need that information if we want to be successful. So far the children are not reacting in any way.”

“Yes, well, this bug should tell us what we need to know.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then we find another way to get what we need. Perhaps a more direct solution, such as the one I suggested earlier.”

“It’s too risky. I told you it’s a last resort … impertinent … ”

Shock reverberated through Caia’s body. She pulled back from the door, staring at it in disbelief. Mordecai was working with Marita, trying to unearth secrets from her. What did they want with her? With Jaeden? What abilities? What children?

Oh goddess, she cupped a hand over her mouth to silence her snarl of frustration. Something seriously weird was going on here, and her spider senses were telling her it was something bad.

Enough was enough.

She straightened and glared at the doorway.

No more second-guessing herself. No more doubt. She’d been right all along. Something wasn’t right at the coven, and there were innocent people feeling the consequences, including herself and more importantly, Laila. She was getting the girl out today.

Mordecai’s and Marita’s footsteps grew closer, and Caia panicked. They couldn’t barge in here because that would be suspicious of them, and she had to maintain the cover that she trusted Mordecai completely. She began to sing loudly, making them aware of her presence. There was silence for a moment and then a soft tap on her door.

“Come in.”

Alone, Mordecai strolled in, a breezy smile on his face. “Hey, I wondered where you had gotten to. You weren’t in the lecture.”

Caia shrugged, holding her claws in tight so she wouldn’t attack the traitor right. “I just wanted to catch a breath before I head down to see Desi and Ophelia.”

He looked momentarily bewildered. “It’s just like you, Caia, to take people like Travelers under your wing.”