31. TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SIX

Wren

IsatonRowan’s lap in his chair while the rest of my mates stood behind us.

Drecken had come to the academy on behalf of the rest of the council. Blair, Tabitha, Trixie, and Norman were here as well. Surprisingly, Rebeka had also come. Dad and Faith were here on behalf of the human faction as well.

Rowan’s office seemed so small with this many people gathered in here at once.

Drecken ran a hand through his green hair with a sigh. “You’re telling me there are actual humans who don’t want to kill supernaturals?”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Perhaps because there’s only a couple of hundred in the faction. They’ve been staying on human territory next to Fate Hollow in a remote cabin village,” Rowan explained.

“Of course they have.” Drecken pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s great that there are humans noble enough to want equality.” His sharp gaze turned to Faith. “However, your species has far superior numbers of those who are malicious against us.”

“We believe those humans should be wiped out if that’s the case,” Faith supplied, squeezing Dad’s hand.

Rowan ran a heated hand up and down my spine. My ears and tail sprouted as a yelp left my lips.

I hid my face in Rowan’s neck. “It’s your heat,” I blamed.

He chuckled. “Arctic shifters.”

“Yes, but an interesting pair you make.” Drecken smirked as the rest of the room chuckled.

“Here is what we know about the dragons.” Rowan took pity on me and changed the topic. “They have crushed every single known human facility other than two. These two facilities are huge, and there’s a great chance that the relic is being kept at one of them. The dragons know this. Human numbers have dwindled thanks to the dragons, and the only reason that the human faction rooting for equality hasn’t been hit is because nobody knows about you.”

Faith nodded. “Yes, we know this.”

“Why stay silent? Why not pair up with us sooner?” Drecken fired the questions at her.

“We didn’t think we’d get the chance to talk to you, but Cooper was fiercely ambitious about seeing his daughter and assumed that since she mated someone powerful…” She stared at Rowan and me before shifting her gaze back to Drecken. “Maybe you would give us a chance to explain ourselves.”

“Calculating but smart,” Rowan mused. “Rebeka, explain to us about the necromancer.”

She stepped forward, wringing her hands together. “First of all, I want to apologize for disappearing twice. It wasn’t my intent.”

“Well, you disappeared a lot through the years,” Drecken huffed. “Just explain yourself.”

“Right. Well, my great great grandfather is a necromancer or rather was before he created the relic. But his main goal is to retrieve his soul from the relic, and the only way that can happen is if the relic is destroyed. So yes, he is working with the humans—but he was only working to destroy the relic. He has contacted me and told me which facility the relic is at, and he’s told me how to destroy it.”

“Which facility?” Drecken interrupted.

She rolled her eyes and pointed to one of the two facility blueprints on my desk. “He said if we can find a crystal or ritual strong enough to strip all magical and life energy like a blackhole, it would be destroyed. It needs the life force of the soul to be sucked out or it won’t break. Unfortunately, the crystal they’ve been manipulating won’t do that.”

The room went silent as all eyes wandered toward Thorn. “We had already planned on using a crystal in hopes to destroy the relic. I’ve spoken to my brother, and I’ve gained approval to get the crystal. We go Saturday. No more than five of us can go so as to not draw suspicion.”

“Wren, Thorn, Damien, Alister, and Kian will go,” Rowan stated, and Thorn nodded as they shared a look like they’d discussed this beforehand.

“Why do I get left out again?” Rhett crossed his arms with a huff.

“Counselor duties during war time.” Lachlan ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t know why I’m being left out, though.”

“Honestly, Damien with his shadows, Kian’s magic, Thorn being from the land and knowing where to go, Alister with his knowledge of crystals, and Wren with her power, that team makes the most sense.”

“Makes sense to me.” Trixie shrugged.

“I don’t know if we can continue to trust you, Rebeka.” Drecken ran a hand down his face as Alister stepped forward.

“It’s true that she hasn’t been forthcoming, but she has also never lied.”

“Very well. Just be aware that the council will be keeping an eye on everything.”

“We have spies with the other humans planted there as well,” Faith spoke up. “We know their plan is to go after Blezen first. We have some technology imbued with magic, and I wanted to offer it to you to study.”

Norman stepped forward with a giddy look on his face and grabby hands as she pulled out a strange contraption from her bag.

“They made it to hold the tourmalyke crystal so they could point and use it to drain all at the magical energy at once.”

She handed it over to Norman, who was smiling like an arctic shifter in the dead of winter. “I wonder what could be done with the crystal Thorn is getting… Thorn, get two of them.”

“That’s not happening. I am only getting one.”

Norman pouted his lip and rolled his eyes as if he expected it. “I’ll catch up later. I’ll be in my lab. I’m going to go look at this.” He swooped over and grabbed Trixie who sent me a quick wave and mouthed an I love you before walking out the door with her crazed dragon boyfriend.

“We have one day until you collect the crystal, and we will be keeping an eye on everything with the war. We will be in touch.” Drecken snapped his fingers and disappeared.

My body relaxed as people started saying their goodbyes and leaving the room.

I’d estimated the war to be a century long, but by the rate we were going, it didn’t seem like it would last that long.

The scary part was, even with more people stepping up, I still didn’t know who had a better chance of winning.