10. Chapter Ten

Before I entered my house, I heard the soft talking. My porch didn't squeak, so the only person I knew would realize I was there would be Heath. He'd been able to listen to my conversation with the fae without joining in, so I knew he would let me hang out on the porch for a moment to listen.

"At least one of his brothers will be working against him. Brion always knew when I passed away he would have to return to his duties. While that family has a strict protocol they follow, there are no laws against them killing each other."

"Sounds like a fucked-up wolf pack," Heath said, groaning. "So, we've got the oldest of the sidhe going to war with each other over a throne and position on the Tribunal."

"It's more than just prestige. The wealth of a fae is based on the holdings of the fae. How many castles they keep, which parts of the fae land, who answers to them. Brion once told me his son, before ours were born, would hold everything, but…there's a reason to think that didn't happen. His brothers weren't supposed to take the throne. One of them did, the next oldest."

"His son was supposed to," Heath said softly. "But didn't…or couldn't?"

"We don't know. Brion knows he's alive, but he hasn't connected with that son in over fifty years."

I walked in and let the eyes fly to me—except Heath's, who wasn't surprised by my appearance.

"They're immortal," I said patiently. "Fifty years means nothing to them. In a few hundred years, it'll mean nothing to your sons if they're also immortal."

Rian narrowed his eyes on me. "Does it mean anything to you?"

"I'm only thirty-nine. I haven't lived that long, so yeah, it means something to me, but I have siblings who have lived thousands of years. When I ignored them for over five years, they didn't think it was pressing to deal with and would have gotten around to talking to me when I was ready. They probably would have been fine waiting another couple of decades before they tried to force it."

There were only a couple of pairs in the family who would quickly press an issue with another. Zuri and Jabari never went more than a year without speaking with each other, except from one story I heard when they disagreed about how to rule an entire continent and had ignored each other for thirty years. It was the only time I ever heard of them outright ignoring each other for longer than a year. They were too closely bonded to each other.

Heath looked uncomfortable, but he didn't offer any information to the contrary.

"What's his name?" I asked Fiona. "This son of Brion's who was supposed to take the throne for his father."

"I…I don't know," she admitted, her shame overfilling the room with its bitter scent.

I couldn't stop the next words that came out of my mouth—cruel, petty, and mean—but my temper snapped.

"You've been married to a man for what sounds like five decades, and you don't know the name of his children?" I snarled. Rian jumped up and put himself between us, but not in time for me to miss the flinch I had caused.

"He never told us," Rian bit back, defending his mother from me. "He said he was protecting us from his other family by keeping us a secret, which meant we couldn't know too much."

"Jacky, can we step out for a minute?" Heath asked, standing suddenly. "Now. You two, just sit down. Find something to eat if you want. Don't leave this house. We'll just be out in the yard." He walked to me, grabbed my elbow, and pulled. I could have resisted, but I followed him out.

"I know who it is, and I'm not really sure what we should do about it," he said softly. "How does…how does this work from your angle?"

"It's not my problem, but I would love to know what you know," I said softly. "I don't have to tell them. I'm not required to. Again, not my problem what her own husband decided to tell her or not tell her."

"Brion's son is a Tribunal Investigator. I only know of him by name."

"Why isn't he the king?" I asked.

"He abdicated immediately. The general consensus is his father dumped power on his head and abandoned him. Classic family drama. Father walked out on him, the last remaining member of their family. Brion had lost his wife and older sons already, so it was just him and his son left."

"What's his son's name?" I crossed my arms, looking back at the house. I knew they wouldn't be able to hear me. There was no magic in the air to tell me Rian was trying to listen in, and we were too far away. Most fae had the same hearing as a human.

"Cassius," Heath said softly. "You don't know the name. Good. That will make this easier. I wish I knew what he looked like, but…maybe we—"

"I'm not looking for a fae princeling," I said stiffly. "No, Heath."

"You came to Dallas—"

"Carey had been taken from me. I had to do something. My charge is in there, sitting on my couch, and from the sound of it, Cassius doesn't even know she exists, or that he's an older brother to three half-fae."

"They're not half-fae." Heath shook his head, turning to look at the woods. "It's a smart lie, one that you can't scent because their mother is human, but they're not half-fae."

"Then what are they?"

"They're just fae," Heath answered, shrugging. "I think it's because of who their father is, but I would need more information. Get a good reading of Rian's scent. There's not a drop of human in it."

"This Cassius…is he like them or like Brion?"

Heath frowned. "He would be more like his father. Brion's first wife was the queen of the fae before Alvina."

That was surprisingly uncomfortable information. Fae royalty had been so vague to me. Now, it was all too real.

"They…but they're all siblings, right?"

"In the same way gods are siblings. I think. That's the feeling I've always gotten about it," Heath remarked. "Odd for us mortals to consider, but they're not…us."

"Sometimes, I'm really glad you're two hundred and fifty years old," I said, huffing. "At least you know some things."

"I'm amazed you didn't know who Cassius is. Brion was right. He and Hasan used to be friends. We used to look at Brion as a potentially hostile force if we started another war. He was always on the drawing board as one of your father's allies. Then Hasan walked away after Liza's death, and Brion disappeared. For once, werewolves really didn't have anyone challenging them. That's how we've prospered in the last century and were able to go public when the other supernatural species didn't want to. Mind you, we had a bunch of good arguments for our reasoning, but we would have never tried if Hasan had still been around."

"Or someone looking out for his interests, like an old friend who helped him find peace with his oldest enemies. A peace that would save Hasan's species," I said, nodding. "Brion would have put his foot down."

"We always assumed so," Heath agreed.

"Are there any more fascinating tidbits you would like to share?" I asked, leaning toward him, letting my hand touch his chest before I ran it over his collar bones, then over his broad shoulder.

"Not that I can think of," he said, taking my hand and kissing it. "I'm used to keeping this secret, and some of it I've tried to forget. I'm not part of that circle anymore, and repeating this sort of information could get me into trouble. When I walked away, I swore I would never mention stuff I talked about with other Alphas, and we weren't…friends yet."

"You've tried to dump it," I said softly. "So you were never a vulnerability to the werewolves."

"Yeah," he confirmed. "And when it comes to fae? I was a client to some, but the rules about werewolves and fae tangling were unspoken. A pack would go to war if a fae was stupid enough to screw with a pack member. If that pack was big enough, it could spiral out to several issues. So, everyone played nice and paid their bills on time. It kept us working together as a community, say if I needed fae charms on my vehicles, but we're not a particularly close two species. So, I only know certain things, general public and open information. Brion leaving and Cassius abdicating the throne was a political firestorm. It trickled out to us over the years. The fae don't gossip outside their own, but an overheard word here and there, and we already knew Brion was gone, and Oisin jumped into the open Tribunal spot."

"And let me guess, none of it matters to the werewolf Alpha who had a pack to run, so long as their businesses were still open," I finished for him.

"Exactly." He pushed a hand through his hair. "Jacky, twice in one week, I've lost my temper—"

"Twice in a week, you've been confronted with something that could hurt your family." I knew better than to accept this apology. "Not telling you about Brion rightfully earned your anger with me, but I won't apologize for it, and I won't accept an apology for a reaction I deserved. So, let's just drop it?"

He sighed, nodding. "You're lucky I'm madly in love with you." He gave me a small, playful smile.

"You're lucky everyone blames this sort of trouble on me," I retorted with a smile as well, taunting and devious. I wanted to flirt with him, tease him, be normal for a minute, and his smile was the invitation I had needed.

"Excuse me? I am not the root of this." He seemed deeply offended, but his smile grew.

"I would have never met Brion and his family if not for needing to run away with Carey," I reminded him and watched him pale. I hadn't meant to do that. His scent locked down, but not before I caught a whiff of guilt as he realized I was right. "Heath—"

"You're right, aren't you? I was right." He looked away. "I really did bring all this trouble to your life."

"I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," he whispered, kissing my cheek before he walked past me and headed inside.

We had been doing so well for three years, testing the waters and finally becoming lovers, making our own sanctuary out of my territory.

Why did I feel like the honeymoon phase was over?

I followed him inside after a few minutes. Looking at Fiona and Rian, uncomfortably sitting in my living room, I eyed them for a moment, wondering how much trouble this could bring me. It was the more immediate problem. I was guarding the human wife of a fae king, and it didn't seem like anyone really knew who the enemy was.

It was, in its own way, much less complicated than my recent problems with Heath Everson. My heart wasn't on the line with the fae, only my life.

Hasan wouldn't agree with my priorities, but one of my family would.

"When either of you is in contact with the fae, who do you talk to?" I asked.

"No one important," Rian answered. "Normally, one of my older brothers, someone who can pass the word along about things going on, like you. For a long time, we were just an obscure and useless fae family. No one paid us any mind because we didn't mean anything to them. It was really easy to do because the fae don't give a damn about you unless you're nobility, then how much they care depends on the type of nobility. Are you a minor lord with a single holding who answers to someone else? Are you a knight who fights for a specific person? These things are messy and complicated, but if you have none of those claims, you might as well be invisible."

"Like humans," Heath said from his place by my kitchen. "The politician doesn't normally know the name of the factory worker." He directed that at me. "They're not like werewolves. I knew the name of every single werewolf in my pack."

"Yeah, I get it," I murmured. "So, you just stayed under the radar, a fae family no one cared about. Good. That might help keep you safe." I nodded at Fiona. "Maybe not you, Rian. If your father comes out on top, you know it's going to make you a fae prince, don't you?"

"Yeah," Rian mumbled, keeping his head down.

"We understand what's happening, Ms. Leon," Fiona said tightly.

"Do you?" Heath asked. He didn't wait for a response, walking into the kitchen.

"This can go quietly," I said as I walked into the kitchen behind him. "There's a chance everyone is going after Brion, and we'll be left alone."

"There's a chance," he agreed. "I don't know the odds because I don't know who his enemies are."

"One seems pretty obvious. If Brion goes back, Oisin loses his spot on the throne," I said with a shrug. "Right?"

"Yes."

"So, we know the Tribunal fae king can come for us. Brion already confirmed that, actually," I said, putting my hands on the counter. "Therefore, whoever might work for Oisin is the enemy. Alvina must be the fae he doesn't know about."

"Agreed," Heath said, leaning next to me on the built-in island, able to stare at each other. "The rest of the Tribunal won't join in unless Hasan discovers you're involved."

"Which is why he won't know because then everything comes crumbling down. What about Callahan and Corissa? Would they care about your involvement?"

"They would care, but if I got myself killed, they wouldn't blame the fae. They would see it as me paying the price for the decisions I've made. They wouldn't retaliate on Brion. They're not my family."

"So, asking them for help if we find trouble…"

"Would be completely pointless," Heath said, nodding. "We don't know the odds we're going to find trouble."

"No, we don't. I can only imagine how many enemies a fae king has who might want his wife and son in their hands to get him to yield."

"Too many," Heath agreed. "Why don't you head to bed?"

"What?" I frowned.

"Get some sleep. We were headed that way, anyway. You go get some sleep, and I'll keep an eye on these two. We can switch off at dawn or something."

"I would really like if—"

"Not tonight," he whispered. Before I had a chance to even make a remark, he reached out and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me into his embrace. He nuzzled into my neck, his black hair soft on my cheek. "It's not you. It's not us." There was no lie there. "It's safety. They should have someone with them as much as possible." He pulled back, his arms still around me. "You should know that."

"You stomped off, and I didn't like how you did that. I didn't like what you said before you left me outside, either," I countered.

"Tomorrow," he murmured, his lips drifting over mine. His scent held nothing about his emotional state. "I have too much on my mind with the fae to talk about us." He slowly pushed me out of the kitchen and to the bottom of my stairs.

I went up the steps, knowing I could give him a few days to think whatever he needed to.

I needed a few days as well.