Page 61 of Mayhem and Ember

She picked up a glass of wine and drained the contents in three gulps before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Can you keep a secret?”

Miles leaned toward her. “I won’t tell a soul.”

She shifted her gaze from left to right before resting a hand on the table. “They’re here because of us. Well, because of Adrian, our High Priest. He called them here.”

Ember locked eyes with Ash, her expression one of alarm.

“What do you mean?” Miles asked. “They’re coming through the rifts. The lesser fae have come through for years.”

“The big guys…?” Her hand trembled as she picked up her spoon and scooped the soup. The liquid fell from the utensil before it reached her mouth. “They can make themselves invisible, right?”

Miles nodded.

“It’s the same ones then.” She blew out a hard breath. “We have several volumes of a fae encyclopedia in our library, and Adrian has been obsessed with reading them. With the veil as thin as it is now, he got this delusional idea that, if he could convince this half-blooded prince to invade, they could join forces and basically take over the world.”

Miles tilted his head. “Your High Priest thinks he can achieve world domination with the fae?”

“I told you he was delusional.” She dipped a piece of bread into her soup and shoved it into her mouth. “It’s why I joined Chrys’s coup.”

Ember unmuted the phone. “Get her to elaborate.”

“Obviously,” Miles said, quickly straightening at his faux pas. “I mean, that’s the obvious thing to do when your leader wants to upset the balance of the realms.”

“Right? I tried to tell people that, but they didn’t want to listen.” She waved a hand dismissively. “If Chrys hadn’t gone nutso and tore our library apart, we might not be in this situation. She killed one of your members too. The woman was certifiably batshit.”

“Poor Miles.” Ash scrunched her face. “The person she killed was Miles’s girlfriend.”

Anger sparked in my chest. Miles was a loyal witch who obeyed orders without protest. Any coven would be lucky to have members like him. “You should have let me burn through her to avenge his lover’s death.”

“Shh.” Ember pressed a finger to her lips. “Listen.”

“We’re still reeling from that,” Miles said. “How did she recruit? What was her purpose in staging the coup?”

“She was secretive about it all. She’d hang around Boston, catching us when we were alone and feeding us BS about how powerful she was, and that once she summoned some demon prince, she’d have the power to overthrow both Boston and Salem.” Her hands steadied, and she poured herself another glass of wine, leaving Miles’s glass empty.

“When we told her about what Adrian had done, she promised to stop it from happening. Then she went nuts and got herself killed. I figured we’d be banished, but Adrian forgave us all.”

I leaned back in my chair. “He probably planned to feed them to the fae.”

“Indeed,” Chaos agreed.

“How did Adrian contact the fae?” Miles added more wine to Wendy’s glass. I appreciated his interrogation technique. Loose lips spilled more secrets.

“He attached a letter to a lesser fae and sent it through a rift like a carrier pigeon. They went back and forth for a week or so before the scouts arrived. Now that the soldiers are here, though…” She took another drink.

“They’re like mindless killing machines.” She scoffed. “There’s no alliance. Adrian invited the monsters into our realm, and they’ve already turned against him. I don’t think the fae ever planned to work with us.”

She swayed in her chair, her words beginning to slur. “You should talk to your High Priestess. Maybe our covens can form an alliance to kick the fae to the curb.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Miles said.

“Don’t tell her about all this though. I’m not even supposed to know the details. People talk in front of me because no one takes me seriously. But we haven’t killed a single one. You have, so Adrian will listen to you.”

Miles patted her hand on the table. “I’ll see what I can do.”

21

MAYHEM

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