Page 194 of Gift from the Wing

“It’s not my story to tell…yet.”

Her lids flutter open, and guilt swells in her eyes along with water. I don’t believe the guilt has anything to do with the vampire’s death, though, more so being the one who had to tell Keeper whatever her crypticmessage means.

“Draken, would you please use your flames?” Keeper asks quietly.

“Yeah, of course.”

His blue flames obey his call, lighting Renic’s body on fire, and the smell of burning hair flows through the room. That pungent stench is enough to make my nose twitch, and I use my air to circulate the reek out the door. It minimally helps, but soon enough, there’s nothing but ash on the floor.

“Is there anything prudent I need to hear?” Keeper asks as he comes to stand in front of Willow.

“Nothing we can’t catch you up on.”

Nodding, he pulls her into his arms for a hug that they both seem to need, and the four of us just stare curiously.

Dying on the inside to know what the hell is happening.

“Do not feel burdened by telling me that. That is a truth I’ve searched for, for many years without any proof. Thank you, Adored,” he whispers into her hair before striding toward the door otherwise wordlessly.

“Where’s he going?” Draken asks with concern lacing his question.

“To Tanith. He just needs a few minutes to calm down,” she says lightly, holding her hand out for him to take.

He accepts it easily, but his face is twisted in confusion and his eyes bounce from between her and the door Keeper just exited. I’m sure more than any of us, he wants to know what just caused that.

“Then let’s go hear what you learned, little warrior,” Tillman says steadily. The strain in his shoulders tells me he’s not reading her mind like he desperately wants to, and she knows it too, by the small smile she offers him.

“Cas,” I say, giving him the go-ahead to move us.

Instead of the foyer, he whisks us through the shadows until we’re in what we’ve deemed Willow’s lounge. It’s most certainly her space, handcrafted to perfection with everything she ever wanted in a room just for her to relax.

We all plop down on the couch heavily, and the tense, confused silence stretches on. There’s a weight sitting on Willow that I can feel all over my body and my brothers nor I know what to do in this moment. This isn’tsomething she’s told us about, which means she can’t. For now, if I picked up on her ‘yet’ correctly.

“The Summum-Master has been going to the nonmagical realm over the last few weeks. He must be using some sort of concealment to not be noticed by the recon teams hiding out,” Willow finally says, breaking the rigid hush in the room. “Renic has been watching him bring in men. It’s obviously nonmagical men, seeing as he leaves alone but returns with someone. The last man he arrived back with was the scientist, Drin. He didn’t look more powerful or any different, but who fucking knows with that cloak and illusion covering his face. But he’s still stealing gifts.”

Fuck.

I lock down the rage attempting to crawl up my throat and spew through my lips. I had a hunch the news had something to do with the Summum-Master, but I wasn’t prepared to hear he’s brought in another scientist. Not any old scientist, but the fucker who drew her blood from the time she was a child.

We’ve been asking ourselves how or if he was still going to be able to perform the ritual without a skilled scientist there to brew and administer the infection, then aid him with the ritual. Just because we knew about Drin, we figured since he’s been stuck in the nonmagical realm for fuck knows how long, he wouldn’t have the knowledge Ale or Darstein did on the infection or ritual to transfer the gifts.

Assumptions. We’ve been making far too many of them lately and they’re posing to be no help.

Based on her vision of the Summum-Master, we’ve also assumed we’d have time to stop him from moving to the Valorian Veil by destroying her blood supply.

That possibility is still there, but it just got a lot more dangerous and needs to happen sooner rather than later.

If he’s moving men in to power them up, he’ll be powering himself next.

“This doesn’t change the plans. As of today’s reports,” Tillman waits, looking at me, and I nod, knowing what he wants to know, “All the main portals are still closed, so he isn’t traveling that way. Fromwhat we gathered from shit in Uncle Orien’s room, if he was going through the nonmagical realm to access other portals there, it’s time-consuming and he’d be gone longer than what you’re telling us. So for now, we stick to our plan.

“Does it suck he’s stealing gifts? Fuck yes, absolutely, but we have no way of tracking down every possible concealed structure, and that hastily made decision will cost us lives. You’re the only person I know who can tear the concealments down, little warrior, and you can’t be all over the realm at once. I’ll form teams of scouts, call in our Master Geographers and find the most secluded areas in Elementra to send teams to watch for activity. Once we destroy your blood and retrieve Codi’s brothers, we will make offensive moves and start hitting possible locations. Does that answer the majority of what’s running through everyone’s heads?”

We all nod.

I’m already making a list of the top Geographers I know and where they are. We can get them in here today, and they can begin mapping out the best possible locations. I’ll ask Gaster to lead this up. With his already extensive knowledge, he can aid and lead them on what we want better than even we can.

“I’ve got to figure out this portal situation. I need to close the one to the nonmagical realm. If Keeper can confirm from the vampires that the Summum-Master is currently in Elementra, I need to keep it that way.” Willow blows out a heavy breath, her disappointment spreading through the room.

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