Page 78 of Secrets and Ruin

I was dropped from the trap and slammed into the ground with a groan, but it didn’t shake off the strange paralysis though. Everything hurt as she stepped over me, clicking her tongue as though she was doing an inspection. Sighing, she tilted her head to match the orientation of my own, and I couldn’t help but wonder what her deal was or what she had planned for us.

“Why?” I asked, knowing I could at least talk. “Why are you helping him?”

“Do you care?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s rather simple. I made a deal with him a long time ago.” She pointed at me. “That’s where you come in, and him.” She threw a thumb at Landon. “You’re in the way, it seems. Easy enough thing to solve, along with a few other things. Now he just needs to fulfill his end of the bargain.”

“And what’s that?”

“Get rid of the Black Forest Pack,” she answered simply. “Allof it.”

32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

She took us to her home, which reminded me a lot of Niko’s safehouse, the cabin hiding in the forest.

“How did you separate us from the others?” I asked, wondering if keeping her talking was enough to stay alive.

“Illusions are important. I’ve watched how the fae do them because they can make masterful ones,” she said, chattering as if she hadn’t had company in some time. She tended the fire in her hearth before sitting down at the table near her little kitchen.

“What are you going to do to us?”

She put her head on her hands, studying me.

“What do you think I’m going to do?”

“I honestly have no idea. I’ve met a lot of witches who can do very different things. You don’t seem like the type to prey on kids, though. I’ve been told there were a few witches out here like that at one time.”

“I’m half-fae. I don’t need to prey on children.” She smirked. “I’m immortal. I was at least granted that.” She chuckled. “My mother and her husband were very jealous when they realized I had inherited the very thing they had always wanted. They did exactly as you described. They even tried to use me for it. I killed my father when I escaped during their attempt. Later, I tricked my mother into a situation she couldn’t get out of and let Nikolaus Brandt kill her for me.”

“If you don’t need to do that sort of magic, then why,” I didn’t understand. “Why did you want to destroy the pack?”

“Because they didn’t care if I was living a normal life or not. They didn’t want to help me,” she answered, her eyes suddenly flat. “They made that very clear when I went to them for help. I could have tried running and leaving this place forever, but the War made me believe this was the safest place for me. I was a girl, and this was my home. The bad things in it weren’t only my parents but also the werewolves who wanted to kill me for existing once they realized what I was. An aberration, something that shouldn’t have existed. I didn’t know what else to do. When Rainer approached me. Well, our goals aligned. At least they did at the time, but bargains don’t care about the changing of the seasons or the hearts that agreed to them.”

“I’m sorry you had to grow up like that,” I whispered honestly, feeling all too much pity for her.

“It is what it is. Now, I have to live with Rainer being back, and since he’s back, I have to fulfill my end of the bargain, and he has to fulfill his.”

“He made a lot of bargains, it seems.”

“He has, hasn’t he? The one he made with the fae. Simple and effective, that one.” She huffed. “Ours is more multifaceted and looser than that one. I provide him all sorts of things he wants or needs to go after those who stood or stand against him, so long as his old pack is destroyed in the end. Which, again, is why I have the two of you now.”

“What do you plan for us?”

“Truthfully? Rainer didn’t give me any directive. Foolish of him. He said to get you both out of his way. I don’t really have any use for you. Killing you would be the easiest, but…I spent some time out of this place, and I’m not totally ignorant of the world. Someone would come looking for you, then it would get so messy.”

“That’s. Very pragmatic of you.”

“I’ll probably hold you until the hunt is over. Either Rainer has killed Nikolaus and our bargain is fulfilled, mostly, or Nikolaus kills him, and there’s no reason for me to keep you here.”

Mostly? Oh, shit. Rainer has to die, too, doesn’t he? She’s wily, though. She’s smart. She clearly doesn’t want to be part of this anymore. A mistake she made as a child…Maybe I can work with her.

“Nikolaus isn’t part of the pack. He can’t be,” I said, hoping she was willing to listen. “Rainer is using you to kill his brother, but Nikolaus was never a proper member of the Black Forest Pack. Rainer is the last member, and he’s the only one left. He doesn’t need to kill Niko.”

“On what grounds?” she asked, frowning. “I love a loophole When I get to use them. Tell me.”

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