Page 47 of Elven Prince

“Maybe he’s testing out a new strategy,” Tig offered.

Maxwell held Rebecca’s gaze even as he answered the question. “No. Harkennr’s not the kind of tiger that changes his stripes.”

“What the hell’sthatsupposed to mean?” Lerrick asked.

Tig shrugged.

Rebecca and Maxwell ignored the question.

“Then again,” the shifter added, “Harkennr did seem particularly out of favor with the way things were done back where he came from. He might have decided to buck tradition and go with something like this. And I’d say he has more reason than anyone else to go after our supply chain after what we did to his.”

“If we were talking about anyone else,” Rebecca said, “I’d say you’re right. But he wouldn’t buck traditionthatmuch. Not after he’s already gone through such pains to make everything he does in this world exude some flavor of Xahar’áhsh and his rejected place in it.”

Please don’t ask me how I’m so sure of it,she thought.Not now.

“What about Eduardo?” Lerrick asked.

“Eduardo’s a moron,” Maxwell snapped. “He couldn’t have organized something like this. Not without help. He wouldn’t be the one behind it.”

“What about the shitheads who put Nyx out of commission and snatched up the rest of her team?” Tig asked. “They could’ve done this, right? They already led us on a wild goose chase once before.”

“That’s also a possibility,” Rebecca said, nodding slowly as she mulled it over. “But neither of you were there with us when we found Diego, Burke, and Titus that night. There was warped magitek all over the amusement park. No sign of it here. No sign of anything here. That’s too much of a leap to pin it on the same people. And whoever they were, those assholes had a deadly fondness for theatricality.”

Maxwell snorted through a deadpan glare. “Don’t remind me.”

“What we stumbled into during that rescue mission and this?” She gestured around them. “They’re completely different. That night was all for show, hoping enough chaos and confusion would lead us to blow ourselves to bits so the enemy wouldn’t have to. This is completely different. Understated. Subtle.”

“A whole warehouse crew dead on the floor’s a subtle understatement now, huh?” Lerrick puffed out a sigh and shook his head. “I can’t fucking keep up.”

“I don’t think it’s them either,” Rebecca continued. “But whoever wanted to sendthismessage, they made it feel almost…”

Personal.

That was what she’d almost said before stopping herself at the last second.

Claiming a personal attack inferred this had come from someone they knew better than any of the other groups they’d listed from Shade’s current enemy list.

And that would only open more questions as to who knew Shade well enough to want to make thispersonal.

Who knewRebeccawell enough.

Only one person came to mind who checked all those boxes. While Rebecca had already written him off as detrimental to Shade’s wellbeing and a threat to the task force’s survival and continued success, not to mention her own, she couldn’t believe he would do something like this.

Rowan Blackmoon had been a part of Shade for weeks. He’d sworn his oath and fought alongside them all several times.

Rebeccahad rejected him, yes, and he’d left without a word. But he wouldn’t come back to hurt them like this. Even if she believed he’d changed his tune and was more emissary of the Bloodshadow Court than Rebecca’s best friend.

This wasn’t Rowan.

After a lengthy silence while the small team stood amidst the “clean carnage” inside Kash’s warehouse, Maxwell growled and shook his head. “I don’t know anyone else who could have done this.”

Pulled out of her intense focus of weighing the likelihood of each enemy’s culpability against the next, Rebecca looked sharply up at him with a pained grimace. “There couldalwaysbe someone else.”

Like Azyyt Ra’al in Chicago, finally zeroing in on their target. Or any number of Bloodshadow enemies who, like Harkennr, had since discovered the Bloodshadow Heir’s presence in the city as well and her new role as Roth-Da’al of a privatized task force.

But Azyyt Ra’al—or any number of other factions drooling over the chance to wage a successful war against the Bloodshadow Court—wouldn’t know the ins and outs of Shade’s dealings in such detail like this. As if they had been or still were a part of Rebecca’s organization. As if they were already on the inside.

Rowandid…

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