Page 4 of Home: Posy 5

"Reau?" Ash grimaced. "He gave Reau's parents the wolfsbane that killed Tanner?"

Again, the king nodded.

"Mine!" Ash growled, and none of us argued.

"Which leaves our final contestant," I said and gave King Julian a questioning look.

"That one's going to be a bit harder." He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "It's a witch."

My brows drew together in a frown. I didn't like hurting a female, even if she was evil. Something inside me cringed at just the thought. Plus, a witch meant magic, and we still didn't know a whole lot about it.

We can link our witches or Gelo, Gran pointed out helpfully, and I nodded.

"There's a lot to go through with her." King Julian crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. "That hoard of dark relics Leo Halder found in the bayou? It was hers. It wasn't intentional, but he was possessed because of her, which led to my queen and so many others at Tall Pines being hurt or worse."

After we got over that shocker, the king said this witch also supplied Kendall Briggs with a parasite, which made Cole shiver and the rest of us wince at the memory of his run-in with a parasite.

"Yeah, this next part might be hard to hear," King Julian admitted. "Four years ago, Alpha and Luna Quake of Cold Moon visited Green River to discuss some finer points of their treaty. About an hour ago, I called their son, Alpha Kayvon, to see what he remembered from that trip. He said Norah came home sick, and her mental state deteriorated in a matter of days, although her physical decline was much slower."

None of us could speak as we processed that.

"Right after I talked with Kayvon," the king continued, "I called Gelo to get his little birds to do their voodoo, and they confirmed the parasite that infected Norah, which is the one that spawned into you, Cole, is the same one Kendall purchased from our witch prisoner."

"Do you think he intended the parasite for Posy originally?" I whispered, aghast at the thought. "I mean, he bought it before the Quakes visited, right?"

"Who can say?" The king shrugged. "We may never know why he targeted Norah, but I want to talk to James and Aiden Briggs. Maybe they can shed some light on the mystery."

I knew what he was implying. Had one of Posy's brothers slipped information to Luna Norah, which resulted in her confronting or threatening Kendall Briggs? Had he infected her to shut her up?

James would have been nineteen at the time, I thought to myself. A year older than when most sons stepped up to the alpha position...

Mase cleared his throat, pulling me out of my thoughts, and asked for the witch's name.

"Alecto Sanderson. She's from a very old, very powerful family. If Gelo hadn't built a witch catcher for me last summer, my men never would have been able to contain her."

"Can we get him up here to kill her?" Cole asked.

"Oh, I'll take care of that," Mase rumbled. "Did she do anything else we need to know about, your majesty?"

"She sold a curse to Nia Hashimoto. Warm Hands, Cold Heart."

"The one Nia used on Landry?" Ash gasped.

"I haven't been able to prove it yet, but it's looking that way." The king nodded. "I can't see Nia being able to afford the same curse twice, and you haven't found a second use of it, have you?"

We shook our heads.

"How did she pay for it?" I asked. "And we've also been wondering why she targeted Landry, of all people."

"You really want to know? I can't take the knowledge back after I give it to you," King Julian cautioned us.

My brothers and I nodded.

"We need to know," Ash said for all of us. "Landry's my gamma and my friend. I want him to have as much closure on this as possible. And we know such a curse isn't paid for with money. So, who, or what, did she sacrifice?"

"According to Alecto, Nia was enraged that Landry turned her advances down multiple times. That's the only reason I've been able to discover. As for the price she paid..." King Julian took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Goddess, I'm glad Jay's not here! I'm sorry it falls to you, but I don't want to be the one to break it to him."

"Just say it," Cole gritted out through his teeth.

---