Page 85 of Blue Embers
“In theory,” I said, scratching my head. “I...I still can’t understand how he got into mine in the first place.”
“Do you think he could have broken into your house?” Persephone suggested. “Would that make a difference?”
Suddenly a light bulb flickered on and I stopped, narrowing my eyes.
“The Draakir building,” I said. “Everything I have was stored there once until I moved it to my personal office.” I shook my head, trying not to think too hard on it when there were bigger things at stake. “He has to come out of the shadows sooner or later if that woman is actually his sister.”
“Ares,” Draven said, his voice low and menacing.
I stopped and turned to him, watching as his eyes lifted to look at me.
“What about him?” I asked, on edge.
“I’ve been going over possibilities since yesterday,” Draven explained. “No one knew about that cabin. No one even owns it according to the records. That’s why it was a safe house. The only one outside of us that knew about it was--”
“Ares,” I finished.
Draven nodded once.
“You guys think Ares gave us away?” Everly asked.
“It would make sense,” I said. “He disappeared from the gala.”
“Hearrangedthe gala,” Draven clarified. “Before that, he was adamant on getting Everly alone and separating her from me. Then we find out the truth behind my brother’s death. He thought he needed her to get the information Haera wanted. Now we encounter Aethyn, who is looking for Ares for reasons we don’t know.”
“Ares is in league with Haera,” I said. “As we suspected.” I sighed, rubbing my tired eyes as the reality came into the light.
“Could he be getting influenced?” Persephone asked. “I mean with their mind tricks?”
“Doubtful,” Draven said. “Ares has had a particular fondness for being an authority for a long time. He fought to be a regent for years.”
“In other words, he’s always been a snake,” I added. “Of course, none of us like to accept that one of our own could possibly turn against us like this. With the young ones, it’s understandable, to an extent. They were born here. They never fought the Zephyre. They’re easy to manipulate. With others, it’s different. My sources haven’t been able to find Ares. Now the cabin gets attacked out of nowhere when it’s completely off the grid. Too many coincidences in my opinion.”
The room fell silent again as everyone pondered the new suspicions and the recent developments. Once everything sunk in, I looked over at Persephone, who was standing with her hip cocked drastically. She was staring at the computer screen and biting her lip, deep in thought.
“What is it, love?” I asked her, drawing her surprised glance.
Persephone took a deep breath as if to calm her nerves. Her blue-green eyes grabbed mine, filled with a sense of sorrow.
“All of this,” she said. “Everything that’s happening around us. It’s going to ruin everything Draak and humans have built over the past century. Haera has to be stopped. We have to know her plans.”
“We’re trying,” I said, reaching out to gently grasp her hand. “Perhaps once we get more time with her vessel we can learn more.”
“There’s something else,” Persephone added, squeezing my hand. “When I was alone with her in the cabin, she said some strange things.”
“Like what?” Draven asked, adjusting his stance to face Persephone fully.
“I kept asking her what she wanted. She kept giving me cryptic answers, but then she said something strange. She started talking about the love she has for you guys. For Draak. She referred to her children and I highly doubt she was talking about the other Zephyre. She sees herself as God. She said that to me. She thinks Zephyre created something too powerful and she wants to obliterate it and rebuild. But she didn’t skip mentioning that she lost in the past. That she was betrayed.”
Draven let the air drain from his lungs in a sharp exhale and turned to pace across the room, frustrated. I stood from the chair and watched him, sparks and ideas running a muck in my head. So much information had been acquired in the past few days and none of it seemed to have gotten us much closer to a resolution. In fact, I was starting to think it had just produced more questions.
“We can’t beat an enemy if we have no idea what she really wants,” Draven said in a much calmer voice than I was expecting. “She could want to be the queen of this new world. She could want revenge for something that happened in one of the previous wars. She could be looking for something more specific and we can’t figure out what it is.”
“She could be tired,” Persephone said softly. “She could be desperate. I’m just a human, but I like to think I’m good at reading people. As good I can be, anyways. Haera was cold both times I’ve encountered her. She was disconnected. That’s what someone does when they don’t have the capacity to feel anymore. You’re a thousand years old,” she said toward Draven. “I know you’ve felt that before. Everly helped bring you back, right? Maybe Haera’s looking for something to bring her back.”
“Are we trying to relate to that bitch now?” Everly voiced.
“Relating to an enemy is the best way to read them,” I said. “Maybe we should try.”
