Page 96 of Phoenix Falling
I made a note of that.
“I’m here because you’re not asking the right questions.”
Bingo. “What question should I be asking?”
“What kind of king are you?”
My fists tightened at my sides. Had I even had time to figure that out? Except as Basile and Grim had told me, I’d been acting as king for a long time, hadn’t I? “One who cares about his people above all else.”
“But what if your people don’t care about you?”
I jammed my fingers through my hair, already tangled from hours of doing exactly that. “What does that mean?”
“It means you might have a problem in your midst.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You have a traitor on your council.”
“What?” Shock and disbelief sharpened my tone. His statement wasn’t true; it couldn’t be. The warriors on my council were held in the highest regard. They’d spent years of service, each and every one of them, before they’d been considered for such a position. To think that one of them would betray us…
“You heard me. You’ve got a big problem, Sun. And it’s going to cost you, very soon.”
“How?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Then what the fuck are you good for?” I burst out. Every muscle in my body screamed to jump this stranger, beat answers out of him, force my way into his mind as he had done mine, but I couldn’t lose that control. My people couldn’t afford to lose their king. “Don’t come in here with all this cryptic shit. Give me some answers that I can work with.”
He jerked to a stop. His voice rose, filled with his own frustration. “I can’t tell you because I don’t know. I only know Helios is gearing up for something big, which means your male—or female—is about to strike. So you’d better get off your ass and figure out who they are, quick. Got me, King?”
“And how do I do that?”
“I wish I knew. But no one is as familiar with you or yours as you are. Use that knowledge to your advantage.”
Impotent anger rang in my head with no target nearby, or at least not one I dared use. I’d do anything to keep my people safe, but how could I keep them safe if I didn’t know what the threat was?
I felt the gears begin to turn. They needed me. I had no choice but to figure it out. So what did I know?
I might not knowwho,but I did knowwhat.What did Helios want? He wanted to defeat us. He wanted to win this war and take over the world, for himself or the Anigma, either one, it didn’t matter. The objective was the same.
Where would that information get me?
“That’s right,” the stranger said. “You’ll figure it out. I have faith in you. Much more than I did your father.”
“At least one of us does,” I muttered under my breath.
“Don’t sell yourself short. Especially not now. Your people don’t have time for you to wallow in self-pity.”
It wasn’t self-pity, but whatever. What this stranger believed about me didn’t matter. I wasn’t even sure I could trust his information, but if there was even a possibility that someone on my council was a traitor, I had to find out.
My people’s lives, including that of my mate, frustrating as she was, would depend on it.
The stranger slid around to face the exit into the lair and tilted his head as if listening. He swore under his breath.
“What?”
He was in front of me faster than I could blink. Faster than even I could move. Leaning close, he lowered his voice to barely above a breath. “You’ve got company, King. Your mate. I can sense her right outside the door.”
