Page 41 of Ignited Spirits
He pushes my dad forward, causing him to stumble. I clench my hands into fists as Dad regains his balance.
The council guy smirks at me. “I am authorized by the council to trade your father for you. You get what you want, and the council is able to enact justice for all the lives you stole.”
“What lives?” I have no clue what he’s talking about. Yeah, I’ve killed people over the years, but almost all of them have been horrible people. I thought they were just mad about Doyle and my forbidden magic.
“Oh, don’t play dumb.” He scoffs. “They uncovered your disgusting scheme of draining mage children for their power. Soon, the whole mage world will know of your evil when the council makes an example out of you.”
I have to give it to the council.
Pinning their program that drained lower mage kids on me is pretty brilliant. Enough kids have disappeared over the last few years that people were bound to ask questions. In one fell swoop, they can get rid of me, absolve themselves of responsibility, and boost their popularity.
I close my eyes in resignation because I already know that trading myself isn’t an option. My mates would be royally pissed off if I even tried to do that.
I doubt I’d get very far before they stopped me. I’m strong but not nearly strong enough to win against the five of them and my brothers.
Speaking of Aiden and Rhys, there’s no way they’d want me to turn myself in for Dad. And I know that’s not what Dad would want me to do.
As much as I want to charge in and fix everything myself, I can’t. At least, not by trading myself.
Although, a fake trade could be just what we need to get Dad out of here.
Blanking my face and making sure not to let any of my thoughts show, I look down at the guard holding my dad. Lettingmy shoulders slump in defeat, I call out, “We have a deal. But I need a moment to say goodbye to everyone.”
Not letting him argue with my plans, I give the goon my back and throw up a silencing dome.
Before I can even finish the spell, Bishop is in my face. He hauls me up against him and cages me in with his arms around my lower back.
“Like fuck are you giving yourself up to the council,” he snarls. “That’s a fucking death sentence, and I will fight until my last breath to keep you from doing that. All of us will.”
I roll my eyes at him. “It’s a good thing I’m not actually planning to hand myself over, then, isn’t it?”
Bishop opens his mouth to yell at me some more before he processes what I said and snaps it closed. His face scrunches up in puzzlement, and he opens and closes his mouth a few times before he finally says, “Then why did you say you were?”
“Because I need to get my dad away from all the soldiers surrounding him. Once he’s free, then we can open a rift and get the fuck out of here. I don’t think we’re winning this battle today. We’ll have to come back another time to take down the council.”
Unfortunately. I’d love to see them go down today, but I don’t think that’s in the cards.
“Oh,” Bishop says before seeming to shake off his shock. “I still don’t like any plan that puts you that close to a bunch of council guards.”
“I mean, I’m not super thrilled about handing myself over, either, but I can’t think of anything else. If you have any other brilliant plans to share about how to get all of us out in one piece, then I’m all ears.”
Bishop clenches his jaw but doesn’t say anything.
One of my mates steps up behind me and rests his hands on my hips. I can tell it’s Luca by his dark, woodsy smell. “I don’t like anything about this plan, but I agree with Izzy. I think it’sour best shot at getting everyone out of here alive. The only other option is to leave her dad, and I don’t think any of the Gallaghers are going to agree to that.”
I look at Luca in surprise, having thought he would be on the stop-Izzy-at-all-costs train with Bishop. “Thanks, wolf boy. That’s surprisingly reasonable of you.”
He snorts at me and shakes his head but doesn’t add anything further.
Rhys plants his hands on his hips and glares at the mages behind me. “They’re not going to give us endless time to figure this out, so what’s our plan? Because I’m not sending my little sister into the middle of all this without a solid plan.”
“I go over there, they send Dad over to you guys, then I nope out before they can slap magic-suppressing cuffs on me. Anyone have any objections?” I look around at everyone with my eyebrows raised.
“No objections. I just don’t think you’re going to get out of there without a fight, sunshine.” Archer gives me a half smile, trying to lighten the mood. It doesn’t reach his eyes, though, as hard as he’s trying to be cheery.
I flash him a savage smile. “I’m counting on it.”
Letting the silencing dome drop, I turn back to the guards and my dad before any of my mates can object further. I walk down to the edge of our defensive shield, square my shoulders, and stare down the council goon. “Hand him over first.”
