Page 216 of A Warrior's Fate

“But why try to turn me against Io so violently, so quickly?” Kai let the question linger for a few moments before answering for himself. “My father wasn’t someone who would deign himself to assist a witch as a precaution. ‘Need Io strike.’ If he heard rumblings that something was happening, he’d want to strike first.”

Isla’s eyes widened, though her brows drew inward. “You—you think they had a plan to attack Io with the witch?”

Kai heaved a breath, likely catching the flash of fear in her gaze. He leaned back, looking at the ceiling as he spoke and thought aloud. “One witch wouldn’t be enough. Neither would having numbers on our side, especially against the strength of Io’s guard, the fact they can all pretty much shift, and with their own supposed arsenal of witches.” He glanced at the map on the wall beside him. “To even entertain the idea, he’d need to feel like he had another weapon.”

A weapon effective against wolves and witches alike. Brutal enough to take down feral armies but resilient enough to withstand magic.

Isla fell back in her own seat, her eyes snagging on the map. She trained her eyes over the terrain of Phobos as she had yesterday. The regions that had once been homes, the land once walked by people, brothers and sisters of Deimos, now ravaged by beasts.

What business would a witch have in there? Why go through the trouble of needing a sword, protection?

Isla felt that sword’s icy touch on her forehead again. Relived that crooked finger shifting over to the bak and then pointing to themselves.

They’d been holding the last piece of the diadem.

A piece of the diadem, the crown, that the witch had supposedly possessed.

Isla sat up in her seat, her mind buzzing.

“What is it?” Kai asked as she had at breakfast.

She wondered if he’d felt as crazy proposing what he’d thought.

“What if—”

She stumbled. How would it even be possible? If there was a resistance…but Kyran would need a weapon, the greatest weapon, one that couldn’t be destroyed. If the witch had figured out how…if she could…wield like a sword…many swords…

“What if she could control the bak?”

CHAPTER 45

“Is that even—possible?” Isla followed her own question with another, and at Kai’s look of perplexity, she explained her vague reasoning steeped in desperation.

If the killer had been acting not of their own volition, on behalf of someone, someone who had a crown, that crown, maybe they weren’t the only ones. They’d pointed to the bak, too, that night in the wasteland.

Kai tilted his head, considering, and then reiterated, “But bak can’t be influenced by magic.”

“Unless she found a way,” Isla suggested. “Or maybe she can…talk to them?”

Because reasoning with bak sounded perfectly plausible.

Kai huffed a curt laugh. “I guess anything is possible at this point.”

Isla lunged forward to pick up the marker left by Ezekiel and traced her fingers over its etches. “I’ll talk to Jonah. I can take a closer look at the diadem, and he’s the closest we have to a witch expert. I’ll bring this, too. Not that he needs more to do, but maybe we can figure out where the original one came from. I’ll help him out.”

She looked to Kai to see if he had any objections and found him frowning. “There are council members that are keen on world matters like this. I should be able to trust relaying the information to them, but…” He trailed off, his jaw tight. “I don’t have time to weed them out and bringing in more people is too risky.” The downturn of his features held as he remained back in his seat. He folded his hands over his stomach and pondered, mindful of his words, “All the secrets that have been kept have been because I met you…and I have to imagine that’s why Ezekiel’s still hiding things. The plan is still to move in on Io.”

Though her body locked up, Isla tried to keep the fear off her face. But the bond—oh, the bond gave her away.

Kai’s lips were pursed, his face drawn in concern, understanding, and maybe the slightest discomfort. The family of the woman he loved—maybe not the enemy, but was certainly not an ally. Tricky waters he’d need to navigate forever.

Isla swallowed but found her mouth dry. The headache she’d been abating cropped up again. “How? He wouldn’t do anything while they were here, would he?”

“I wouldn’t let him. Anyone,” Kai assured, a timbre in his voice showing he meant it. He’d do whatever he had to in order to prevent it.

Though the words didn’t ease any queasiness Isla felt. The thought of the beta still had her prickling, had her wolf prowling beneath her skin. “If Ezekiel knows you wouldn’t support action on Io, how do you know he won’t hurt you?” Her grip on the marker tightened so much, that indents had been left in her palms.

Kai exhaled sharply through his nose, a bored expression casting across his face as though he’d already thought of it. “He could try but he needs me. Once a hit be dealt on Io, they’ll hit back, and we’ll be at war. And if not for strength, he needs me for pack morale. Our people will be too shaken to stand if there’s another sudden change in leadership, especially given I’m the last alpha of this bloodline.” His voice shuddered at the words, at the implication. The last of the original alpha’s heirs—of Deimos, even of Phobos and Ares beyond it. “Which means he knows the witch isn’t a threat to me, if she had been before, or else he would’ve said something. If I believe anything from him, it’s his love for this pack, his family, and loyalty to my father.”

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