She started to laugh. It was an eerie snigger that made chills run up and down my spine. “And who’s going to make him pay? You?” Her snigger erupted into a cackle.
“I will make him pay!” Titan answered, boldly. He stepped away from his seat, and approached Ana, towering over her like a mammoth tree. She shrank before him, trying to bury herself in her arms as he leaned down and plucked her from the floor by her neck like a weed.
Titan held Ana before him, her toes just barely brushing the stone floor. His eyes took on a faraway look, and he licked his lips as a hungry expression darkened his features. Bile rose in my throat as déjà vu hit me. Had this been what I looked like when I held Ana before me? The thought frightened me. There had to be a balance between my humanity and my anger, and in that moment I realized that I had yet to find it.
“What information did he want from you?” Titan repeated my question, making sure to bare his ivory fangs every chance he got.
“E-e-everything,” Ana answered, sounding frightened for the first time.
“What do you mean?” I asked. Titan released her, shoving her toward a seat in the corner of the room.
“You’re all so stupid,” a small cackle escaped her again, but when Titan lurched forward she swallowed it away. “Baal isn’t just after one region. He wants them all.”
“Yeah, we know that,” Arrick interrupted, not hiding his irritation.
“Did you know that he had countless spies in all your regions?” Ana spat back at him.
That shut us all up.
“There are no such spies in my region!” my father bellowed.
“Nor in mine!” Titan roared.
Ana simply smiled at their outbursts like she was proud of herself. “What aren’t you telling us?” I asked, feeling my fury begin to bubble. “Tell me now or you’ll never see this stone again!” I shoved the stone in her face and then tucked it away in my pocket.
“You’re all just as he said you were. So very arrogant.” Titan and Ronon bristled at her words, growling like angry wolves. “He counted on the fact that you would think he was dead,” she said the words looking directly at my father. “He predicted you would grow complacent and you have. Or that you thought you could hide from him, and build an army that was dillusioned into thinking they could withstand his forces,” she sneered at Titan, and his face went blank.
“What are you saying?” I asked a brick landing heavily in my stomach at her words.
“This was his plan all along,” Arrick said out loud what we were all thinking.
“What was?” Ronon asked.
“Everything,” Ana answered. “Do you really believe it was some evil plot of Nicolae’s to steal Claire for himself? Think about it, he wasn’t clever enough for that.”
I disagreed with her about that. Nicolae was incredibly smart and he’d done so much for his region, but her accusation had made me think. Nicolae had never seemed the type to search other regions for a child to steal. As mad as I had been at him for the outcome, it really didn’t make sense.
“Are you saying that was Baal’s doing?” Arrick growled at her.
Ana rolled her eyes, looking completely fed up with the conversation. “Duh! Baal knows everything about all of you! He knew how badly Evilyn wanted a child, and he banked on the fact that Nicolae would do anything do give her one. When he learned Ione had given birth, Baal saw his opportunity being handed to him on a golden platter. He sent Fox to steal you in hopes of creating a war between your two regions, but you,” Ana stabbed her eyes at my father, “were more pathetic than we ever imagined.”
So, Fox had been working with Baal all along. I knew there was a reason why I never liked him. Why I always felt there was something off about him.
My hand connected with her cheek in an explosion of anger. “Don’t you dare talk to my father like that!” I clenched my fingers around her chin forcing her to look at me. Her tongue traveled along the length of her lip, licking up the dripping blood. “Apologize!”
I shoved her chin away from me and folded my arms across my chest as I scowled at her. She made no attempt to say anything, only groaning like an irritated cat.