Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,64

ready to cast a tsunami of magic at Etherian if he so much as breathed too hard.

The message was clear: if you fuck with Piper, you fuck with us all.

And it was also clear from Etherian’s expression that this truth threw a wrench into his plans.

“If you help me kill the royals, we can discuss you ruling Faerie in my stead,” I told him as I drew closer. “I said before that I didn’t want anything to do with Faerie, and I meant it. It’s not my home; but it is a part of me. I won’t give up my birthright, but I don’t want to exercise it, either.”

His eyes surveyed the army at my back, then landed on me. “I can agree to those terms.”

“Good, because you don’t really have a choice. Now, tell us what we need to know about Phineas. His weaknesses. Ways to take him out.”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have ended up how I did, now would I?”

Right. Fuck.

“Surely you know something that can be used against him,” Merc said.

“Phineas has a weakness for power,” Liam said. We all turned to face him as he walked through the crowd toward Etherian. “It’s what has always fueled him. What drives his instability. Along with it comes his paranoia. There are many reasons why he and Larken ruled separate halves of Faerie, and I am convinced that the only reason they’ve reunited is because she’s made him an offer that he stands to gain from—”

“One we can exploit by undermining,” Knox said, finishing his thought for him.

“Exactly, if we make him one that’s equally tempting. His weakness is his mind, not his body.”

“And you have access to it directly through Mack’s old pack—or what’s left of them,” I added, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling into place. But as soon as the words left my mouth, I cringed. Using that connection against Phineas would come at a high price; one that I wasn’t sure Knox could afford. Would he survive it physically? Yes—hopefully. But would he survive it mentally?

My eyes met his, and I feared the answer to that question.

“That and your connection to him, too, Piper.”

Great.

“But how does that help when he has an army of fairies around him and the queen bitch at his side?” Kat asked. Grizz grunted in agreement.

“Phineas does not trust Larken. He never has,” Liam replied. “He thinks Piper can be manipulated—that she is young and impressionable. A being he can control.”

“I see that trait has not improved over time,” Etherian muttered quietly.

“If anything, I’d wager it has only worsened. Knox and the others escaped before he could turn on them, but it would have happened eventually.” Liam’s sad gaze turned to his fellow Originals one by one. “What happened to me wasn’t your fault. Your escape only sped up the timeline, not the end result.”

Tears welled in my eyes at his grim but poignant realization—his subtle pardoning of his brothers. And one look at them told me they were equally moved by it.

“Liam—”

“It’s true, Knox, and you know it, as I do now, as well. We must use this against Phineas. Separate him from Larken. Divide their forces and take them out one at a time.”

“He will expect this,” Merc said, his tone dubious, “as will Larken.”

“Maybe not,” Reinhardt replied. I could practically hear the wheels in his mind turning, working to find the answer to our debacle. And by the look on his face, he was so very close to succeeding. “Not if we can reach him without her knowing—if we can draw him here without her.”

“And if he brings Larken along?” Merc countered.

“Then that doesn’t change much, does it? We will have to fight them both if he doesn’t agree. All we’ll have done is speed up the timeline.”

“Then we need a plan in place for that eventuality,” Liam said, “because it could very well come to pass.”

I looked around the dimly lit space, insulated from fey magic. “I guess we picked a solid place to start a war with them since they can’t portal in, and even if they could, their powers won’t work here.”

“They’d work,” Liam corrected, “but they would be so diminished that they would never come.”

Knox paled a bit at his words. “But they would send others.”

His grim observation was punctuated by a loud, metallic thud that reverberated through the space. In unison, we all turned toward the entrance door that shook violently. There was no mistaking the dent pressed into the metal.