Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,66
road outside, smiling at me as though we weren’t possibly about to do battle—as though he hadn’t just tried to kill us earlier.
“Where is she?” I shouted from just inside the bunker. “Where’s my mother?”
He stepped forward from the wolves of New York like he hadn’t a care in the world, arms spread wide in supplication. “Not here, as you can see. She does not share our strange connection, Piper, so she could not track you here.” He cast a look to the coven queen and smiled. “Your magic might be enough to prevent her from finding your hideaway, but not me. And I wouldn’t count on it working forever.”
“That’s why we’re talking, so get to the point. How can we kill her?”
“She can be killed like any other, but with the power of Faerie in your world, this will be no easy feat. She will need to be contained long enough for you to strike.”
“Let me guess; that’s where you come in.”
His smile widened. “Such a clever girl, just like her mother.” He dared another step closer, and the witches let loose a warning blast of red-hot fire that roared to life next to him, then petered out. He looked at them as though their antics amused him, then continued. “I can control her long enough for you to take your shot at her, but you will only get one, and it must be fast. You cannot think. You cannot hesitate. You’ll need to hit her with everything you have—every element you can access.”
“Will it be enough?”
Silence.
“There is only one way to know. If it isn’t, then we are both doomed—and she will have what she ultimately wants.”
“To rule alone…”
The fey king nodded. “So you see why I have come to you—why I have risked betraying her.”
“You need me to kill her.”
Another nod. “Will you help me do it?”
I looked at Merc, then Knox, then Reinhardt. None of them gave anything away. Then I looked at the others awaiting my call—awaiting their fate. Was it foolish to trust that the fey king also wanted my mother dead? Possibly, but not wholly, because even after the deed was done and he inevitably betrayed me, we would be ready for it. Only a fool wouldn’t expect him to. And Knox was right; we didn’t have the luxury of time. As long as Faerie remained a part of the city, chaos and death would reign. Innocents would die solely because we did nothing. Innocents like I had once been. Victims of the supernatural world. Powerless pawns in a twisted game of power and magic.
That struck too close to home.
“I will,” I said, stepping toward the entrance, “but the second it is done, our alliance is over. There is no more you and me.”
That beautifully wicked smile of his shone in the moonlight again.
“We’ll see…”
“Piper—” Merc cautioned.
“We don’t have a choice. We already know the worst that could happen, and we’re as ready for it as we’ll ever be. Besides, if he wants to help make this easier, then I’ll let him. Her death is my number one goal. Period.”
The vampire king stared down at me, jaw flexing, but said nothing. He knew there was nothing he could do to change my mind. And he knew the alpha would not be a voice of reason in the matter, either.
“So what do we do?” I asked the fey king lurking outside the bunker.
“We will need to join forces against her—”
“Not the wolves,” I said, cutting him off. I glared at the assholes from the New York pack—those that served him—and shook my head.
“And if I promised to relinquish my control over them to Knox after we defeat her—”
“She’d call you a fucking liar,” Kat shouted.
The fey king turned to her and smiled wickedly. “Perhaps you should come out and see if I am or not.”
“Don't tempt me with a good time. I’d love to take a round or two out of you and these traitors.”
“But you won’t,” I snapped at her, “because we’re trying to make this situation better, not worse, right?”
She leveled her stare on me. “That’s my plan.”
“He will not honor this deal,” Etherian said, stepping forward from the back of the group. The fey king’s expression fell for a fraction of a second, allowing his utter shock to bleed through. Standing face-to-face with someone he’d long ago killed—or thought he had—was clearly shocking, even for him, and that was saying something. “Hello, Phineas. Surprised to see me?”