as though stirring an invisible cauldron.
Magic illuminated the forest. The gargoyles glowed like beacons, as did the staff itself.
“Your pocket,” Brother Marshall said.
Stark extracted the stone he’d taken from Chadwick Hawfinch. It was glowing, too. Its magic was identical to that of the gargoyles. Drenched in unseelie spells.
But that wasn’t the only thing on Stark that was glistening.
Light radiated from above him, though when he lifted his head, he couldn’t see where it was coming from.
“It’s on your forehead,” the monk said. “You’ve been marked.”
Stark ran his fingers over his forehead. He couldn’t feel anything. “You’re telling me that this…crawler thing can track this?”
“It can, but you’re not the crawler’s target or it would already be on you.” Brother Marshall drove the point of his staff into the ground and the light extinguished. “For now.”
Rhiannon must have used real power to unleash an assassin that could crawl the ley lines. Monsters like that came at a high price.
Why would she use a crawler if not to assassinate Stark? Who else was worthy of that kind of targeting?
The only other person who knew that Rhiannon’s blood was red.
“How do you manipulate the ley lines? The staff?” Stark asked.
Brother Marshall’s grip tightened. “If you try to take this from me, I’ll release all kinds of holy mayhem on you. My gargoyles are far from the worst of what I have.”
“What if I told you the crawler is heading toward Rylie Gresham right now?” Stark asked.
It was a gamble, assuming that the monk would care about what happened to the werewolf Alpha. He was a human, probably not even a proper witch, wielding unseelie magic.
But a grim expression darkened Brother Marshall’s features. “That’s not possible. Her bodyguards wouldn’t let a sidhe tag her like that.”
“They don’t have to tag her. They tagged my Beta, and she’s on her way to Rylie Gresham right now,” Stark said.
The monk raked a hand through his hair. “Jesus.”
“Give me the staff. I’ll hunt this crawler down before it reaches them.”
The gargoyles shifted on their clawed feet, stone groaning against stone, sending dust spraying from their joints. “No,” Brother Marshall said. “We’ll go together.”
Deirdre and Rylie weren’t alone when they walked onto the open deck of the airship, but they had slightly more privacy than they had before. They left the OPA agents in the meeting room and only took the seelie guards, Trevin and Violet.
Magic shimmered around the railings, making the heavy gray clouds beyond look like they were under water. That magic shielded them from the worst of the wind, though the air was still miserably damp.
The sidhe guards didn’t follow Rylie and Deirdre to the railing. They stood back by the doors, watching, arms folded over their chests.
“The OPA doesn’t know about the Ethereal Blade, do they?” Deirdre asked under her breath. The wards shielded them from the physical effects of the wind, but not the noise. It drowned out her words. Even the sidhe wouldn’t be able to hear them.
“Some of them do know about the Twin Blades. The people who matter know. But it’s not public information, and I don’t know who among their agents I can trust.”
“But you’re trusting me? The Omega you want to put under arrest?”
“I know where you stand. That’s the difference.” Rylie gazed over the side of the ship. The UN building was behind the dirigible, so all they could see from their perspective was misty ocean. “I’m angry, Deirdre. I’m angry about so many things. But I don’t blame you for aligning yourself with Stark. After everything you’ve endured, it’s not surprising that you’d look for a strong leader to follow, and he’s incredibly charismatic.”
“That’s not at all condescending,” Deirdre said.
“God, but you’re so young.” Rylie’s hand lifted, as though she were thinking of touching Deirdre’s face, but it fell to her side again as quickly. “When I sent you after him, this wasn’t in the plan. I didn’t want you to become his Beta.”
Deirdre rubbed her eyes. She felt suddenly exhausted. “Why did you have the Ethereal Blade?”
“Why did you release those people from the safe house?” Rylie countered.
“What does that have to do with anything? Are we playing twenty questions now?”
Rylie folded her arms, drumming her fingers on her elbow. “Why, Deirdre?”
Because Stark had told her that was what they were going to do, and she had learned to pick her battles with him. “We freed those people. That’s all. We were helping.”
“By freeing those people, who willingly entered OPA custody, others died. Three people