than your share of the Torva’ox for all of that time.”
“You know Randolph. Maybe not as well as I do, but,” Liam added in a voice that must have been accompanied by a lecherous smile, “certainly in a different way. With that kind of insight, you must also know that none of us could have done much of anything in this territory without his consent. He may not be taking part in this war, but he knows better than to stand against it. It’s inevitable.”
“Nobody thinks Randolph was ignorant of anything happening here. That’s the problem. Why wouldn’t he want his share of the Torva’ox?”
Sliding his fingers from the dirt, Liam said, “He’s old and tired.”
“You still have to answer for how you got away from your assigned lands and managed to trade territories with Jaden.”
“Wasn’t easy.”
“Did you kill her?”
There was a long pause before Liam finally said, “There are other ways to solve our conflicts, luv.”
This time, Paige had to fight to keep from laughing. She knew better than to make a sound or even draw too large of a breath, which didn’t leave her many options as far as getting out of that room. Not far away, Nadya gripped the FAMAS and studied her surroundings carefully.
The voice that came next was smooth and silkier than any human’s. “If she’s not dead, then why isn’t Jaden here?” Minh asked.
“It don’t matter,” Liam replied in an accent that seemed to get more guttural as Minh’s became more refined. “There are enough of us here to draw more of the Torva’ox than any have ever felt. The Breaking Moon will see to that. Esteban probably tried to convince you to kill me before it rose.”
“Something like that,” she admitted.
“And now you must see what a mistake that would be,” Liam said in something close to a purr. “Nobody can command the wretches like I do. After all that’s happened lately, the humans are just frazzled enough for our war to be fought and won.”
“We could all go back to our territories and wait for this storm to blow over,” she offered. “The humans may be worked up right now, but they are short-lived and easily distracted. In a matter of a few years they’ll be back to nipping at each other instead of pestering us. And in a decade or two, these instances will be forgotten.”
“No!” Liam barked with enough force to send a shockwave through the entire house. “How can you be so short-sighted? We live for centuries; observe so much in that time, and still we are blind!”
“What would you prefer?” Minh asked in a snarling rasp that Paige could barely hear. “Do you seriously want us to remain here and continue fighting amongst ourselves? We’ve always been better than that.”
“Have we? How long did it take for us to figure out where the territories needed to be in order to keep any one of us from acquiring too much of the Torva’ox? The only one to acquire all of that power is still a legend among us.”
“Gorren became a rampaging lunatic who nearly unmade us all! He may have become the most powerful Full Blood in our history, but he had to be hunted and killed by his own kind. Is that the legacy you want to repeat?”
Wagging a long, gnarled finger at her, Liam said, “But Gorren wasn’t organized and he wasn’t patient. We gather here and now with a plan, and as the Breaking stokes the fire inside of us, the Torva’ox will let us spread it to the humans with nothing more than a thought! How can you not see the beauty in that?”
“And what of the Balance?”
“The Balance that Randolph loves to spout off about? That’s nothing more than a bunch of dribble spewing from the mouth of a wide-eyed child.”
“Now I see why you wanted to send him so far from here,” she said. “Randolph would tear you apart where you stood if he heard that kind of talk. I’m surprised he hasn’t challenged you already, considering the mess you’ve made of his continent.”
“Randolph’s too busy protecting the newly awakened pup and contending with Esteban to care about what any of us do anymore.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice like saliva trickling from his fangs when he said, “He’s tired. All he wants to do is crawl back into his forest and run free with snow between his toes while you and I and any of the others he considers to be troublemakers