Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,108
to combat them? If they’re behind the attacks on Leila, I imagine they’re the source of that unknown magic I have scented and Leila has felt.”
“No, I’m afraid I have no more suggestions. They have on occasion used powerful elf magic, but those were contained spells preserved for decades. The magic you’ve faced are new creations.” The Paragon narrowed his eyes. “The skull monster couldn’t have been created by an old elf relic or spell laying around. It took actual creation—which is what I find worrisome about the magic you’re facing.”
“Is there anything about them as a group that would be useful to know and apply to combat?” Lord Linus asked.
The Paragon jutted out his lower lip as he thought. “They are a small organization, and they are intent on their secrecy. We’ve seen it in the past, and I believe we witnessed it again in the way the backers dropped Nyte once the fight got too big, but it seems they don’t lack firepower but personnel.”
“Gather enough people to your side, and they’ll abandon their attacks against you,” Chase summarized.
“Exactly,” the Paragon nodded.
Gather people…
“I imagine power is helpful,” Solis said with a trace of bitterness. “At the very least it would make you a poor target that they’d rather avoid.”
“Also true, so choose excellent allies,” the Paragon advised.
More thoughts rattled in my head. I rubbed my forehead and glanced at Rigel, who was sitting next to me with an unreadable expression.
He glanced at me—his eyes unreadable at the moment. “It’s possible this society is behind the skull monster attack, but the organizer of the previous attempts on Leila and the skull monster are different entities,” he said.
Chase swiveled to Rigel, his pen poised for taking notes. “Why do you believe this?”
Rigel stared at him for a moment, then said—carefully, “The style of the attacks is very different.”
“Rigel is right,” I said. “Whoever set the monsters on me in the market and the snakes on me in the theater directly attacked me, but did it in a way that limited the danger to others. If this dodgy group dropped the monster—which I think is likely, because there are a heck of a lot easier ways to kill me than to drag Fell into this and make it a bigger thing than it already is—then I don’t think they could possibly be behind the original attacks.”
“They’re designed with too much care,” Skye said. “It sounds like this group wouldn’t have cared about limiting damage. I imagine they would have even preferred that there be some human casualties.”
“Bingo!” I proudly said.
Skye tilted her head. “Bingo?”
Indigo sipped her tea. “Isn’t that an obscure human song?”
“No, no. It’s a game,” Lord Linus said excitedly. “Unfortunately, it’s typically not something you can stake money and gamble on—which of course I would not too often think of doing, ahahah.” He caught me staring at him and broke off in a laugh.
Chase said he’s not in debt. Is he purposely trying to make it seem like he is, then?
“How did you come to know all of these obscure human references, Lord Linus?” Lady Chrysanthe asked.
“I’ve lived in the human realm for over twenty years. You pick up a thing or two in that sort of time frame.” Lord Linus cleared his throat. “But the two assailants brings up a new problem. If the sketchy group is one of them, who is the first attacker? And why, then, do they both use that foreign magic?”
“We can likely rule out Fell,” Rigel said. “Based on the fact that he was attacked.”
“Which means it’s probably not another monarch, right?” I asked. “Birch is the only other one with a vendetta against me, but based on what I’ve heard about his family life, he’s got too many worries to think about taking a shot at me.”
“Rime has the power,” Lord Linus pointed out. “She’s more powerful than Leila—even with her staff.”
“She also has no motive,” I said. “She let Fell run around for years—not to mention Queen Nyte. I’m pretty sure she prefers to pretend the other Courts don’t exist.”
I glanced at Rigel and asked him in a whisper, “Can you tell me if whoever hired you was a monarch?”
Rigel glanced at me, but said nothing.
That’s a no.
“I think this shadow group is a greater risk than whoever originally tried to kill Leila,” Rigel carefully said. “As we can see from the ambush styles, they are far more cautious, and seem prone to attacking when Leila is quite guarded.”