The Rebel Queen (Outlaw #1) - Lexi Blake Page 0,73
server brought our tea. She set cups in front of me and Neil and settled the pretty pot in between us. She ignored the fact that we had a third person at the table.
I poured us two cups with a practiced hand. Because pouring tea and making small talk were things I was supposed to be good at now. They were my “place.” Bitterness rose up like an old snake threatening to strike again. I had to remember that it was the thrall stone that had influenced Danny, and he didn’t have it anymore.
I also needed to remember that Myrddin didn’t know those stones had been discarded on another plane. I needed to save that so Danny and Dev could use it if they ever needed to.
“He tries to protect me from a lot of things I don’t need protection from.” I needed to get off this subject or I could screw things up. And the truth of the matter was I had some questions for the wizard. “Did you mean to get rid of me, too?”
Myrddin sighed. “No. Marcus was my target, and then I realized I could get rid of the Hunter, too. I stand by both decisions. Marcus wasn’t going to be reasonable about our contracts with the demons. And the Hunter was a walking nightmare. She was going to be trouble for everyone, you know. You can’t control her.”
I didn’t need to control Kelsey. I trusted her. If she ever came for us, it would be because we deserved it.
“But after the Hunter went through, I had to leave the painting where it was,” Myrddin continued. “To take it down would have been suspicious. I’ll be honest, I never thought Olivia could spell the pixie the way she did. Even then she was stronger than I believed. Once that was put into place, well, the rest is history. Perhaps it was over before that. Once Devinshea was gone, Daniel would never be persuaded to stop looking for him. I never meant to lose Devinshea. He wasn’t a problem.”
Because he’d been under Myrddin’s spells, too. “Well, you certainly used it all to your advantage. I hear you told the world that Marcus and the academics had turned against us.”
He shrugged slightly. “The academics have a long history of unseating rulers they don’t like. It was a useful tale. There has to be a villain, you know. That’s what I’ve found. Talk of unity for unity’s sake is all good and well, but nothing brings people together like giving them someone to hate, someone to blame all their problems on.”
“Yes, it’s always good to have someone to beat up on,” Neil said, his bitterness obvious because he’d been that punching bag before. “Find someone different and point their way and you can be the hero.”
I glanced around and saw a few people looking at us, but they seemed to focus on me and Neil. Like we were acting odd. There was something we were missing. “And now you plan on handing the plane over to demonkind. I guess you’re going for the prize for ultimate villain, aren’t you?”
Myrddin sighed as though he’d expected better from me. “Am I? I don’t know about that. You seem to think the demons will invade and turn the whole place into another Hell plane.”
“Won’t they?” I asked, though I knew the answer to that question. No matter what they’d told Myrddin—even if they thought they were telling the truth—full-blooded demons ended up going one way. The worst way.
He chuckled in a manner that let me know he thought I was a naïve child. “Of course not. The demons I’m working with seek to enrich the Earth plane, not destroy it. For eternity Earth has been held back by Heaven’s rules and laws and expectations. Earth has been a son of Heaven and never truly allowed to stand on its own. Imagine what it will be like without the influence of a suffocating father standing over it every minute of the day.”
He was insane. I was pretty sure of that now. “So the demons are going to be what? The aggressive asshole big brother we’ve always longed for?”
“No, they’re going to teach humans how to care for themselves, how to enjoy their limited lives. They will teach them to live for today and not weep and cry about tomorrow,” Myrddin explained. “They will teach humans that Heaven’s rules are ridiculous, that it’s all right to be a physical being. Imagine a world where