Page 71 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

“The gods are not at war. We didn’t rip open the cosmos. No one conjured a portal to the underworld.” She kept her chin lifted as she surveyed the room. “This is a witch’s doing. The same witch who killed Princeton.”

I tried not to flinch. Evie didn’t know this for certain, and I wouldn’t have advised her to state it without further proof.

The silence was intense, eyes darting from her to me and back again.

“The born know who I am, and I have a feeling that witch knows as well.”

At this, I gripped Evie tighter. There was no going back now, not for her.

“All of this is calculated. Even the way they mimicked shadows to destroy that building. They may not succeed in turning us against each other…” Evie said.

I stroked her hair.

“… but they might sow confusion among the mortals who are on the fence. Or the mortals who feel we’ve abandoned them.”

Evie was right—while the full picture wasn’t entirely clear yet, it was obvious that sowing chaos, confusion, and in-fighting among the clan and our mortal allies was one of the key objectives. Two of my clan had already been influenced to accuse Evie after the attack, though they’d written numerous formal apologies the past few hours. Regardless of their shame, they’d face sharp consequences for their actions, including demotions.

I didn’t want us to be backed into a corner. Nor could I stand the idea of this city being ruled by those who wanted Evie dead.

“I wish the timeline could be expedited, but it can’t,” I said. “We need more resources, and all clans need to be war-ready,especiallythe Serpent Clan. Evie needs to complete and recover from the next turning. We are less than two months away from war. It’s time to tie up all loose ends.”

Evie exhaled. “I’m going to find that fucking witch.”

Now she’d truly gone off script. My jaw tightened, a shadow curling around her thighs.

Harmony spoke next, thankfully drawing attention away from me. “Our allies in the north have reported increased military activity. They’re gathering more forces. As soon as we give the word, turned clans on the army’s path will rope fleets into battles to disrupt their route south.”

Evie turned her head to look up at me, stroking my cheek. An unspoken conversation played out between us, a play of protectiveness, bravery, and fear.

“There’s no going back,” Evie whispered. “They know who I am. They’re already trying to destroy me. I can’t let them.”

“Wecan’t let them, angel,” I hissed. “We.”

She nodded. “Of course.”

It didn’t satisfy me, her small assurance that we were a team. Evie was only beginning to wield her shadows, to use her magick in ways she’d never been able to allow herself before. She was still so young. She had learning and growing to do, and she sure as hell didn’t deserve to be at the epicenter of the greatest war this realm has seen in nearly a thousand years.

I inhaled her floral shampoo as I kissed the top of her head. I needed to see Evie read again, to stretch out on a blanket in her garden and kick those adorable feet as she consumed a smutty fantasy novel. I needed to watch her make flower arrangements and herbal teas, to sell them at her own shop as she laughed and chatted with her adoring customers.

If the only way to get to that reality was through violence that would inevitably risk her life, then I had to learn to accept that.

Even if the most unhealed part of me would much rather keep her collared and in a safe location until the war was over.

“Why now?” Phineas asked suddenly, cutting off Commander Lachlan’s report.

His consistently severe and cold expression held the table in rapt attention. Phineas only spoke when he had something important to say, in as few words as possible. It made his speech that much more impactful.

“If the born had this secret weapon hidden all this time, an alleged chaos witch just like the ones they’ve been hunting down the entire summer, why use themnow?”

Evie’s thigh nervously vibrated as she thought. “They were hoping to prey on our weakness after Princeton’s assassination. That’s why they took the city when they did.”

Phineas’s scowl and irritated gaze didn’t escape me. He was unconvinced by the obvious explanation, clearly.

“How do they know who you are?” he asked.

Evie hesitated. I opened my mouth to help, but she beat me to it. She explained to this room her darkest, most well-kept secret as her heart raced.

“After discovering a vampire harmed my younger brother a decade ago, I killed my entire coven and a few born during a celebration. It was the same kind of explosion I unleashed in Etherdale’s forest. Just before I escaped with Idris, I’d been promised as a child bride to Lord Aster.”