Page 136 of Contested Crown

“It looks like they’re renovating the whole thing,” Coral said. “It’s six floors, and we didn’t see anything that explained why Leon would be visiting.”

“Could he just be opening a new business?” Rhys asked. “It’s not unheard of. Maybe he was looking to finally open a new branch of the House in the city.”

“Cade?” I asked, watching his expression.

“That’s exactly what he’s doing,” Cade said. “He’s taking the buildings I found and using them.”

“What?” Isaac asked.

“Why?” Rhys frowned.

“Power. The house ley lines have been poisoned. We saw it.” He frowned, glancing back at me. “We saw how bad it was, even here in the city. You thought it was me. Why?”

Isaac looked pained at being put on the spot. He glanced down and then raised his chin, looking Cade in the eye. “Because it was the only thing that made sense. The House has been getting weaker. We used tracking spells in rocks from the land and placed them all over the property to see where the magic was affected the worst. It acted like a spiderweb. Anywhere my magic twisted, that was somewhere we knew the poisoning was bad.”

“It was the worst in my room,” Cade said.

“Yes.” Isaac kept his eyes fixed on Cade. “In your room and in the king’s bedroom. And you were the only one who seemed unaffected.”

Even though he’d apologized, even though he had seemed genuinely contrite, I could see now the question in his expression, the hesitance. Was Cade somehow responsible for it all?

“We also used it to find the holes in the wards,” Jay said, breaking the tension. “They worked as giving us a map of where the holes were because they moved on a schedule. Once we knew where one was, we could find it again.”

“Then itwasmy father’s death,” Cade said. “That was the thing that caused all of this.”

He looked at me, and I knew he expected me to put everything together, to make all the pieces fit, but I was still barely working through it myself. “Your father’s death poisoned the magic? How would that work?”

“The king of House Bartlett is tied to the ley lines. I told you my family’s magic was part of the land. It’s why most houses rely on blood ties. It means anyone with a trace of Bartlett blood gets the same benefits as I do.” Cade frowned down at his hands. A line of tattoo trailed over the delicate veins and bones on the back of one hand.

“So, someone poisoned your father before his death, and that poisoned the ley line?” I said. “Or when they killed him, it released a poison into the ley line. And then it took eleven years for the poison to become noticeable.”

“Something like that,” Cade agreed.

“Why would that make it look like it was you?” Isaac asked, frowning at Cade. “Why would someone poisoning your father makeyouand your room the most affected place on the property?”

“Because I absorbed all of my father’s magic,” Cade said simply.

“What?” Isaac gaped.

“Oh, honey.” Rhys looked sympathetic, their face contorting into raw, genuine pity.

Cade looked away. “After my parents died. I absorbed their magic. When Leon and Petrona cut away my magic to save my life, it removed all of it.”

Isaac and Rhys looked at each other, and Lily reached out. “My prince…”

“It’s no matter.” Cade waved a dismissive hand. “We need to talk to Declan. We’re all making assumptions about Leon’s plan. He’s the only one who might actually know the new king’s goals. That means finding Declan in this renovated building.”

“One building. We can do that,” Isaac said, turning away, getting down to business. He glanced back at Jay, and his consort put a hand on his shoulder.

“Does anyone else know anything about it?” I asked the wolves in my pack, who had been sitting back, observing the mage drama.

“Once Declan wanted some reports, so he had one of his guys pick them up,” Heather said. “I forgot one, so I followed his guy after he left.”

“Oh, right,” Joel said. He nudged Pablo next to him, and Samuel snickered. “She just happened to follow the guy.”

Evelyn gave them an annoyed look. “This is the problem with Declan’s operation. He doesn’t like independent thought.”

“She wastrailingDeclan’s bodyguard. That’s different than having opinions about the way crews are scheduled!” Joel growled, and I stepped in, interrupting both of them.