Page 96 of Magic Claimed

He’d waited over forty years for a day when he could serveand protect his people. And that day, it seemed, was finally here.

Because now that I knew about Deverin, I was pretty sure I knew what Blake was after, and it was possible we were already too far behind to stop him.

“When is the march?” I asked abruptly.

“Thursday.”

That gave us two days to catch up. When Blake probably already had his people in place. His contingency plans at the ready. He even controlled the Bureau, which meant he essentially had Tairen as a hostage—the only hostage who could potentially be used both to limit our actions, and to prevent any repercussions from within the government.

What he didn’t have?

A family.

Blake had a cult. People he controlled through promises of power or protection.

Which meant—I hoped—that we still had a chance.

But first, I was going to have to change the subject and hope no one decided I was crazy. “Faris, have you heard anything on your fae prisoners?”

He grunted an affirmative. “Turns out one of them is nephew to Lysarian Galavor, the leading contender for the throne. Pointy-eared bastard wants his nephew back, so he might be willing to negotiate.”

Lysarian Galavor… The fae who’d tried to kidnap Kira. We knew he was Elayara’s cousin, and I was certain I’d heard his name before this week. Add in the timing of the attack on Callum…

None of it was a coincidence.

I locked eyes with Faris. “Promise Lysarian we’ll return his people if he tells us who paid him to kill Callum.”

The room went dead silent. Shock seemed to hold everyone frozen in place until Callum shattered the tension with a question.

“Hunch or theory?” he asked steadily.

“I don’t know if it’s magic, but I do know it’s the truth.”

Faris eyed me with considerable skepticism. “You really think Lysarian will offer that much information for such a measly reward? Fae aren’t known for the strength of their family bonds.”

“If he refuses, tell him you’ll publicly announce that he betrayed his court by allying with the shifters. And you have proof.”

“Anddowe actually have proof?” Faris inquired, almost casually.

I turned to Callum. “Naga venom. What are the symptoms?”

He went still. “Hallucinations, coma, and a fifty-fifty chance of death for a non-shifter. For a shifter, if they survive, the venom attacks their shifting ability, leaving them helpless. Easy prey.”

“I think,” I told him softly, “that the assassin was using naga venom. It’s rare enough no one would guess, and deadly enough they’d have a solid shot at killing Rath, while also taking you out of the picture.”

Everyone else looked a little stunned, but I wasn’t finished.

“It honestly made no sense to me that either the Fae Courtor the Shapeshifter Court would want Callum dead. The Fae Court has its own problems right now, and the last thing they’re going to want is a war with the shapeshifters. Plus, none of the Shapeshifter Council members seemed that upset to find out the assassination attempt had failed. So if it wasn’t them, who else benefits from Callum’s death?”

I never would have made the connection without uncovering Heather’s involvement. Never would have realized how intricate Blake’s plan really was.

“Hector’s confession was the final piece of the puzzle. He said he did regular business with Heather, which means Blake has used him before. And Hector also mentioned he’s the last of his kind, so there is no other source for naga venom. But why choose a dubiously effective poison if Rath was the only target?” I shook my head. “No, the attack on Callum was deliberate, so if the Fae Court didn’t directly benefit from it, someone must have provided outside motivation for them to kill him… and I think that someone was Blake.”

I locked eyes with Callum. “I think it’s possible Blake and Lysarian had a past relationship of some kind. We know Lysarian is Elayara’s cousin, and Blake had the run of the facility back when we were her prisoners. They may have met while Elayara was still alive.”

Far-fetched? Maybe. But I knew I was right.

“And the beauty of it is, taking out both Callum and Rath at the same time would have ended up benefitting both Lysarian and Blake. It would have muddied the pool of possible suspects, and even if the truth about the poison came to light, the nature of it throws blame on the shapeshifters instead of the fae.”