Page 120 of The Queen’s Shadow

“You too, daemon. Sit. Or I will have Nytara slit her throat.” I looked over at Trenton, who was watching me with a knowing smile. He had seen. He had been watching me. He knew what Meredith meant to me. He could not have beaten me hand to hand, so he had needed to find a weakness to leverage if things didn’t go his way, and he had found it.

I was a fool. This was my fault. My inability to keep my distance had put her in danger, just as I had known it would. It did not matter that the danger did not come from my own hand. The result was the same. I clenched my fists at my sides, and forced my power down, as an explosion of energy built in my chest. It would not help if I blew the entire boardroom to high heavens. Taking a deep breath, I finally nodded and moved to take my seat. Conrad begrudgingly followed.

“Good. Now that I have your undivided attention.” Trenton said, stepping over the witch he had murdered. He straightened a cuff before addressing the room. “Here’s how things are going to work.”

Conrad

‘Itold you not to underestimate him,’ Nytara’s voice slithered through my mind as she pressed the sharp edge of ice into Meredith’s throat. I could barely register her words over the roaring in my ears. I was reeling at the proximity of the blade to my sister’s throat. I was even more disturbed by who it was that was holding it there.

I had been training with Nytara nearly every night, since the first night here, and I was regretting it now. Looking at her, the healed wound in my throat throbbed, and I was reminded of what she really was. Dangerous. How many of us was she going to stab? How many times mi ‘gon let har?

I had to get us out of this somehow. I glanced at Dossidian, and from the look on his face, I could tell he was in the same state of panic that I was currently wrestling with.

“The season of The Board has passed. Enough of this fairytale mandate of ‘keeping the balance.’” Trenton’s voice echoed through the stone chamber.

“Too long, have we lived in the shadows, hiding from the human filth as if they are more than us. It is time for us to ally with beings whose powers rival our own.” Every witch, wizard, mage, shaman and spell caster held their breath as he spoke. Some of them looked intrigued, others disgusted. All of them, however, looked afraid.

“It is time we stop asking for more and begin to demand it.” He spat. “No longer, will the magick folk of America be lending their blood to this fruitless mission. We will be carving a new path forward.” He slid his signet ring off his finger, and it rose into the air before him.

“Today marks the death of The Board, and the birth of The Syndicate.” His eyes flashed in the inferno that twisted around him in a wave of destruction. He directed the flames toward his ring, melting it into a small puddle of gold on the ground before him.

“You are either with The Syndicate, or you are against it.” Trenton sneered, and a shiver rolled through the crowd. There was a long moment of silence, before one elderly dibia from Nigeria stood. He pointed a shaking, wrinkled, finger at Trenton.

“You disgrace us. Nigeria will not stand with a wizard who speaks of such unnatural things.” The dibia condemned Trenton, but Blackwood just tutted his tongue and shook his head.

“I wasn’t asking, old man.” He sneered, before sending a torrential blast of fire directly toward the Nigerian representative. Magick folk dove out of the way moments before the scent of burning flesh filled the room and I watched in horror as the elderly man burned to death before my eyes.

I leapt to my feet, but Nytara snarled into my mind.

‘Sit down, you fool. Or I will kill her.’

I froze again as The Siren’s blade pressed harder into Meredith’s throat, a thin line of blood welling at the tip. A swell of hatred flooded my chest, and I realized in that moment, I was going to have to kill her. I stomped out the bubbling swell of regret that threatened to overtake me at the thought.

“Does anyone else have any concerns?” Blackwood asked, slipping his hands into his pockets, waiting for the crowd to respond. “Comments? Questions? Please, now is the time to speak up if you do.”

No one said a word. Trenton smiled.

“Excellent. Remove your rings and bring them to me.” He ordered. My eyes narrowed as I noticed that some of the magick folk seemed more eager and willing to follow Trenton than others. I did not miss the fact that there were potentially some willing participants in the crowd. I wondered just how close the vote had been against Trenton’s challenging requisition.

‘What wi ‘gon do?’ I asked Dossidian, and he eyed The Siren, who was watching us both carefully.

‘I’m thinking. Whatever we do, we have to make sure it doesn’t put Meredith at risk.’

‘Mi know dat.’ I snapped at him, frustrated with how helpless the situation was, but even more frustrated with the feelings of betrayal that were welling in my chest. I should have taken Nytara out when I had the chance. Then we would not be in this mess.

I had known that meeting the enemy, and training with her each night had been wrong. The fact that I hadn’t told Meredith or Dossidian about it was proof enough that I was doing something unwise. But… I had done it anyway.

Just last night, after several hours of messing around with our blades and magick, she had stopped short when I had laughed at a particularly playful maneuver she had made.

“Careful, Nytara, yuh keep yuh face screw up like dat it gwan get stuck.” I had teased her, as she scrunched up her decidedly attractive nose with the effort to gracefully evade a well-placed stream of water.

The laughter had died from her eyes as she narrowed them at me, as if suddenly remembering who I was and where we were.

“We are not friends, Obeah Man.” She said abruptly, straightening up.

I had been shocked by the abrupt change in tone, and a spike of hurt had cut through my chest. She was right, though. Somehow, over the past few nights my feelings toward her had changed from hatred to a soft fondness. I realized it with a start; and the hurt quickly turned to dread and then fear.

She stalked toward me. She was no longer in a playful mood, she was angry, and her face was back to that stony look she had worn when we had first begun our secret sparring sessions.