Arcane Magic (Stella Mayweather Series) (24 page)

"Speak to me like that again, wolf, and I'll behead you myself," said Hunter, baring razor-sharp teeth. "Étoile, there will be no High Council sworn in this evening. We must conclude this inane attempt at reconciliation between the races as an utter failure. Alas, with this traitor, it cannot be done."

"On the contrary," said the old vampire, stepping forward. "There will be a High Council sworn in today, but it doesn't look like either of you will be leading your people if
Étoile has evidence against you both. You have successfully proven a case of suspicion against Noah Wilde. What evidence have you to prove your allegations against the demon?"

"Plenty,"
Étoile replied, producing another package, which she held aloft. "Here is my evidence against Hunter. I'll explain in more detail later, but, in short, Hunter and Noah both had reasons for plotting my demise and they colluded with one of our own to ensure it would happen. All three wished to see the High Council derailed. That's where Noah's role ended. In our investigation, we found that Noah simply didn't want the High Council to go ahead, so he was happy to eradicate me, assuming that the Council would simply disband. Hunter agreed with everything Noah wanted to hear; there was just one problem: Hunter had his own agenda."

"Stories," yawned Hunter, his teeth still bared.

"Hunter always intended for you to be foiled, Noah," continued Étoile, ignoring him. "With me dead, Noah would have been a convenient fall guy. That's two eminent leaders gone in one fell swoop. Hunter planned to continue the High Council, and champion its progress, while lobbying for a lesser witch to lead my people. He offered the role of werewolf leader to the Rockford wolf, Tobias Grigg. Not only would that wolf be in his debt, but Hunter also planned to be the saviour of the High Council, thereby, gradually ensuring he would have all the power to himself. With all of us sworn to follow the rulings of the High Council beyond our own laws, Hunter could have made himself the most powerful supernatural creature of our time."

A commotion at the back of the stage had the crowd whispering again; and a moment later, Irina appeared, in the custody of guards. "We caught her trying to slip out of the rear exit," said one of them.

"I have nothing to do with this," said Irina. "Let me go!"

"I can't do that," replied
Étoile. "We’ve obtained a rather large amount of evidence against you too. You were Hunter's right hand through all of this."

"No! I'm merely an assistant."

"And my soon to be daughter-in-law," Hunter added, stabbing a sharp pain deep inside me. "This ridiculousness must stop, Étoile. You have your werewolf. Let the rest of us go, including Irina."

"I swear, this is the last set of photographs," said
Étoile, producing them from the folds of her coat. "You've been followed for some time, Irina. I have photos of you with the Rockford wolves, and we have sworn statements that you often perform magic for them. You knew that one of their wolves was coming to warn an associate of mine, and you killed him. Yes, I had the magic traced directly to you. Right now, I'm in a quandary as to whether to deal with you myself, or hand you over to the wolves, to be dealt with right alongside Noah."

"You can't do that!" Irina screamed, her hair whipping wildly as she strained against the guards' unrelenting grip. "They'll rip me apart. Evan!"

"I offer her no protection," said Evan, barely looking at her, or moving. "The marriage arrangement was being forced on me, and I would never have gone through with it."

"No! No!" Irina sobbed, attempting to break away again. "That's not true."

Hunter sighed, stepping away as she lunged towards him. "It appears that Irina was behind this plot with the werewolves. I will handle her personally."

The shock and fear on Irina's face was palpable as he calmly betrayed her, her frightened eyes falling on Evan again. "Evan, don't let him do this. We will ally in marriage and lead the demons together. Together, we will be unstoppable. Have them arrest your father!"

"I never wanted to be unstoppable," said Evan, distancing himself from the pair until he was at Étoile's side, "and I will never be with you. All of this—" he waved to her and his father, "—was to stop you from doing the unthinkable. I will never align with the demons against the witches or any other faction."

"It's because of that little witch, isn't it?" Irina screamed, her face turning to pure fury as she scanned the crowd. "That pathetic, little witch you love!" Her eyes fixed on mine, and I shuddered, but held my resolve. I felt slightly relieved there was nothing she could do while the guards held her. "That's a problem I can easily fix."

"Stella, down!" someone screamed before I was roughly pushed to the floor and another person screamed. Moments later, I untangled myself from limbs and bodies as I peeked above the chairs. Evan blocked most of my view, with his back to me as he stood on the stage, his hands spread, looking down at Irina's prone body. A guard knelt beside her, holding two fingers to her neck. "She's alive," said the guard.

"And faking," his partner added. They proceeded to wind magic around her, binding her to them and apparently, extracting her magic too as she staggered to her feet. Blood trickled from her temple.

"What happened?" I asked, looking around, hoping someone knew as I grabbed Kitty's hand, and pulled her to her feet.

"She sent a stream of magic at you," said a witch from the floor.

"From her eyes," added another. "She would have killed you."

"What did it hit?" I asked, helping the witch get up as we all regained our composure. It hardly seemed worth sitting now, especially as the chairs were knocked around and the crowd scattered.

"Him," said the witch I supported, pointing to the stage. I turned just as Evan's knees crumpled. Before I could react, two demons were at his sides, supporting him, and Étoile too, whispering to them. Then, they half carried, half-dragged him from the room.

"Arrest Hunter and Irina," said
Étoile, her voice carrying over the commotion, the empaths having all but given up on crowd control. "Noah Wilde, Tobias Grigg, and all the wolves of the Rockford pack."

She paused as a fight broke out amongst the Rockford pack, each trying to make an escape. None of them realised they had already been corralled into a corner before the show even began. Instead, they were simply herded from the room, surrounded by guards, and the door banged shut, leaving the stage much as it was at the start of the
meeting, only significantly emptier and substantially bloodier.

"Originally, I planned to give a speech,"
Étoile said, walking around the half-empty table and taking her seat, barely a wisp of hair out of place, "but I think I'd rather just sign this." She plucked the pen from the table and added her signature to the document in the middle of the mess. "Who is with me?"

"I am," said Arnie, taking the pen from her and sliding the document his way. He added his signature and pushed it towards the vampire. Luke Fellows took it and signed also, moving the pen in large flourishes, which made me wonder in which century he learned to write.

Étoile held the paper aloft. "That's three races formally aligned. We will wait for the werewolves and the demons to select a new leader before we invite them to join. Until then, the High Council is still in force."

"Just a moment," said a female werewolf, someone I didn't know, but often saw around the building.
"If you'll give us the liberty of a little space, we can settle our leadership issues before midnight."

"Before midnight?"
Étoile arched an eyebrow as she waited for an explanation.

"We must dispose of our old leader before we swear in a new one," the woman reasoned. "And we have suitable candidates here tonight. Will you not give Noah a trial?"

"If he survives the leadership fight, no," she continued, "and it is clear there must be one. Guilty or not, Noah Wilde will never return as leader. We could forgive his recent transgressions, but we cannot forgive such self-serving behaviour, much less, the attempted murder of an ally."

"Tell my assistant what you need and we will accommodate you," agreed
Étoile. "We will look forward to welcoming your new leader this evening." The werewolf bowed and turned, signaling for all the remaining werewolves to follow suit. When they left the witches, vampires, and shapeshifters mingling, I was uncertain whether to be elated at the progression of the High Council, and gossiping about the events, or just stunned into silence. Étoile stood, waiting until all eyes were on her again. If she had ever lacked confidence regarding her position as president, she surely wouldn’t now, I decided. She had shown true power and I knew every single supernatural would hear about it after this night.

"The meeting," she said slowly, scanning the crowd, "is now adjourned."

Chapter Twenty

Lying flat on my back on the spacious king-sized bed in my room, I stared up at the blank ceiling and wondered what the hell to do next. It seemed that all around me, activities happened, but I didn't feel like participating in any of them. I wanted to talk to
Étoile and make sure she was as okay as she appeared; but after her abrupt dismissal, she left the room with Clare close on her heels. My next step was to talk to Gage, but he appeared to be caught in the middle of a furious argument with several of the werewolf contingent, their numbers half depleted by numerous arrests.

Instead, I walked back to the rooms with Kitty, leaving when she shut herself in her room, saying she wanted to be alone. She was still too upset over showing the idiot werewolf exactly where to plant the bomb, which could have killed our friend. That left me with one last person to check up on.

I finally ascertained that Evan was taken to a room where a doctor examined him, but when I passed by the open door, I found him with several sombre-looking demons. Our eyes locked for the briefest of moments, and he gave a subtle shake of his head before I hurried on, pretending I was walking elsewhere. But all that happened was I didn’t get to talk to Evan. That was further compounded when I managed to get lost in the maze of corridors.

Now as I lay here, I wished I had a ball or something to throw at the ceiling just to have something to do while I contemplated what happened and tried to determine how I felt about it all.

That Irina thought Evan still had feelings for me was confusing enough, but he protected me too, actually putting himself in the middle of us to absorb the blow. That utterly perplexed me because that was the Evan I used to know, the Evan I loved, not the one I knew from the past few months. Try as I might, I couldn't decide which one was the true Evan anymore. It was sheer madness to try and explain another's actions, which could only come from him; and I couldn't get near him at all.

As for Gage, I could only imagine what Noah's arrest might mean for the werewolves. Gage was their rising star, and I doubted I was the only one who heard rumours this evening that he could be next in line to lead an alignment of packs. I was also sure no one thought the day Noah was dispossessed would arrive so soon.
Did that mean Gage would challenge him, as his successor?
I wondered, and if so, what might that mean for us?

One thing was clear to me, there were two "us" options, and if I had to choose between them... I could always choose “neither.”

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts and I slid off the bed Hastily straightening my clothing, I gave my appearance a cursory glance as I passed the mirror. Opening the door, I expected to find Étoile or a sobbing Kitty, maybe even Astra or Seren. Instead, filling up the entire doorway was Evan.

"We need to talk," he said. "May I come inside? I don't want to be seen."

I opened the door wider and stepped back, hoping my brief hesitation didn't show, as well as my annoyance at hearing he didn't want his visit noticed. Was his standing in the demon hierarchy still of ultimate concern? I could only wonder as I closed the door and followed him. It wasn't too long ago that we stood in a similar room not so far away from here and ended things. The similarities between then and now occupied my mind as we both looked around uneasily. Finally, I took the overstuffed chair in the corner, and offered Evan the stiffer, more upright chair at the desk. He pulled it out, turned it around, and sat, leaning forward, with his hands clasped over his knees.

"We haven't spoken in a long time," he started, "not properly anyway."

I didn't know what to say so I remained silent and hoped I looked composed even though I felt shaky inside. Whatever Evan wanted to talk about, I wasn't sure I was prepared to listen. I also wasn't sure I could handle being in the same room when a sensation of longing rose from within me. I missed him. Not just because he was the first man I loved, and the first man I ever knew loved me, but because he was also my friend, my mentor, my protector. Losing all of those things at once when I lost him, left a huge hole in my life. The pain I had to endure during those first days without him was unparalleled.

"I know it doesn't seem like it, but I have been doing everything I could to protect you," he began again, looking at me. "I need to start from the beginning. When
Étoile saw how Hunter was trying to draw me back into the family — his family — she asked me to let them pull me back in. She had her suspicions about him from the start, and so did I. I agreed that no stone-cold murderer could be that benevolent. He was a danger to everything the High Council stood for. He would have been a danger to you too eventually."

"Why me?"

"Witches look up to you. I've heard the rumours. They see someone who fought off The Brotherhood when she could barely control her own magic, someone who struggles to succeed again and again, even after the fight seems long over, and who managed to prevail over the likes of Eleanor Bartholomew and Georgia Thomas. They see a witch who has risen in the ranks, but seeks no power for herself."

"One who keeps getting attacked," I murmured. "Not exactly the ideal person to envy."

"No, that is not enviable. Nonetheless, you keep trying."

"What does this have to do with Hunter?" I asked, frowning.

"He saw you as the only obstacle to my reunion with the family, and doing my duty. Even when I told him we were history, he thought, without you, I would be easier to manipulate."

I laughed, but failed to conceal the traces of bitterness. "Has he met you?"

"He doesn't know me," said Evan. "He never has. He was wrong. Our relationship... ended, and he took that as the ultimate sign that I was ready to embrace my demon half over my human side. Just as Étoile and I predicted, he pulled me further in, allowing me access to places and things that I would never have gotten otherwise. Information, plans, and not just the ones that supported the High Council, but the secret plotting too. I even had access to track Irina. She's always done my father's dirty work. I knew about her involvement with Tobias Grigg; and it was easy to track her magic to what we found on Kevin Wyatt's body."

"You were
Étoile's double agent? This whole time?"

"Yes. She knows everything that I've learned."

"Why didn't either of you tell me?"

"I made
Étoile swear not to tell you. Our parting had to be real for you. Your anger had to be spontaneous and sincere in order for my mission to succeed."

"Obviously, that worked out just fine," I snapped, folding my arms across my stomach defensively.

"Yes, it did. On the surface, it worked just fine. Then, my father made the marriage arrangements with Irina, a full-blooded demon who is as power-hungry as she is beautiful."

"I heard she was your ex."

Evan sighed. "She was. We dated briefly many, many years ago; and I broke it off when I found out what our families’ plans for us were. That, and I found out what she was really like. Vicious. The marriage would have meshed our families together, resulting in enormous power. I couldn't go through with it then, but this time... I had to go along with the facade for my own cover."

"Did you actually intend to go through with it?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"No."

"Even if..."

"I would have found some way out of it. I would never have married her."

"Did you sleep with her?" I spat out, regretting my choice of words as soon as I spoke them. I was a hypocrite and knew it. That didn't make his answer hurt any less.

"Did you sleep with Gage?" Evan asked softly.

For a long time we sat there, and I imagined I heard a clock ticking, even though the clock on the wall was silent. I knew we would have to break the silence at some point, but what to say?
Thanks for the breakup and glad it served your purpose? Thanks for plotting with Étoile and leaving me in the dark? Yes, I slept with Gage when I was free to do so, but that doesn't mean expected you to be with anyone else; and by the way, you were engaged?

"I am sorry a thousand times for hurting you," said Evan. "I would take the hurt away from you if I could."

"I understand," I said in an equally quiet voice.

"You do?"

"Some of it, I think. The other bits... I don't know. I had no claim on you. You could do whatever you wanted, but that didn't mean I had to like it."

"Same as you." Evan's voice was gruff.

"I know that, but I don't want to play the ‘you did stuff, I did stuff’ game. I can't change the past anymore than you can. What I want to know is where do we go from here?"

Before he could answer, the telephone on the desk rang sharply. I thought about ignoring it, but decided that I had better answer in case it was important. Who knew what was decided in the past hour? Who knew what decisions
Étoile made in the past few months? I pondered those questions, wondering if I could hate her for the deceit she used on me in the name of saving the High Council. If that were politics, they could keep it. I wanted no part of it. Reaching for the phone put me in closer proximity to Evan, and I could feel the warmth radiating from him as I picked up the receiver.

"Stella?" came
Étoile's voice.

"Yes, it's me."

"The wolves have invited us to watch their leadership fight. I'm told it is very interesting and a rare opportunity. Will you come?"

"I don't know. Will it be bloody?"

"Who knows? Maybe they'll play cards like adults, shake hands, and it'll be done."

I smiled at that. Then we both sighed and said together, "It'll be bloody."

Étoile continued, not surprising me at all when she added, "Gage will participate."

"Willingly?"

"There will be two contenders matched against each other, and the victor will take on Noah."

"Who's the other challenger?"

"A wolf from the Rockford pack. His name is Hal Hoag. He has as much support as Gage. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have concerns about the true intentions of the other wolf, should he win."

"I've met him. He's a big guy. Close to Tobias Grigg."

"That's my concern. I'm trying to find out if their policies match, or if this Hal Hoag has his own agenda."

I couldn't answer that so I tried to match Hal against Gage in my head. Both were tall, broad, and very large-muscled. Gage was smart too, and I didn't think Hal was as intelligent. Working in Hal's favour, he was a bit stockier and heavier built. That meant Gage had to probably be lighter on his feet. But, I conceded in my own internal argument, it would still be a very close match. "What if neither wins?"

"Then they'll just go on fighting until there is a winner. And if they don't like the winner, who knows? It's in an hour. You'll be called."

"I'll be there."

"And Stella?"

"Yes?"

"Regardless of what happens, everything changes. Remember that."

"What do you mean?" I asked, but
Étoile had already gone. I hung up, staring at the phone, puzzled. What did she mean by that? What could change?

"They've set a time?" Evan asked before clarifying, "the wolves?"

"In an hour." The proximity between us closed as I stood less than a few inches from him. Close enough to reach out and hug him, and far enough that I could step away. I was paralysed by indecision. Finally, I stepped backwards, just beyond his reach. "What about the demons? What happens to Hunter now?" I asked, aware that Evan never mentioned what would happen after the arrests.
Everything changes
, rang Étoile's voice. I needed to know what would change.

"He won't be able to proceed leading demonkind. There will be some in-fighting, then a victor will emerge. I think things will sway towards a demon with High Council sympathies, even if only as a protective measure."

"Would that demon be you?"

"No." Evan loomed over me. He repeated more emphatically, "No. I've always said I'm not interested in politics, and I'm not. I'll help where I can, but I don't want anything to do with the running of the High Council, or even of my own kin. I'll settle for a vote, maybe even advise when asked, but I do not want to lead. That's Hunter... and Irina... but it's definitely not me. I swear to you now, Stella, as soon as demonkind have their
new leader and the High Council is fully sworn in, I'm out."

"Back to your normal life?" I asked, surprised somehow by his sincere determination.

"I don't know what normal is. What about you? Have you developed a taste for Council business?"

I shook my head. "Doing what
Étoile does every day? That's not for me. Everything you've told me today just reaffirms that."

"Don't be pissed at
Étoile. She wanted to tell you herself."

"I'm not angry, I'm..." I trailed off. Truthfully, I didn't know what I was, or at least, what churning emotions I was feeling.

A hand landed on my arm. "What about us?"