“You know I can’t release you while Hubler lives. That would take away my only leverage.” Darius shook his head.
“I understand. The meeting is Plan A. If you can negotiate a deal with him, we’re all good. If you can’t, we’ll move on to Plan B.”
“What’s Plan B?” Castle glowered down at me.
I’d been thinking about this for a while and had come up with an idea that could reunite me with Kerryandtake care of Hubler at the same time. The only problem was, I’d be taking a huge risk, and I knew my boy wouldn’t forgive me for putting myself in danger like that.
“I’ll tell you if we need it, but let’s hope we won’t,” was all I said.
“I know who we can use to arrange the meeting,” Darius told us. “My cousin Mingo works with the wardens at the Sanctuary all the time. If he’s not available, then maybe my aunt Parvenah. She’s the queen of the peris. Your Kerry would haveno reason to suspect either of them, and they are not capable of betraying a trust.”
I had no idea what a peri was, but I’d ask him that later.
“Good.” I turned to Castle. “Your job is to keep Hubler busy and distracted while Darius handles the meeting. You’re not invited to it, by the way. If and when you’re ever introduced to Kerry, I need to be there so no one dies.”
He snorted and rolled his eyes.
“Look, Mr. Castle, I’m cooperating with you for Kerry’s sake, not because I believe anything you say or do. I don’t trust you for a second. ”
“You have a lot of mouth for someone who’s an isolated, vulnerable piece in a game that’s been in play for two centuries.”
“May I remind you that, even standing alone, the queen is the most powerful piece on the board.” I smile sweetly at him. “And she always protects her king.”
50. Impasse
Kerry
“Hey, Kerry,” Hank said in an absent tone as he stared at his phone. “Have you ever heard of a dark witch who goes by Bennie?”
We’d just finished up with breakfast in a safe room at St. Pat’s and had started coordinating with our teams and making sure we hadn’t missed anything when my warden made me sit down with him on the couch.
“Yeah. Why?” I narrowed my eyes at him, cautious about where he was going with this.
I didn’t need any of them knowing some of the things I did for—and with—her, things I wished I could permanently erase out of my memories.
“Youdo?!” He sat up straight and nearly dropped his phone in his lap. “How do you know her? And do you know where she is right now?”
“She’s here in New York, and I supplied some, ah, stuff to her over the years in exchange for some, uh, stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
Choosing to believe he meant what stuff I received from her, I said, “I needed food, mostly, when I was a kid, and then healing as I got older.”
“Healing?! You went to adark witchfor healing?!” Jax shrieked.
“It wasn’t like I could go to a neph healer, moron.” I shuddered, remembering the pain that racked me when my girl tried to heal me the night she found me. “A Divine healing on a possessed body woulda been more tortuous than whatever wounds I had to begin with!”
“Is this her?” Hank held up his phone so I could see a grainy black and white photo.
“Yep, that’s Bennie.”
“Did you ever supply her with a werewolf?”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t care about whatever had him riled up, but I was ashamed to tell the truth. I wasn’t a coward, though. I’d been bold enough to do it; I could be bold enough to admit it.
“Yeah, I did,” I said with my chin up and my shoulders back. “Lots of times. Bennie uses them to power her magic.”
“How?” Gigi frowned. “How can you use a werewolf—”
