They scramble out the door, unwilling to incur the wrath of his dragon.Interesting.They were willing to defy the council leader, though. From the narrowed look on Daegan’s face, I’m guessing he’s aware of more than he’s letting on.
Daegan glances at the mirrored wall behind Gatlin, then slides a piece of paper across to him. He folds his arms while Gatlin reads it.
I try different angles, but the rooms were designed to listen and watch, not read a piece of paper. The sheer size of the two of them obscures most of their actions as well.
Gatlin lifts his head and considers the man across from him, then nods. Daegan takes the paper and with a slight puff, burns it to ashes and stands.
“Good luck,” he tells Gatlin, then strides to the door. “Put him in cell block four. I’ll send additional guards to relieve you in a couple of hours.”
The guard stiffly nods. He jerks Gatlin up by his cuffs, and Gatlin snarls at the guard. It’s so unusual, I keep watching. Once Gatlin is in the cell, the guard picks up his cell and provides the holding cell number to someone on the phone. Traitor. Furious, I click over to the cameras in cell block four and glance at the clock. This happened two hours ago.
On screen, a portal opens in the back of the cell and Gatlin walks into it. As he passes under the camera, he flashes two fingers, then disappears.
Hurriedly closing everything down, I open a portal and step into our number two safe house. A knife across my throat greets me at the door. I strike his hand and scissor my two daggers across his neck.
“You forget who I used to be,” I say with a chuckle.
His golden eyes stare back at me. “No, you forget. I’m simply reminding you. All these years you’ve hidden behind that bloody laptop, playing a role that defies your true nature. War is coming. Which one will you embrace when it hits?”
Stiffening, I throw him a bland smile. “You know why. Nolan would never have left me alone if I’d continued to be a threat to him. It would have endangered us all.”
He scoffs. “Bullshit. You wanted to hide the monster inside.”
“Maybe I did,” I admit in a low voice, not wanting to admit it. “What did the paper say?”
He stares at me for a long second but finally drops the topic. “He’s aware that the mages and vampires are involved. They’ve been quietly eliminating shifters, Fae, and elves in key positions and lobbying to replace them with their own candidates. One was a close friend of Daegan’s.”
“So, it is a coup,” I say, thrusting a hand through my hair. “The humans are a distraction. Did you get a chance to tell the humans about the vampires?”
Gatlin shakes his head. “No.” He pauses. “Daegan believes the two factions were working together until they had a falling out. Regardless, the council cut us loose. They won’t support our continued investigation. Daegan asked us to continue, although he can’t protect us if we’re caught. I agreed.”
Movement outside alerts me to the intruders the moment they enter the building. “Time to go.” With a flick of the stylus,a portal opens. A moment later, we step into Phaedra’s house in Rome.
“It’s Mathias,” I call out.
Gatlin slides a questioning glance at me.
When we step into the living room, Hawthorne is lying motionless on the bed. Jamison and Phaedra are sitting on the couch, heads close together, examining a blue and gold panel. That must be the one they found in Hephaestus’ temple. She looks up and sees Gatlin. Her eyes scan him from head to toe as if she’s searching for injuries, then she sighs in relief.
“Jamison told me the council locked you up,” she says, flicking an irritated glance at me. “If I’d known Mathias was going after you, I would have gone with him.”
Gatlin practically preens at her words. “I’d rather you stayed safe. Besides, Mathias didn’t have to rescue me. Daegan set up an escape.” He proceeds to share their conversation.
Jamison’s jaw locks, and a tic appears. “A fucking coup. What the hell is my father thinking?”
“Who’s leading the vampires? I doubt it was the woman I saw,” I ask with a frown. “There’s no way this was planned overnight. Everything is too coordinated. But I will say, bringing the humans in as a distraction worked. We never saw it coming.”
“Maybe the humans aren’t just a distraction,” Phaedra says with a concerned expression on her face. “What if they’re using the coup to expose themselves to the world? They almost succeeded in Greece.”
Jamison shakes his head. “My father’s always been opposed to exposure. I doubt he’d change his mind.” He pauses. “But I never thought he’d side with humans either.”
“Could be the reason for the fallout,” Gatlin interjects. “Vampires want it. Mages don’t?” He looks from me to Jamison. “But where do Phaedra and the key and panels come in?”
“They must think they hold some kind of power,” she speculates. “We won’t know until we find them, but I’m beginning to believe they’re right.” She picks up the panel in front of her. “This didn’t come easy. It almost cost Hawthorne his life. We have to get to the other four and figure it out before our enemies find us.”
Doran’s drawing is in front of her. “They have this panel, which I think is the lid. There are six gods on it. Two panels were found in Hephaestus’ temple. If I’m correct, the next panel will be on Delos. The birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.” She taps each of the gods in the drawing.
“I’m going with you,” I state firmly.
