He’d fought off Eros for long enough that I didn’t underestimate what Phillip had in his bag, but I wasn’t sure if they’d work with the Nether Royals. It was another risk we couldn’t take unless there was no other choice.
Cash and Jo went quiet, and I stared at them in confusion when neither of them answered. It was too heavy a silence, and it seemed to weigh down on everyone.
“We don’t know,” Jo finally said, her admission nearly as surprising as the one that changed my life.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Phillip demanded before I could. “How could you not know what they’re able to do after all this time?”
Jo scoffed and glowered at him. “Because people don’t survive them long enough to know those things, Hunter. They’ve all fucking died, and not even those with the power to talk to the dead can hear their stories. All we can guess based on everything we’ve heard is that Aram has some form of coercion. We don’t know how he does it or if it’s something you can break—”
“It can be broken,” Cash asserted, his eyes sliding up to meet mine. “But not without exerting all your power to do it.”
I stared at him. “How do you know that?”
“Because I broke it once and escaped with my life,” he admitted and the room went deadly quiet.
Jo even seemed blindsided by the statement. “You survived Aram when not even my mother could?!”
Cash laughed without humor. “Survived? Yes, perhaps that’s one way to put it. Except, it took me nearly a year to recover from what he’d done to me.” The lines of his face were twisted. “To be candid, I worried I might never recover my mind or magic. It was only with the favor owed to me that I hid long enough to. Whatever his power is, it stayed inside me long after he was gone and weakened me both body and soul.”
He let loose a breath and wove his hands together.
“He can’t be given a chance to use his ability. One thing I can tell you is it’s not one he can use quickly. He builds it over several minutes. It’s the reason he might first engage you in a conversation the way he did me. But once he strikes, breaking free will drain you of everything and you’ll be lucky to survive, let alone escape. I imagine it’s why Lyra seeks V’s power, but as we all are very much aware, that has changed all thanks to our last encounter.”
The reality of what Aram was finally clicked in that moment.
“Maybe Lyra will have more on him and mastermind something different, but she’s likely to use us as a shield against him more than anything else,” Jo mused, the usual dagger weaving through her fingers. “Never thought I’d utter these words, but I agree with our resident princess. We can’t risk the plan being exposed, and if he has one, it’ll be better to trust him in this case. Training V is our most important task, and that’s what I’ll be doing regardless of what plan we have. Plans, as we’ve all seen, can come apart at a moment’s notice.”
She winked at me, and I smiled with butterflies erupting in my stomach. “Girls don’t want flowers. They want more training,” I joked.
Jo snickered into her hand and tossed her dagger my direction. I caught it without thinking, and Kate’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Always up for a spar, babe. Just leave me a note with some emojis, and we’ll go have some fun.”
Cash harrumphed. “Come up with your own bloody ideas, devil woman.”
He pouted and pocketed a note he’d apparently been writing when no one was looking. I was sure to find it somewhere in my room, hidden as well as it could be in hopes Jo didn’t vandalize it.
Sloan hummed and nodded, all but ignoring the two’s antics. “Hate to say it, mate, but they’re right. Seems the only way to do this is off the cuff, yeah? You said there were three Nether Royals, was it? What of the other two? Do we know what they can do?”
Jo smirked, dark hair falling around her eyes. “They’re powerful, but Aram is the head of the snake. If we take him out, then the other two will fall. It’s the nature of their bond. But like the princess said, we can’t let it get to that point. Aram is far too powerful, and it’s more likely he’ll know what we can do and howto counter it than the likelihood of us evading his. We can’t give any of them time to react.”
“So, like, a sneak attack? Getting the jump on them is the only way to make sure you have the first hit, right?” Kate offered out of nowhere, and all eyes were on her, including Big’s. She smiled and shrugged. “What? I’ve watched enough action movies to know that much.”
I sent a little grin her direction. “It’s paid off, my dude. I’m guessing we’ll need to do something to catch them off guard before they know what we’re looking to do. And I have just the idea that’ll make sure we can do it. It’ll mean risking at least that much sharing of the plan if my bond to Aram betrays me.”
Phillip tugged me closer, twisting my hair around his fingers and tugging. I didn’t get a chance to glare at him because Sloan’s hand gripped mine hard enough to steal my attention. Neither of them liked the idea.
“Wait. Bond with Aram? The bad guy?” Kate asked, surprise making her body rigid. “Like the weirdo bond you have with Fairy Boy?”
Phillip laughed into my hair. “I forgot how fun your friend is.”
I rolled my eyes as Cash’s entire face and body morphed into the usual Karen indignation. “Long story, but yes. Look, you’re right. We don’t know what he’ll get from the bond, but he’d be stupid not to expect me to have plans. He’s my enemy, and he knows it. But you also know what’s on my side here…”
I didn’t go into detail so Lyra wasn’t in the loop. Unfortunately, Kate was still an issue when we went to visit the Royal Siren. I’d hint but keep the specifics out of her head.
“Your brutes are right, love. It’s too risky,” Cash said, shaking his head and crossing his arms.
“But a risk worth taking,” I argued.
Jo didn’t say anything, but she nodded, the only person currently on my side. Go figure.
