Chapter 150: Tick tock 2

BONNIE

Something guarded threaded through her tone that told me there was a whole history sitting between these two women I hadn’t been given the shape of yet, and probably wouldn’t be, not tonight.

Madeline turned back toward Lysander. "But Fia’s right about the concern, Your Majesty. That ability doesn’t belong to witch bloodlines. Which suggests she might have been some kind of hybrid. Given that healers are apparently resurfacing after centuries of presumed extinction, it isn’t an unreasonable theory to entertain."

"That would mean she’d need to have werewolf blood in her somewhere," Lysander said, already scanning the ruined room. He found a healer hovering near the far wall and called her over. "Collect a sample of the witch’s blood for testing. I want to know if there are any werewolf genetic markers present."

The healer nodded and moved to comply, kneeling carefully beside what remained of Willow. ℯℯ𝘭.

Bradley reappeared in the doorway a moment later. "Your Majesty. I need a word."

"I’ll be back," Lysander told me, then glanced toward Fia. "Perhaps the two of you should find somewhere less bloody to wait this out."

Madeline cleared her throat. "I assume there’s no further need for my services tonight, then."

"We appreciate you greatly, Miss Blossom," Bradley said, some genuine warmth cutting through his exhaustion. "My people will be in touch soon regarding proper compensation for your time and your risk."

She nodded once. "What I’d recommend in the meantime are anti-magic runes placed around the entire section of the estate. I’m not particularly skilled in that older discipline myself, admittedly, but the more senior witches that I am sure are in your network likely will be, if you reach out properly."

She turned to Fia. "Goodbye, Fia." Then, glancing briefly at me, something unreadable in her expression, "And you as well."

She left, her steps unhurried even now, and I watched Lysander and Bradley disappear together down the opposite corridor, something uneasy settling low in my chest that I couldn’t quite put a name to. I let it go for now. I was too wrung out to chase down one more thread tonight.

I turned to Fia instead. "Thank you. For your help back there. I don’t think I could have held that barrier alone."

"I’m a little flustered, if I’m honest," she said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, her hand trembling faintly as she did it. "I’m sure plenty of people in this room saw me using gifts they’ve genuinely never should have seen in the hands of an Omega turned honorary Luna before. That’s going to travel fast."

"Oh, goddess," I said. "I hadn’t even thought about that. I’m sorry. I dragged you into this."

"It’s fine," she said, though her tone suggested it wasn’t entirely fine, not yet, maybe not for a while. "But that witch. There’s something about her that doesn’t sit right with me. Something underneath all of it."

She hesitated, glancing at me sideways, something careful and deliberate in the pause.

"And I can’t shake the feeling it might connect back to your father somehow," she said. "I should read up on him properly. Everything that exists. You probably should too, before this goes any further without either of us understanding what we’re actually standing in the middle of."

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly tight enough to ache.

"I know I told you that you could tell him whenever you were ready," Fia continued, her voice dropping lower, gentler, but with an edge underneath it that hadn’t been there before. "But things are getting dangerous now, Bonnie. Genuinely dangerous, in a way that could get people killed if it stays buried much longer. You have to tell him. Soon. Or I might have to be the one who does it for you."

LYSANDER

Bradley waited until we’d cleared two corridors before he spoke, his voice pitched low enough that it barely carried past my own ears.

"We need to discuss what happened back there," he said. "And what it means for your seat, given the deal you struck with the Elder Circle."

"Bonnie didn’t do it," I said, the words coming out sharper than I intended.

"That’s semantics, Your Majesty," Bradley said, unbothered by my tone. "The court doesn’t care about who pulled the actual thread. They care about what they saw. A witch’s head exploded in front of a dozen witnesses, and the last hands touching her before it happened belonged to your mate. Semantics won’t save you or her if this reaches Edelina’s ears before we control the story."

"So we control it," I said. "Fast."

"That’s precisely what I intend to discuss." He stopped walking, turning to face me fully, his expression unreadable in the dim corridor light. "Every sentinel in that room. The remaining healers, excluding your guest, who witnessed the aftermath. As much as it pains me to suggest it, they need to be handled. Quietly but permanently."

I stared at him. "You’re suggesting we exterminate them."

"Yes."

The word landed flat and unbothered, delivered with the same tone he might have used to recommend a change in the menu for tonight’s dinner. Something cold slid down my spine at the sheer, practiced ease of it.

"Your Majesty, you look disgusted," Bradley said, not unkindly. "You’re allowed to look at me that way. That’s my role in this. I carry the weight so you don’t have to. But I need your word before I move forward with it."

"You won’t have it," I said. "That’s murder, High Beta Bradley. Plain and simple. I won’t sanction the killing of loyal sentinels because they happened to be standing in a room when something went wrong."

"It’s necessary," he said, "in a bloodbath this deep, if you actually want the throne and the truth that will come after to survive together. They’ll be honored properly. Their families compensated. Nothing dishonorable in how it’s remembered."

"You sound like my father and worse... You sound like you’ve done this before."