After Whitewell's vague and ominous warning, lunch proceeded peacefully. But once done, Ezra appeared by my side just as we stood from our seats.

He looked at Whitewell. It wasn't even a glare, just a blank look. But that was more scary. Whitewell apparently had a good head on his shoulders, because he gave me and Ezra a nod and disappeared.

I tugged on Ezra's hand, more amused than anything. "Alright, your jealous highness, enough."

"What did he want?"

"He was warning me."

He narrowed his eyes. "Warning you or threatening you?"

I thought about my conversation with Whitewell. Unless I was a really imperceptive idiot, then Whitewell's words and tones didn't ring like a threat.

"No, it wasn't a threat. A warning," I said as we filed out of the banquet hall with the rest of the guests.

According to the council leaflet, the first meeting was in two hours. So we still had some time to kill.

But the first thing I needed to do was to check on my father. He, along with Mom and Wren, had already retreated to the suite. I wonder if my father was still feeling the effects of that blood powder.

"Ezra?"

Ezra and I stopped. A girl around Ezra's age walked hesitantly towards us.

"Aria?" Ezra asked.

The girl smiled, her steps growing more assured when Ezra recognized her.

Silky black hair down to her shoulders, bright hazel eyes and light brown skin with a hint of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was tall, as were most werewolves, and had the muscled build of a warrior.

"Hey, you. It's been a while," she said, giving Ezra a hug.

I wasn't surprised by the hug, but I was surprised by Ezra's expression. The stoic face he wore in public eased, and he gave her a soft smile while patting her back.

I tried my best to ignore the twinge of unease in my stomach. I couldn't believe I was jealous over a hug and a smile. She stepped back, but the knot in my stomach didn't ease. Ugh.

"Yeah, the last time I've seen you was..." Ezra trailed off.

"When Zariah and I dared you and Zander into sneaking into your grandmother's study," she finished with an airy chuckle. "How's Clementine? Still stuck up?"

"Yep." Ezra squeezed my shoulder and looked at me. "This is Aria, she was a member of the Royal pack before..."

Before his siblings passed. My heart ached. I gave Aria a smile, but she was too busy staring at my mate.

"Aria, this is my mate, Orla."

"Oh, right." She smiled at me. "Sorry for staring. He just... he looks so much like Zander. If you've seen them together, you would understand."

I tried not to read too much into her remark. I didn't know Ezra as far back as she had, so what? She probably didn't mean it like that, and I was just too sensitive after Dad's attack.

"What are you doing here?" Ezra asked.

"I'm here with my sister's mate. She's pregnant, so I came in her stead," she said. "Where's Ashley? I don't see her."

"She's in Europe."

"Oh. Too bad. We didn't keep in touch as much as I liked over the years. I really wanted to see her and catch up."

She also knew Ashley. Great. Irritated, mostly with myself, I tried stepping out of Ezra's arm.

"I need to check on Dad," I linked him. "You can stay and catch up."

"I'm going too."

"There's still a couple of hours left until the first meeting," Aria said. "Why don't we grab a coffee or something? I don't really know anyone else around here so..."

Ezra gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry. We have to check on something. But we'll catch up later."

Her face fell. "Oh, sure. See you later."

We walked up the stairs, and as we turned the bend of the stairwell, I glanced back. Aria stood in her spot, looking at Ezra through bright hazel eyes.

I realized then she hadn't looked at me for more than a couple of seconds, she had eyes only for Ezra.

"Who's she?" I asked Ezra.

"She was Zariah's best friend growing up," he said. "Her parents were warriors in our pack. After they passed away in the incident, her sister took her in, so she moved away. I haven't seen her since."

"Oh."

Sympathy for her overshadowed the bitterness. And I felt guilty. She must've gone through so much growing up. Ezra was probably a reminder of the good times she had in the past.

Besides, anyone with eyes would stare at Ezra. And since she'd known him in childhood, she could be taken aback with how well he grew up. I really shouldn't be jealous.

It must be the roller coaster of emotions these past few days that was making me so brittle.

When we reached our floor, Ezra stopped us before entering the door and bent his head to look at me.

"What?" I asked.

He gave me a warm smile. One that other people didn't see, not even his childhood friends.

And I really had to stop being petty.

"I love you. You know that, right?" he said.

I sighed, my heart full. "I know. I love you too."

He kissed me and we got into our suite, where my father was on the couch, downing a bottle of water under Mom's watchful gaze.

"Hey, Orton told us what you did earlier," Wren said, perching on the arm of a chair.

I hurried to Dad's side, forgetting all about Aria and my fit of unreasonable jealousy. "Let me try something, Dad."

"Hale told him to drink as much water as he can to flush out the toxin from his body," Wren said. "He stayed down there with your father and Vlad. To keep an eye out for who Zane talks to. Besides, we shouldn't all disappear at once."

"She's right," Dad rasped out, looking between Mom and me. His face was gray, even worse than earlier, the skin beneath his eyes dark. "At least one of us should've stayed down there with Orton."

"Don't worry. Dad won't leave him alone," Ezra said.

I sat down next to my father and blocked out their conversation, closing my eyes and focusing only on magic. Mine and everyone else's.

Trying to get a sense of the dark magic circulating in my father's blood was difficult. It was definitely less easier than sensing the poison in spilled liquid.

I squeezed my father's hand tighter and felt his pulse against my skin. After a few seconds, every beat of his heart brought with it an awareness of all magic around me. My surroundings blanked. Nothing but the energy existed in my mind's eyes. Slowly, I lost sense of everything else.

Magic flowed and ebbed in a plane of existence that I saw in my mind. And there was a moment where I lost all sense of self. It was as if I'd merged with the magic in the air around me, flowing in the rivers of energy, and I was nothing but a collection of particles among countless others in the universe.

It lasted a brief moment, and when I came back into myself, I could feel the particles of dark magic inside my father's body with such clarity, I could have reached with my bare hands and plucked them out. They were freely streaming through his veins.

I reached with my magic and grasped them, forcing them through my father's veins. His hand spasmed in mine, and his grunt of pain almost made me stop. But I couldn't undo all the progress, so I gritted my teeth and pushed the dark magic even when he tried to pull his hand away from mine and his grunt of pain turned into a sharp cry.

I opened my eyes to find him bleeding through his nose and eyes, the blood an unnatural shade of purple, and the veins in his eyes exploding with dark blood.

My senses came back with a rush.

Ezra was holding my father's arm to keep him from removing his hand from mine, veins bulging in his forearm. Dad's hand went limp in mine.

"It's fine now," I told Ezra, who let go of my father.

Everyone watched him carefully. Mom rushed back from the bathroom with a couple of damp towels and helped Dad wipe his face. His hands were shaking.

"It feels like I just gave birth," he finally said, out of breath.

Mom and Wren snorted.

"Doubtful," Mom said, "but how do you feel?"

He blinked, the broken blood vessels in his eyes rapidly healing. "Better. Much better." He looked at me. "You managed to get the poison out through my blood?"

"I guess?" I shrugged. I just did what felt right.

Ezra crouched in front of me, looking at me weirdly. "And how do you feel?"

"A little tired," I said. "But nothing extraordinary."

"Good, because it's time for the meeting," Wren said.

"Already?" I asked. Has it already been two hours?

"It's been two hours, sweetheart," Ezra said. "You lost yourself there. At one point I thought you were passed out."

"Oh." It felt like I was only gone for a few minutes. That was trippy.

Before we left for the meeting, though, I told them about Whitewell, switching to mind-link.

Wren pulled Hale into our collective link to give his input, because among us, he was the only one who knew Whitewell well enough.

Ezra unscrewed a bottle of water and gave it to me, hovering behind my spot on the couch. I drank. I was parched and I didn't even realize it.

"Whitewell is an arrogant little shit," Hale said when I was done. "He's also inflexible and rude."

Wren snickered. "Don't hold back, Hale. Clearly you're very fond of the guy."

"Not very fond of him. But if there's one thing I know about him, it's that he's unapologetically honest and straightforward. That's why most people don't really like him. He doesn't play politics, he just tells it as it is without regard to anything else."

"So you think he knows something about Nadia?" I asked.

"Could be. Could be something not as serious as we think. Nadia is a pretty easy going person and she mostly avoids complicated matters. Being involved with the Coalition would be too complicated," Hale paused. "But then again, I could very well be wrong. I mean, look at Zane."

Wren bit her lip and looked at me. "Orla, why don't you try to talk to him some more? Since he already told you as much, maybe you'll be able to loosen his lips. Try to sound him out."

Ezra growled a little. "I don't like that asshole."

"I don't like him either," Mom said. "But we need all the information we can get. And if Nadia is involved with the Coalition, we need to know. That woman might appear harmless, but her hands are far-reaching even outside the witch communities."

"I'll try," I said, though I didn't really know how or if Whitewell would be willing to share anymore.

"Let me know when you'll talk to him," Ezra linked me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I don't trust him alone with you."

I patted his hand. "I'll be fine. But I won't talk to him on my own."

*** **** ***

The banquet hall was turned into a massive conference room. Rows of tables formed a big U shape. One row for vampires, one for witches and one for werewolves. The moon children, since we were only four, sat with the werewolves.

Vlad sat in the middle of the vampires, Hale and Nadia in the middle of the row of witches, and Zyron and Wren in the middle of the werewolves. I guess every species had their leaders, whether they were official or not.

Remembering Whitewell's vague warning about Nadia, I glanced at her. For an "old woman" who claimed disinterest in worldly matters, she was surprisingly active. She seemed to really like her seat at the forefront.

Ezra sat beside me, and next to him was none other than Aria. She'd pounced on the seat next to him as soon as we were settled. Right now, they were speaking in hushed voices, and she was a little too close for my peace of mind. Did she really have to lean close like that? Sure, the place was quite busy and she would be able to hear him better up close, but still...

Ugh. I hated this.

Fortunately, the doors closed and the meeting started shortly after.

The first few minutes were some boring speeches by a few representatives from every species.

I tried my best to focus, but when Aria and Ezra started playing Tic-Tac-Toe on a piece of paper, it took all I had not to smack the back of Ezra's head.

I hated myself for being so insecure. I knew Ezra loved me. I could feel it every second of every day. And he wasn't the type of person to cheat or get emotionally involved with someone else while committed to me.

But then a little annoying voice in my head asked, was it just the bond? If the bond disintegrated right now, would he still feel the same?

I hated this. I must be too tired from using my magic, that was why I was too sensitive.

Ezra turned to me, his eyes annoyingly perceptive. I tried my best to block my annoying feelings from filtering through the bond, but I knew I wouldn't be completely successful.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing."

It wasn't nothing, and he knew. Before he could ask, the subject of Haley's attack popped up. I leaned forward in my seat and focused.

The woman speaking sat at the end of the witches' table. In a heavy Irish accent, she asked, "Why did the lass do it? To attack a fellow witch without provocation? There has to be a reason."

Hale replied, "we have reason to believe her mother ordered the attack."

"Why?" Another witch asked. He looked at Vlad and chuckled. "Don't tell me, you let your pet vampire look through a witch's head without our consent? It's a witch matter, vampires shouldn't have been involved."

A pet vampire. Was he speaking about Sam? Oh, how I wished he was here.

"The attack happened on my territory," Zyron intervened. "Whether the victim was a witch or not, the attacker had breached the sanctity of my land when she decided to attack a person under my protection in my own territory. So if you want to be exact, it's not a witch matter."

"I don't mind if Sam had a look in the girl's head, she deserved it by attacking one of her own," Nadia said, waving off the opposing arguments. "I'm more curious about what he found? You said her mother ordered it. Josephine, correct?"

Hale nodded. "She went off grid. But we all know Josephine's been dallying in blood magic for a while now."

"I told you all we should make laws against it," A man with a heavy brow and a heavier Russian accent grumbled.

"I'm starting to lean more towards your views, Pavlov," Hale said.

"How's Haley doing? I heard the silver injury was quite serious?" One of the vampires asked.

"It was. Fortunately, Orla and Vanessa got to her in time. She's recovering."

All eyes turned to me.

"So they can really heal silver. It's not a rumor," a vampire asked.

"I thought it was just a ploy to get people to be on your side," another mumbled, and several people nodded.

"It's not," Zyron said. "Orla is the one who woke Wren from her coma, and Vanessa healed her legs."

"And as you can see, I'm as healthy as a horse," Wren piped in.

"We're willing to help anyone suffering from silver wounds, old or new. We already made a list of injured people we're going to look at. If you want to be on the list, you can contact the royal pack."

Several people spoke at the same time, asking about things like the severity of the injuries and the time it took to heal. Mom raised her hand. "I'll be glad to answer all your questions later. Just find one of us and we can talk about it."

"She's right. Let's not get off topic," Nadia said. "What to do with the girl? Emma was her name, wasn't it?"

"Her punishment is Haley's right," Hale said. "Does anyone disagree?"

He looked around the room, receiving no objections, and the matter was settled. As easy as that.

It was kind of scary that a punishment would be decided this easily. Haley could decide to take Emma's life, and it would be within her rights in the eyes of the supernatural world.

It was very unlike the human justice system, and to be honest, I didn't know which one I liked best.

But then again, in the human world, rapists could be sentenced to a measly few years, and a person's skin color could be damning evidence in a crime they might not have committed.

Yeah. Maybe supernaturals did know what they were doing after all...

"Also, if anyone knows any information about Josephine's whereabouts, you must come forward," Zyron said, looking around the room. "Anyone?"

No one responded, and the matter was closed. After that, there were several more issues with witches and other species, completely unrelated to us. And Aria was still hogging Ezra's attention.

So I took the time to zone the conversation out and link Blake.

Ashley and Haley would normally be the people I'd go to with my girl trouble. But Haley already had enough on her plate, my mate problems were nothing compared to hers.

And Ashley... I didn't feel comfortable talking to Ashley since I was literally still lying to her.

Besides, Blake lived in the Royal pack all his life, so he probably met Aria at some point.

"Are you in class?"

Blake's presence stretched across the link, and his familiar voice brought a wave of comfort with it. "I'm halfway asleep. Why did you wake me up?"

I snorted. Ezra gave me an amused brow, but I just shook my head.

"Let me guess, Professor Stanley's lecture?"

"Yep. How's the council going?"

"Almost as bad as Stanley's lecture."

Blake laughed, sounding more awake.

"Say, Blake. Do you remember Aria?" I asked. "Black hair, hazel eyes, tall."

"Aria...Oh, yeah. She was Zariah's best friend," Blake said. "Why? Is she there?"

"Yeah..."

Blake let out a laugh. "Don't tell me she's latched onto Ezra?"

"How do you know?"

"Oh, she had the biggest crush on him growing up."

I knew it!

I turned my head and glared at Ezra, who was nodding along something Hale was saying. I really needed to focus on the meeting, but the gossip was too juicy.

"And were they ever...?"

"Involved? No, I don't think so. Ezra always treated her like he treated Zariah."

"Hmm."

"Oooh, I wish I was there. What's going on? Is it bad?"

"Blake, I swear you're worse than Haley and Ashley," I mumbled. "Anyway, thanks for the info. See you later!"

"Hey! Don't leave now! Get me in one the tea-"

I retreated from the link, Blake's voice fading. He was going to kill me later.

As if feeling the heat of my glare, Ezra turned his head to me.

"Okay, what did I do?"

Right then, Aria poked his arm to get his attention. Something snapped in my magic. It happened so abruptly, in a fleeting second, I could feel the heat of every person's magic in the room. It disappeared as soon as it happened, leaving my blood hotter than usual.

"Alright, time for a break," Nadia said, standing up. The room erupted into chaotic conversations that drowned the rush of blood in my ears.

Ezra turned from his friend, but I was already up and walking away, lost in the crowd.

That might not have been the most mature way to deal with things. But I didn't want to deal with him right now. Sue me.

Fortunately, Wren's voice filled my head, distracting me.

"Right now is a good time to talk to Whitewell," she said. "He's on the patio outside, all alone. Your brother and I are on a balcony right above him. We'll keep watch."

Ezra told me not to speak to him on my own. With a sigh, I