CAIN

FOURTEEN

Gabriel held the pages containing the guest list in his hand, flicking through the paper with a sense of disbelief, "This still leaves over a thousand suspects given the amount of people who attended the event."

"It's the shortest list we have had so far," Lilah murmured. 

I turned to His Majesty, watching him as he took the list from Gabriel. "The suspect must have had access to wolfsbane and they must also be able to wield magic, meaning we can already narrow down that list further," he said.

My eyebrows furrowed, "Although it may be impossible to tell whether someone can or cannot to wield magic merely by meeting them."

 "And so the list gets longer," Gabriel sighed, "How do we even know we are looking for only one person?"

"We don't," Lilah was firm, "But finding at least one culprit will ultimately lead us to the others."

"How can you be so sure?"

We were silent for a moment, all feeling drained from the amount of time we had spent searching through names in hope of finding a lead. "Judgment," Cain broke the silence.

Nikolai frowned, "Judgement?"

His Fuzziness turned to me, as if to ask me to explain. "The symbol for judgment was branded on the guard who first attempted to kill His Majesty. It may give us insight into their motives"

Gabriel groaned, "So not only do we need to find someone who may or may not be magic, we also need a linguist."

I shifted in my seat, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Puddles, aware of my discomfort,  left my lap to lie under the chair, shifting into a larger form of a panther. The vampire's eyes widened. "They weren't wrong," he muttered.

I pretended as if I hadn't noticed, "Did you speak with the contact I gave you for the wolfsbane?"

The king shook his head, "I sent Nikolai to meet with them, but they took one look at a lycan and turned the other way. Even Lilah and Gabriel couldn't get through."

Lilah frowned, "The trade is as secretive as it is twisted."

"I'll go," I found myself saying, "This lead seems like the only thing we have at the minute." 

All heads at the table turned to face me. "Is field work really your area of expertise?" Lilah questioned.

You'd be surprised, I want to say but instead I smiled. "I happen to know someone on the inside. Personally."

Her eyes flicked between me and Cain, "How personally?"

I picked up my coffee cup, reluctant to meet anyone's gaze. "Bonded by blood."

"You're telling me Morgana Swann has family?" Gabriel exclaimed, his voice evident with disbelief, but he was soon silenced by His Majesty's smile - or rather how tightly he pulled his lips together despite his eyes holding something else entirely.

"I have two brothers. Albeit half-brothers," I tore my eyes from my mug and back to the inner court. "We have the same father," I offered lamely.

"And are they also...you know...magic?" Gabriel asked, evidently attempting to avoid using the word witch, as if to him, it were derogatory.

"In a sense," I pulled my hair behind my ears, feeling a little flushed at the mentioning of personal family history, "my father was a vampire, you see."

This made Gabriel grin, "Long way from home, huh?"

My thoughts drifted to the closest thing I had to home, half-way across the continent, "You could say that again."

"How did you end up here?"

But Lilah interrupted before I could answer, or avoid the question entirely, "As much as I love the chit-chat, perhaps we should focus on the task at hand."

Gabby rolled his eyes, "Now you want to focus."

"Tomorrow, I can meet with the contact," I told them, "I'll fly."

Cain seemed unimpressed with this idea, "Or we can be civilised and I'll drive you."

"There's nothing uncivilised about a broomstick." I felt oddly defensive about my preferred mode of trasnport.

His smiled told me otherwise. "No, Morgana, I'm sure there isn't. I just worry about the weather."

I frowned, studying his expression closely. Surely he couldn't know about my previous weather related broomstick incidents? "Don't you have a kingdom to be ruling?" was all I could offer in response. I internally cringed at my own immaturity.

Lilah was patting Cain on the shoulder, "We ask him the same thing everyday."

The king did not take his eyes off me."Luckily for me," he said, "I have a capable council who I entrust to uphold order in the kingdom when I attend to urgent matters such as these."

Gabriel gave a wry smile, "I don't think urgent matters include acting as a chauffeur just for the chance to be acquainted with your mate's family."

It was the first time I had ever seen Cain embarrassed and I must say, I rather enjoyed it. Though his face remained stern, I was convinced the tops of his ears turned a shade of pink I didn't realise a lycan could turn. He froze for a second, before rising from his seat. "Meeting adjourned."

Gabriel gave a bow with every bit of pomp he could muster, "Yes, Your Majesty."

The royal lycan could say nothing, only stride from the room without once meeting my eyes again. The members of his inner court followed their king's suit, turning to give me smiles that seemingly contained admiration.

Nikolai was the only one who remained. I looked at him, puzzled by his presence. "Is there something you need?" I asked when he did not engaged conversation, trying to remain calm and polite as he studied me.

His hair, like mine, was raven-coloured, but unlike my own, his eyes were as dark as obsidian. I had not risen from my seat yet, so I could not help but feel a little intimated by a lycan of his size standing over me. 

"You don't to be nervous," he told me, "We have no reason to suspect you."

I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but the words could not leave my throat. Had he seen me shift in my seat when discussing the culprit? I wanted to say anything at all in my defence, but he was gone, leaving the room with footsteps so silent I only noticed he had left by the slamming of the doors behind him.

He's being polite, Morgana, I told myself but Puddles beneath me had begun lowly growling.