“Why have you waited until now to tell me about this?” Though he hid it well, Reynard was furious. He’d been surrounded by incompetence since the beginning of time.
“I wanted to…I thought it would be best to make sure, Great One, not to waste your time with—”
“And you have proof of this now?” Reynard’s question cut short the explanation. He didn’t want to listen to the man’s excuse. It was always excuses. From all of them.
“Not exactly. But I believe she saw me.”
Reynard breathed out an impatient huff of air, pulling the phone away from his ear, while he worked to maintain his composure. Fool.
“Another thing. She’s with the Guardian. He hovers around her. I think…that is, I suspect it may be personal for him.”
Now this was an interesting development.
“Which Guardian?”
“Ian McCullough. He guards the Portal at—”
Reynard interrupted again. “I know which Portal he and his brother’s descendants guard.” He leaned back in his chair, thoughtfully stroking his chin. “McCullough. You’re right, Flynn. This is most interesting.”
Flynn’s panicky laugh grated on his nerves, but he didn’t show it. Never show weakness to underlings.
“It’s why I decided to bring this directly to you now. This is important, I thought. Too important to take back to Adira, I thought.”
“Adira?” That caught his attention. What did his mistress have to do with any of this?
“Yes. I brought the matter to court, but she said I shouldn’t bother you until we knew more. That I should…I should come back to her with my findings. But now…now that I believe it’s so much bigger, I knew I should come directly to you.” The man cleared his throat, betraying his nervousness in yet another manner. “Adira will be very angry with me.”
Something potentially this big and she’d said nothing to him? What was she up to? The lovely Adira, Courtesan of Nuada, would have some explaining to do.
“Don’t worry about Adira. I’ll deal with her.” I will most certainly deal with her. “Back to this woman. I want to know for sure whether or not she is of the blood. Do whatever it takes to verify it. The situation you describe proves nothing conclusively. I’m not impressed with what you think, Flynn, only what you know to be fact.”
“I’ll work on that, Great One.”
“No. You’ll do it, not work on it. Otherwise you’ll deal with me. And I assure you, I can be much more unpleasant than Adira could ever dream of being.”
He paused to listen to the quickened breathing on the other end of the line. Obviously Flynn understood his assignment and the consequences of failure. Flynn had been a useful agent in more than one situation, but he always required the proper motivation. Reynard was more than happy to provide it.
Flynn’s voice quavered when he spoke again. “We’ll need to decide how to deal with the Guardian. I could—”
“No. You’ll do nothing. There’s very little you can do against a Guardian. Not in the Mortal Plain. We have no power there. I’ll need to think on this. In the meantime, you might tell them I’m bringing my…my brother, yes, my brother. That will do.”
Ramos. He would be perfect.
“As you wish, Great One.”
A female Mortal descendant of the Fae blood. She would have the ability to lead him across the protected waters and through a Portal into the Realm of Faerie. Once there, he was only a thought away from the Fountain of Souls and eternal life. Once he had achieved that, his ultimate goal was within reach. Complete control of the Realm of Faerie. He’d see the High Council on their knees before him, begging for his mercy.
As they’d made him beg.
Could Flynn be correct about this woman? Reynard wouldn’t accept any mistakes with this. Not like the last time. He’d searched too long. Although there must be many such women, they were difficult to locate. Long ago, he’d spent a lifetime in the search. And now, to have one handed to him like this? The only thing better would be to find one who was the Soulmate of a Guardian. There was nothing better than an opportunity to make a Guardian suffer.
Unless it was the elimination of a Guardian.
“Oh, and one more thing, Flynn.”
“Anything, Great One.”
“You might practice calling me Mr. Servans.”