The Heretics

13: The Heretics

"Is the council dealing in black magic?"

Another nod.

"Was that also the cause of the Frey's being murdered in their home?"

Though Reagan hesitated, he didn't seem thrown off by that question.

Dante pushed in, "The Frey's were murdered as a cover-up for the body in the cave."

My breath got caught in my throat. I was thankful that Emmet didn't waste another moment to continue with showering them in questions, now that they were finally open to answering them.

But Emmet didn't ask what I thought he would. "How do you know?"

I raised an eyebrow, suddenly wondering the same thing.

"Because I was their eyes and ears in order to gain their trust."

To that, all of us dropped their jaws and stared at Dante dumbstruck. "So that's how the council knew everything. You were their spy?!" Kendra was outraged.

Dante calmly shook his head. "I was no such thing."

Confused, Kendra propped her hands onto her hips and moved so that Dante's arm dropped from her shoulders. A fire started between them, tension filling the room as Kendra displayed her anger openly.

"Then how did they know Catherine and I were down in the south?"

"Because the council is freaking paranoid. They have your so called Protectors placed every square meter across entire Everett Valley. Protector Thorne saw you. That had nothing to do with me. Why would I tell them just to go through the trouble to save your asses?" he breathed angrily, mirroring her annoyance.

She didn't back down. "Then what did you do for them?"

Dante sighed, annoyance dripping from his voice. "Whenever they needed to know someone's whereabouts, they came to me. Whenever they needed information on someone, they came to me. I simply provided them with info."

"That's the definition of a spy, you idiot!" Kendra shouted and I nearly laughed at that.

Dante's face reddened. "Don't you talk to me like that", he growled and with the amount of fury in his voice and it being dangerously low, the entire study went dark, and it shut up Kendra instantly. She stepped back.

"Dante has the ability to speak with wild animals. If a bird is sitting on a branch and is within hearing range of someone, Dante will know because the bird knows. That's how he passed on a lot of information without being involved directly. He was more a messenger than the one doing the spying", Ryker said, coming to Dante's defense.

That only seemed to anger Dante further and for some reason I found it extremely entertaining to watch. It was nice not being a part of it, or the reason for it.

"Why don't we go spilling the beans on all our private affairs, yes? My gift is my business, no one else's", Dante growled, venom oozing out of his voice.

Kendra inserted herself then, which she probably shouldn't have. It was one hell of a spectacle.

"You're my promised. You should have told me that!" she screeched, uncharacteristically dramatic. It was a side of her I'd never seen before. The Kendra I knew was understanding, compassionate and calm in every aspect of her being. Was this Dante's influence or something else entirely?

"Enough", Reagan said, not needing to raise his voice for the turmoil, agitation and tension subsided with the cool aura he released into the chaos. It stilled everyone.

"You can continue arguing in your private quarters", he muttered, clearly displeased by Kendra and Dante's public outburst.

"I gave Dante the order to gain the council's trust and I forbade him to share this information with anyone. If anyone has a problem with this, you take it up with me."

Kendra stepped further away from Reagan, intimidated by his fierceness. I was amazed by how much effect he had on others without any effort. All he had to do was adjust the tone of his voice and those listening were ready to cower beneath him.

"We knew about the attack in the cave. Dante hid the body so it couldn't be found by anyone else. Madame Esmara wanted the incident to be silenced, which were the orders you got from your mother who was instructed to pass it on. Dante found out that the murder of the Frey's happened on Sir Francis' watch, who talked the rest of the council into agreeing that if the Frey boy who saw Dante were to talk to anyone, the secrecy would be uncovered. They didn't want to risk anything, so they had the entire household murdered."

"And we were told that during the autopsy they'd discovered traces of a toxin found in some food they ate, and a murder could be ruled out", Reece added, piecing the information together.

"They lied to us!" Jarred exclaimed.

"I didn't even know the Frey's were killed!" Debrova screeched as her sister began sobbing. "I can't believe Jinna is dead." Jaxxon moved to embrace his promised as she too began crying.

I could feel Reagan's growing annoyance float towards me.

"So, Alexander saw Dante move the body out of the cave and the council figured they had to kill the entire Frey family because of this?" Cora summed up coolly.

Reagan nodded.

"The boy was five years old", she stated and that's when it hit me. A five-year-old boy had been killed merely because he'd been at the wrong place, at the wrong time. "He probably didn't even understand what he saw", I murmured, shook by the brutality of the council that had led our people all these years.

A cold feeling of betrayal passed through my system. And my mother had been a part of that. My mother...

"Do you know if there is any connection between the shadow person that attacked Emmet and Catherine and the cave-death?" Reece asked, trying to steer the conversation back into a less emotional discussion.

"The council had a hunch, yes, but it is not a proven theory. We still have to interrogate the traitors you brought along to know for sure", Reagan said.

I stirred then at the mention of Holden, Shyla and Tyler. "Does the name Kintar ring any bells?"

As silence filled the room once more, I had my answer without Reagan needing to confirm it.

"How did you come by his name?" Tyrion asked, speaking for the first time since we came into the study. He'd been quietly sitting on a small stool, just behind two faces I didn't recognize. I wondered when they would become relevant in this whole ordeal, albeit I'd drowned out their presence until now.

"I overheard the three of them talking about him when we were still travelling through Everett Forest."

I felt Reagan's gaze burn into me. "Why did you not tell anyone?" Disapproval washed through me that originated from him, but I flushed it out albeit a few stains remained.

"Because I figured it was an extremely unsafe environment to talk about such delicate things. If Shyla had overheard or suspected even a single thing, who knows what they would have done. Isn't that why we're here, after all?"

"She has a point", Ryker commented, pulled back though as soon as Reagan shot him a glare.

"So, who is Kintar?" Emmet asked then, cutting off the possibility of Reagan digging around in my intentions.

"Kintar is the leader of the Heretics."