"Where are you?" his older brother demanded.
"I'm fine, I promise. In fact, there wasn't even any fighting, well, at least on our end." He eyed the bodies.
"What do you need? I can come to you."
"I need you where you are." He thought about where exactly that could be. "Are you at home or at the palace?"
"Home, why?"
He swallowed hard. "They're all dead, Rex. All the people we were sent to find," he whispered.
"Gods!" Rex exclaimed. In the background, he heard his mother demanding to know what was wrong
. "The palace will need us," he said, ignoring her for the moment.
"I knew you'd figure it out. There's over seventy dead fae here, Rex. Gods knows how many generations. This will impact a lot of people. The palace will need the Lionharts to provide steadfast strength through this ordeal."
"I assume Darian is there."
"You'd be right."
"I'll arrange for one of our meeting houses to be used for storage and identification. I'll need one of those freakishly powerful witches that I'm going to assume, again, are standing within ten feet of Aiden McKenzie."
Ari shook his head in wonder. His brother was amazing. "Again, you'd be right."
"I'll need them to spell the room to lower the temperature and possibly preserve the bodies." He paused. "How bad are they?"
Ari gulped and walked closer to the stack. He hissed at the smell, before backing away. "I'm no expert on how fae decompose, but there's a fair amount of bloating, but they aren't blackened yet. Most facial features should be identifiable."
"I hate that you are there," Rex growled.
"I'm a unit warrior, Rex. Where else would I be?"
"Safe, at home, with your family," he responded.
"I'll be home soon enough." He hesitated, then continued. "Can you tell Cord, maybe something light tonight. Not a lot of meat?"
"Of course. Don't worry about a thing. I'll handle everything concerning the receiving of the bodies. You just focus on getting them to us. Tell Darian it's the meeting house on Maple Street."
Ari felt relief at his brother's words. "Thanks, I will."
"Come straight home, Ari."
"What was that? Do my job diligently?"
"Brat," Rex replied before disconnecting.
Ari looked up, and Gage was waiting on him. "How'd it go?"
"They're heading to the palace. I heard the last part of your conversation and let them know that Rex is setting up on Maple Street. He is a genius to think of converting one of the rooms to a freezer."
Ari smiled. "That's my brother."
Together, they walked over to where Cadoc and the others were huddled around Aiden. When they approached, Aiden looked to him. "Set?"
"Yes, though, I'll need one of the Ashleigh brothers to meet up with Rex at the Lionhart meeting house on Maple Street. He wants to convert one of the rooms into a large freezer to preserve the bodies."
"Thank the gods for your brother." Aiden scrubbed his hands over his face. "Cadoc, can you let the men know we'll be starting as soon as Cam gets here."