Anne stepped into the room and helped Meryn sit up. "You know being Zen shouldn't lead to stress or death."
"I know. Okay, one more time." Meryn wiggled until her legs were folded in a scary position resembling a pretzel. She placed her hands on her knees, closed her eyes, and tilted her head back.
After a few quiet moments, Anne looked over at Beth. Beth was looking down at Meryn, a bemused look on her face.
"What exactly are you doing?" Anne finally asked.
"Ryuu suggested that I try meditating to relieve stress. He said I should try and find my inner spirit animal," Meryn said without opening her eyes.
"What? A Pikachu?" Anne asked, smirking. Across the room, Elizabeth began to choke on her coffee.
Meryn's eyes popped open. "Rude! And I'm not that short!"
Colton popped his head into the room. "Oh, ladies! News from the committee, come to the family room."
Meryn looked down at her perfect position. "Motherfucker!"
Elizabeth and Anne reached down. "Come on, Menace, you know you want to hear what they have to say," Elizabeth said.
"Why did they have to make it out of the Manor? I wouldn't have minded if they'd gotten squashed," Meryn murmured.
"Oh, Meryn," Elizabeth sighed.
They walked into the family room. Anne glared at Colton when she saw a sleepy looking Kendrick sitting on the sofa.
"You could have let him sleep." She sat down next to her mate.
Kendrick pulled her close. "I'm fine. Much better today after having gotten so much rest."
"What did the assholes want?" Meryn asked.
"The assholes, as you call them, are furious of course." Byron leaned down and kissed Meryn on the forehead.
Meryn blushed. "Oh, hi, Dad."
Aiden grinned at Meryn's discomfort and rubbed his nose against her neck, causing her to squeal.
"Children," Byron chided.
Aiden sat up straighter. "Sorry, Father, please continue."
"As I was saying, they are furious, but they can't say much since one of their own was working for the enemy." Byron looked at Kendrick. "Are you sure that keeping Rowan's involvement a secret is the right thing to do?"
Kendrick gave one short nod. "I'm not making excuses for him; his choices were his own. He, and he alone, is facing the Gods for his actions. But he wasn't always a bad man. He did a lot of good here in Lycaonia, and I didn't want to tarnish that. Besides, if the enemy, whoever he is, believes that we have no idea about Rowan's involvement, then he'll have no idea that we were told anything, including anything about his very existence."
Meryn smiled. "Twisted. I like it."
Kendrick chuckled. "Thought you might."
Byron shook his head. "Well, I'm on vacation until the new Council Manor is built. I will be at home enjoying my cake." He turned to leave and then turned back. "By the way Aiden, why is Sascha begging me to talk to you about removing him from patrol?"
Colton started laughing, and Darian gave him a high five. Aiden's grin was devilish. "Because for some reason, only Sascha is getting zapped by the perimeter, so we make him do perimeter sweeps."
Darian leaned back. "It's like Keelan is still with us."
Beside her, Kendrick tensed. "What did you just say?"
Darian's face paled. "I didn't mean anything by it, Kendrick. It's like I told you, they had a rivalry, and Keelan would always electrocute Sascha."
Kendrick sat straight up in his chair. "That little bastard!" He sprang to his feet and ran upstairs. Anne was right on his heels as was everyone else. Kendrick flung Keelan's door open and went to the antechamber that he had told her was Keelan's sacred ritual space.
They waited for him in Keelan's room as he rummaged around, knocking over boxes and glass bowls.
"He did it! He actually did it!" Kendrick ran into the main room, holding a leather-bound book.
"He did what?" Aiden asked.
Kendrick began to pace. "Someone... someone told me something..." He pointed at Darian. "You! What did you tell me the night I arrived? What was Keelan's message to me?"
Darian shook his head. "He... uh, he said, 'Tell my brother he was right, but this was the only way I saw where you all lived. Tell him I'm sorry for what I've done, but I'd do it again.' That was it."
Kendrick whooped and picked Anne up and swung her around! "He said he was sorry!"
Anne laughed. "Kendrick, honey, you're starting to scare me."
He put her down on her feet. "He said he was sorry for what he had done, but that he'd do it again. I always thought that he was sorry for joining Alpha, for staying with you all when he knew he was going to die, but that wasn't what he was talking about!"
Kendrick's excitement was contagious. Anne grabbed Kendrick's arm. "What was he talking about?"
Kendrick stopped and looked at their faces. "You don't get it, none of you? That's frightening. How do you get through the day?"
Ryuu cleared his throat. "Heika..."
Kendrick pointed to Ryuu. "Right. The day after I got here, I told you that the entire city was covered by black magic, right?" Everyone nodded. "That kind of grime can only be caused by human sacrifice, so naturally, I assumed it was our enemy. I was wrong! Gods! How often do I get to say that?"