Lorcan shook his head. “You can’t. The Fae made the swords to have the same technology as the Collars—they taught my dad how to make the Collars in the first place, and he taught me. The spells in the swords activate the Collars. They don’t have to actually touch the Collars, but touching makes the control stronger.”
“But swords and Collars have to be in proximity,” Dylan said.
“For now.”
The chill of those words worked their way through the Shifters. “How many?” Graham asked.
“Swords? As many now as there are Shifters.”
Silence descended in the hanger. Graham remembered the pain that had encased him when Oison had touched his sword to Graham’s Collar. Oison had been able to manipulate Graham’s gunshot wound, healing and unhealing it at will. The water spell had been a way to bring Graham close enough to Oison, he realized, through the dreams—Graham would never have voluntarily walked into Faerie on his own. The Fae spell, through the water, had taken Graham to Oison, so Oison could use the sword . . .
“Inside Faerie,” Graham finished his thought out loud. The other Shifters jerked attention to him. “Oison didn’t come outside Faerie, with the sword, to where I was dying in the desert. He coerced me through Misty into drinking the water, to get me under his thrall first. He couldn’t just come and get me with the sword—I already had to be weak and in his power. Which means the sword spells must not completely work yet.”
Lorcan looked nervous. “Oison is impatient. He thinks we should move now. The leaders say the plan hasn’t matured, but Oison wants to start immediately, before Shifters get too strong.”
And Shifters were now learning how to control the Collars and even to remove them. Graham wondered if Oison knew Shifters had discovered the secret of removing the Collars, but Graham wasn’t going to voice the thought to a man hand in glove with both the Fae and the human government.
“Oison jumped the gun, you mean,” Graham said. “He gave the game away. That’s what he gets for being a f**kwad.”
“No, I gave the game away,” Lorcan said. “I’m doing it now. The Fae won’t let me live for telling you all this.”
Dylan almost smiled. “Then you’ll have to trust Shifters to keep you safe and alive.”
Liam grinned. “Ironic, isn’t it, lad?”“Keep him safe?” Graham growled. “You mean I can’t tear him in half? Or watch Reid do the trick with the ring again?”
Liam shook his head. “We can’t risk the humans investigating us if Lorcan turns up dead and shredded, or cut in half by a Fae sword. So he’s now under our protection. Poor guy.”
Liam was laughing, looking positively gleeful. Graham wished he could be so happy. “How do we deactivate the swords?” Graham asked Lorcan. “All of them?”
“You don’t,” Lorcan said. “Not from here. You’d have to take that fight inside Faerie, or lure the Fae out.”
Bowman broke in. “So, there are as many Fae with the swords as there are Shifters with Collars? I could eat ten Fae and have room for dessert, but them controlling the Collars makes things different.”
Going into Faerie wasn’t an option, Graham knew. There weren’t enough Shifters in fighting form to win a fight inside Faerie, even without the Fae having the Collar-controlling swords. Plus, gates to Faerie were tricky—no guarantee a Shifter army could get in. On the other hand, enticing a boatload of Fae out of Faerie to fight didn’t appeal either . . . if they’d even come.
“What about Andrea’s father?” Graham asked. “What’s his name, Fionn? He’s a Fae. What does he know about all this?”
“Nothing,” Dylan said. “I already spoke with him, and what I told him made him very angry. Not all Fae see eye-to-eye. He fears those Fae who made the swords will not only want to walk the earth again, but rule all of Faerie. There are constant power struggles there. Fionn can help, but only if he can convince his clan it’s necessary. Fionn’s people might be happy to let the Fae use controlled Shifters to kill humans, good riddance to the humans.”
“Good riddance to Shifters too, you mean,” Graham said, and Dylan gave him a slow nod. “And then there’s Reid,” Graham said, turning to him. “Go tell your dark Fae to kick some ass.”
“I will,” Reid said. “Same problem though, getting my clan to agree about the threat. They might be happy to let the hoch alfar fight each other, or let them leave Faerie for the human world without protest. Dark Fae will shut the gates behind the hoch alfar and be glad. Dokk alfar are the original Fae, after all.” Reid’s black eyes glinted. “However, I might convince my people to keep the Fae busy while we figure out how to stop them.”
“I know how,” Graham said. “Without going to Faerie at all.”
He didn’t say it out loud. Lorcan might be under Dylan’s thumb now, but he still could turn around and text someone in the human government as soon as he got his hands free.
The solution was getting the Collars off Shifters. The Fae couldn’t manipulate what wasn’t there. Collars were already coming off the weaker Shifters, the ones who couldn’t take the pain and couldn’t learn the techniques for control. The thought that Matt and Kyle, and whatever cub Graham would have with Misty, wouldn’t have to wear true Collars made his heart sing.
“Is that enough information?” Dylan asked. “I’d like to get Lorcan back home before the humans miss him.”