Chapter 86 There's a Difference
Fennigan held Leela tighter, his chin resting on top of her head as they stood in the quiet safety of the room. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind a cold, hard clarity.
"I had to be ice," Fennigan repeated, his voice rough against her hair. "If I had let your fear in... if I had felt how terrified you were for Briar and Caspian... I wouldn't have been able to stop. I would have killed Vane where he stood. And if I killed a High Judge, not even the Moon Goddess could save us from the fallout."
Leela pulled back slightly, looking up at him with wide, confused eyes. Her hands were trembling against his chest.
"But... I don't understand," Leela whispered, searching his face. "I thought this was settled. I thought when the Goddess talked to the Elders... when Horne and Thorpe were here before... I thought it was over. They validated us, Fenn. They saw the magic. They saw the blessing. Why is this happening again?"
Fennigan shook his head slowly, his expression grim. He guided her over to the edge of the couch and sat her down, kneeling in front of her so he could look her in the eye.
"That's the problem, Lee," Fennigan said softly. "You're thinking of the Elder Council. The Old Guard. They respect the Goddess. They respect the Spirit of the Law. When She spoke through you to them, they listened because they fear Her."
His jaw tightened, a muscle feathering in his cheek.
"But Vane? Vane isn't Elder Council. He is High Council."
Leela frowned. "What's the difference? They're all the same authority, aren't they?"
"No," Fennigan growled, the disgust evident in his tone. "The High Council is worse. Much worse. They are the politicians. They are the bureaucracy. They don't care about the Goddess, Leela. They care about control."
He took her hands in his, his thumbs rubbing over her knuckles.
"The Elders look at you and see a miracle," Fennigan explained. "The High Council looks at you and sees a battery they don't own. Think back to when you were pregnant with the twins. Think back to Whisper Wind."
Leela flinched violently. The name of that cursed territory still carried a physical weight. "I... I tried to help them. I tried to heal the land."
"You tried," Fennigan corrected her, his voice dropping to a low, furious rumble. "But you didn't fix it, Leela. You couldn't fix it. Because it wasn't broken by accident."
He looked deep into her eyes, needing her to understand the depth of the enemy they were facing.
"The High Council destroyed Whisper Wind," Fennigan said, the truth ugly and bare. "They poisoned it with experimental dampeners. And when they asked for your help? It wasn't a request for aid. It was a trap."
Leela’s breath hitched. "A trap?"
"It was a Council Drain," Fennigan snarled, the words tasting like ash. "They knew an Elemental would try to pull the poison out. They rigged the land to reverse the flow. They didn't want you to heal the soil, Leela. They wanted to drain you dry."
He squeezed her hands, his eyes burning with the memory of her near-death.
"They set that trap to strip you of your magic," Fennigan whispered, his voice shaking with suppressed rage. "And they didn't care that you were carrying the twins. In fact... I think they counted on it. They wanted to kill the 'unregulated' offspring in the process. They wanted to turn you into a husk and the babies into collateral damage."
Leela gasped, a hand flying to her mouth as the horror of that memory shifted into a new, terrifying context. "They... they tried to murder my babies before they were even born?"
"Yes," Fennigan nodded. "And because you survived... because you fought the drain and the twins lived... Vane is terrified. He realized his trap failed. He realized he couldn't kill them with technology."
He looked toward the window, where the invisible barrier of his protection ended and the rest of the world began.
"So now, he's coming for them directly," Fennigan warned. "The Elders validated your soul, Leela. But the High Council? They are coming to finish the job they started at Whisper Wind. They want to know why their trap didn't work. And they want to take the 'anomalies' that survived it."
Leela stood up slowly, her face pale but her expression hardening into something terrifying.
"They want to dissect my children," Leela said, her voice cold and deadly calm. "Because they couldn't kill them."
"Yes," Fennigan said, standing to meet her. "Which is why I had to be ice. Because if I let myself remember Whisper Wind... if I let myself remember that Vane is the reason you almost died for that dirt... I would burn the entire Council to the ground."