Chapter 139 - Do you know him?

EMMA

My mind is running a mile a minute. Dex is lying and I start to wonder about what other things he has lied about. I try to recall everything he’s told me in the past few months. *Can he even juggle? Was the apple pie really a recipe from his mother? Is his name even Dex?* My mind is spinning with doubt.

“Are you okay?” Dex raises an eyebrow and I only then notice that he’s watching me.

Throwing accusations won’t get me anywhere. Arguing or fighting will only get me further from the truth. Creating suspicion or doubt will only make him hide more.

“I think you’re right. I might’ve strained myself too much.’ I say and raise a hand to my head. I pretend that fatigue is overwhelming me and I hope that it’s believable. A cold shiver runs over my spine and I exaggerate the shudder running through my body. “You said you have blankets?”

"Yes, I have," Dex says with a nod and moves upstairs.

I look around the living room and most of the things hanging on the wall have been removed. Most of the small items that always lingered around are gone. The room feels empty except for the pile of paper overflowing on the coffee table.

At the top of the pile lies a black leather-bound book. It lays down on the other paper like the snowy top of a mountain. It sticks out against the rest. I carefully pick it up and make sure that the rest of the papers stay.

The notebook is heavy in my hand. The edges of the paper are burned, creating black raveling trims. Parts of the leather have deformed as it has been destroyed by fire. Something about it seems familiar, but I cannot place where I’ve seen it before.

Dex returns to the living room holding a stack of several fleece blankets.

I shrug away the feeling that I’m doing something wrong and I hold up the notebook. “What’s this?”

Dex eyes the leather-bound book in my hand. “It’s a journal.” Dex deposits the blankets on the sofa. He takes the journal from me and hands me a blanket.

There’s a hint of a smile on his face and it only triggers more of my curiosity. I place the blanket over my lap as I wait for Dex to elaborate.

He sits down on the sofa next to me with the journal in his hand. “Almost a year ago a similar platoon of soldiers trekked through the forest. They were with too many and they got too close to Aldea.” Dex runs a hand through his hair.

“We knew we couldn’t defeat a whole platoon. So we burned the camp to the ground.” Dex casually explains. His smirk is only short-lived because it turns sour. “They survived of course, but they had to go back to their kingdom.”

Dex hands me back the journal. “We found some useful things in the debris.”

I knew that the black notebook seemed familiar. I turn it around in my hands. Fire destroyed part of the back, but the four letters on the bottom are still visible. *Zeno.*

“General Zeno,” I say with venom that could surpass the hatred that Dex shows when he speaks of werewolves.

This is one of his journals, similar to the ones I’ve read in the royal archives. Those held logs of successful missions and drawn images of his victims. The thought alone makes my stomach roil.

“Do you know him?” Dex asks in surprise and he moves closer. His knee touches mine over the blanket and I pull them away.

I dispel the memories of the last time I read one of his journals. “He’s the highest General and right hand to the Alpha King,” I say and I start to leave through the journal. My shoulders relax a little when I don’t immediately see one of his drawings or any written logs of his missions. This seems more like pages of recipes of some sort.

“We found logs of him killing their own with wolfsbane,” Dex says and he leans in and shuffles through the pages. I freeze when I think he’s showing me one of the logs. I’ve seen enough of those for a lifetime.

“It describes more of those potions. Like uses for Sansevieria.” He says as he stops on one particular page.

“Sansevieria?” I ask and stop to look at the page he's showing.

Zeno described in detail what kind of plant it is. He even has a sketch of their sword-shaped leaves complete with the stripes drawn on the page. He has also written about the effect of Sansevieria on werewolves. The fact that this exists astounds me.

I notice Dex watching me from the corner of my eye. “Yeah, it confuses their sense of smell,” Dex explains and points to the written description.

“Because it purifies air,” I say when the realization dawns.

“It makes it impossible for them to track,” Dex says when I look up and I notice his eager smile. “It’s how we can move in and out of their kingdom without being caught.”

He must confuse my curiosity for forgiveness, but I don’t correct his assumption. I absorb every piece of information he gives.

I read through more of the pages. Zeno also has descriptions of the effects of wolfsbane and even nightshade. I remember Hadrian telling me once that Gaia used nightshade to make him think that she was his mate.

Zeno even has a very detailed description of the effects of silver. I almost want to smash the journal repeatedly on his head. Zeno basically handed Dex deadlier ammunition than silver. No wonder Dex is always so sure of himself.

The fact that Dex has this makes him an even bigger danger to any werewolf.

I close the journal and my eyes fall on the map of Sanguinem. It sticks out from the pile and red dots peek from under the other documents. I pry it from the pile and find that there are small red dots scattered all over the map within the walls of the city. “Why are these markings here?”

“I’ve been studying that map every day since you gave it to me all those months ago.” Dex absentmindedly trails his index finger over the lines of the tunnels. All the red markings are on those lines.

His gaze is focused on the map as he talks. “I kept feeling that we have this golden opportunity, but we weren’t making the most of it.”

I frown as I try to decipher what he’s saying. “Where are you going with this?

His focused gaze turns into a grimace. “It was actually *“Jack”* who gave me the idea.” Dex takes an exasperated breath and balls his fist when he speaks Hadrian’s fake name.

“What idea?” A nervousness settles over me. I have no idea where he’s going with this.

He turns his eyes to me and the hazel is cold with steeled resolve. "We're going to blow up the tunnels.”

My mind goes blank as if he pulled the plug and my brain needs a moment to restart.

“You’re going to… What?” I exclaim.

His words start to register and I feverishly try to convince myself that what I’m hearing must be wrong. He doesn’t mean what I think he means. Blowing up the tunnels will destroy the whole city structure of Sanguinem.

The tunnels run under every part of the city. The outer ring, middle ring and inner circle. Buildings will sink when the ground beneath them crumbles and disappears. It will destroy everything and therefore everyone.

“You cannot do that.” I blatantly say and I try to be commanding.

Dex raises his brows and doesn’t bend under my command like I’ve seen werewolves do to Hadrian. “We have everything we need, this is the perfect opportunity.”

“But that will collapse the whole city,” I explain as if that fact is not dawning on him. The countless lives of the people are at stake here.

“That’s the point.” He says as if I’m the one being slow here.

“But people live there, what about their lives?” I think of Gaius and Cecile living in the outer ring and of Callum and Miles living in the middle ring. But also of Paulina and Baccus living near the outer wall. Nobody within the walls is safe.

“What about them?” Dex grumbles and his eagerness from moments ago turns into a dark grimace. “They’re all monsters.”

How do I convince him that they’re not? Most of them have suffered a lot under the rule of Alpha King Magnus. Maybe not as much as most of us, but they’re not the cause of our suffering. The people living in Sanguinem do not partake in the war.

“No, they’re not,” I say with all the earnestness I can muster. “They’re living beings.”

Dex pulls away and rubs his mouth and jaw. His other hand balls into a fist. “They killed your mother, your friends and all those girls.” His hazel eyes burn with an insurmountable level of fury. The hurt reaches him deep within and it turns into something so evil that it scares me. “I thought you of all people would understand.”

Once I did believe exactly what he does, so I understand why his pain runs so deep. But now our beliefs are worlds apart.