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“What’s the difference?”

“Satisfying my need will save your life and that of your brother’s. Satisfying my want will earn you at least some manner of respect within these halls.”

I glanced at Lucien, only I didn’t hold his eyes for more than an instant. The slight, almost imperceptible nod was enough to get me to come down from my adrenaline high and agree with the man who killed my family.

“Alright…” I said, “What happens now?”

“Sit down. I’m going to tell you exactly what I want you to do for us.”

Chapter

Fourteen

Inever thought I would find myself sitting in a room across from Mason Diaboli and his wife, about to receive clandestine instructions. A moment ago, I had shown him I could phase through solid doors and walls, and even avoid physical attacks, by turning my body into ephemera—the stuff of spirits and invisible things.

There was only one thing a man like Mason would want me to use that power for… breaking and entering.

I took a sip of water, allowing my mind a moment to center itself, then I set the glass down on the small, round table by the side of the sofa I was sitting on. Mason watched me, carefully, his red eyes fixed on me like he was looking for an excuse to end me. He probably was.

“What do you know of the Recondites?” he asked, breaking the silence that had been filling the room.

My eyes narrowed. “Recondites?”

“Don’t pretend to not know them.”

“I’m not. I just want to know what they have to do with anything.”

“Our families have had… conflicts in the past.”

“Conflicts? I was told your families fought each other like they wanted to die; vicious, and brutal. The Recondites, receiving orders from the divine to purge you from the face of this earth, and the Diaboli received opposite orders from somewhere deep below the soil.”

“Poetic fantasies for the most part, but accurate in some respects. The Recondites are zealots, convinced they are the hands, eyes, and mouths of some cosmic being looking to bring balance to a chaotic world. Only their idea of balance is them on top, and everyone else underneath them.”

“What do you want with the Recondites, then?” I asked.

“They have something of mine.”

“Ah… them too? What did you give them?”

“I didn’t give them anything—the item in question was stolen from us, before the treaty was signed. Once hostilities ceased, there was no way for us to retrieve the stolen object. Not without breaking the Codex Magica.”

“Right… because that treaty means so much to you guys.”

Mason shot upright and jabbed a finger at me. “That treaty was your grandfather’s idea,” he hissed. “My father had no choice but to accept. If he hadn’t, your family and the other two would have destroyed ours in a heartbeat. You call us monsters, but you have no idea of the sins your ancestors have committed. They have blood on their hands, too.”

I hadn’t realized until he stopped talking, but I had been shying away from him to the point where I was pressed all the way against the back of the sofa. Once Mason had calmed down, he sat down again. I felt my entire body relax. I had to think of what to say to him, how to keep him from lashing out at me with another weapon.

“You’re right,” I said. “I don’t know what happened back then. I wasn’t even born.”

And he was right, because I didn’t really know what had gone on during the Shadow War. All I had were the stories my parents had told me, stories they could easily have embellished to make themselves appear… saintly, like they hadn’t thrown a single rock in that fight.

Blind devotion to the narrative my family had fed me over the years was probably going to get me killed; I had to tone it down.

“What did they take?” I ventured.

“A crown,” Mason said. “A relic of our family.”

“A crown?”