Page 152 of Daggermouth

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” She leaned forward, her body vibrating with fury. “Do you know what it did to us? What it did to me?” Her voice rose with each question. “To Greyson?”

She pulled her hand from Callum’s, needing to feel unanchored, untethered in her anger.

“What have you been doing all this time, Brooker? While we were trapped with him? While we were living with the monster day after day, knowing exactly what he’s capable of?” She swallowed back the tears threatening to spill. “Did you even think about us while you lived free?”

Brooker’s expression sobered, the playfulness evaporating from his eyes as he leaned forward. “I know.” He shook his head, swallowing hard. “I’ve thought about you every day, Li. Believe me, there has not been a second where I haven’t wished this could’ve been different.”

The gentleness in his voice only fueled her rage. “No, you don’t know. You weren’t there. You didn’t have to see Father getting worse, becoming more paranoid, more cruel. You didn’t have to watch Greyson take your place on that platform, become the thing he never wanted to be.”

“There was no other way,” Brooker said, his voice low and urgent. “He needed to believe I was dead. The Heart needed to believe I was dead so I could continue my work.”

“Your work?” She spat the words. “What work could possibly be worth letting your family think you were murdered?”

His eyes hardened. “Saving thousands of lives. Building a resistance that could actually challenge Father’s power. Creating an escape route for people trapped in the Heart.” He squeezed Farrow’s hand. “Finding people I could trust with the truth.”

Lira gasped as the words tore like a bullet through flesh. He couldn’t trust her.Didn’ttrust her.

“I see,” Lira answered, her own voice going hard.

Guilt flashed across Brooker’s face, a genuine emotion cracking behind his eyes. But before he could speak again her gaze shifted to Mikel, her fury finding a new target. “What do you mean Greyson is your son? How is that possible?”

The Veyra captain’s face remained impassive, his military bearing not faltering under her scrutiny. She’d known this man her entire life—had seen him standing at her father’s right hand at every official function, had watched him carry out her father’s orders without question.

“Your mother and I have known each other all our lives.” He paused, a shadow of sadness passing over his features. “We had planned to take the Vow together, but then she was betrothed to your father.”

He leaned forward, tipping back the rest of the liquid in his cup and clearing his throat.

“Elara is the only woman I have ever loved, and I had to watch while she was forced to marry the devil.” He took a long breath, forcing his voice to remain steady. “There is no love to be found in your father’s bed, only pain. It didn’t matter to us that we could be killed for it, we weren’t afraid of death knowing we would die together.”

He refilled his glass as Lira opened her mouth to snap back, but Jaeger’s fist found the table first, cutting her off.

“Enough,” he growled, his gaze pinning on her. “Your family drama can wait. We have—”

Lira moved, her hand snatching the gun from her thigh.

They saw her as a simple girl, a princess, a woman not capable of violence.

They were so wrong.That was their mistake.

That was the reason she was able to train the barrel of her gun on the center of Jaeger’s skull before being shot down in a room full of assassins.

In the next breath every Daggermouth in the room had their weapons trained on her back, readying to fire. Time seemed to tilt around her as she watched Brooker’s eyes widen, as she felt Callum slowly move his own hand to his gun, as she watched Jaeger’s back straighten.

“Tell your men to stand down,” Lira snarled, flicking off the safety in warning.

Jaeger didn’t hesitate as he signaled to them. She could feel the weight lift off her back as the guns lowered but remained ready.

“Now, Miss Serel,” Jaeger started slowly. “I believe it is your turn to stand down.”

Lira only raised her gun. “How dare you mock me when you’ve facilitated this. You accepted contracts on both of my brothers. What’s to stop you from accepting one on me next?”

Brooker stood slowly. “Lira, please. Put down the gun.”

“No.” Her eyes never left Jaeger. “I want the truth. All of it. And I want it from him.”

Jaeger’s eyes met Lira’s over the barrel of her gun, his expression unreadable. “You want the truth?” he asked, his voice low and even. “The truth is rarely a comfort.”

“I don’t want comfort,” Lira replied, her finger steady on the trigger. “I want answers.”