Page 61 of Daggermouth

“She sleeps in the guest room,” Lira corrected.

“That’s not the fucking point!”

The shout exploded from Greyson without warning, loud enough that Callum instinctively stepped between the siblings. He knew Greyson would die before he ever lay a hand on his sister, but he knew Lira, and she would absolutely pummel the shit out of him for speaking to her like this.

“Enough,” Callum said firmly, one hand on Greyson’s chest, the other held up toward Lira. “Both of you. This isn’t helping.”

“She betrayed me,” Greyson snarled.

“She saved your life, dumbass,” Callum countered. “Even if the method was shit, the intention was good.”

“I don’t care aboutintentions—”

“Yes, you do.” Callum pushed harder against Greyson’s chest, forcing him back a step. “You care because she’s your sister and she loves you, and she was terrified of losing you. Just like we all are.”

The fight went out of Greyson as quickly as it had come, his shoulders sagging.

“I don’t know if I can pull this off,” he muttered. “I don’t know how long I’ll last in that apartment without killing her.”

“Then we fix it,” Callum said simply.

Both siblings looked at him.

“How?” Lira asked, her posture softening.

“Sit,” Callum ordered, gesturing to the leather chairs arranged around a low table. “Screaming at each other won’t solve anything.”

To his mild surprise, they obeyed. The siblings settled into chairs across from each other, the tension between them still palpable but slightly diminished.

Callum crossed to the bar, pouring three glasses of whiskey. He handed one to Greyson, who took it mechanically, and offered another to Lira. This one she accepted with a nod of thanks as Callum leaned against the ledge of his desk across from them.

“We get her on our side. Your father isn’t wrong that she should be used as an asset, just nothisasset.” He took a sip of his whiskey. “Let’s be methodical about this. What do we know about her habits? Vulnerabilities? Weaknesses?”

Greyson’s laugh was bitter. “We’ve been living together for less than twenty-four hours. All I know is she drinks more vodka than any person I’ve ever met, has no respect for privacy, and can take a fucking beating. She’s strong, it would be stupid to underestimate her.”

Callum nodded. “So, the baseline is this—you want to kill her because she’s a Daggermouth, and Daggermouths killed Brooker, and she wants to kill you because you’re . . . well, you’re you. Is that right? Am I missing anything?”

Greyson sucked his teeth at the small hint of sarcasm in Callum’s voice. “No,” he gritted out.

“I’m going to state this plainly, and I know there are underlying factors to your role and why you do it, so don’t rip my head off. She has every reason to hate you, to hate the Serel family. But specifically you, for what you do on that platform.” Callum paused, gauging how his words landed, testing the waters before he spoke more truths.

When Greyson didn’t respond, he continued.

“I understand why she wants you dead. If I was from the Boundary, if I didn’t know you and only saw the man on the platform pulling the trigger, I would probably feel the same as her. You have every reason to hate her as well, for what Daggermouths did to your brother. But you don’t know that it was her, and this may be your opportunity to finally get the name of his killer.”

Greyson’s head slowly rose, his chin tilting up to meet Callum’s eyes. “What are you saying?” The question had the same sharp edge of a threat.

Callum leaned forward, setting his whiskey glass down on the table between them with a soft clink. He met Greyson's eyes, holding his gaze steady. “I’m saying you need to learn to live with her, at least for now. Get close to her. Get her comfortable enough to share what she knows about Brooker, about Jaeger. Then we publicly out her for turning on the Daggermouths and being part of the scheme to bring down the Serels, to bring down the Heart.”

Greyson considered Callum’s words.

“Maximus will have no choice but to execute her when that information is made known, and both your problems will be solved. You’ll know who killed Brooker and you’ll be released from your Vow to her.”

Lira leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees as she turned to Greyson. “It could work. If we play this right, it’ll make her a liability, back Father into a corner.”

“Outside of the Daunts and the Veyra, does anyone in the Heart know who she is? That she’s a Daggermouth or that she tried to kill him?” Callum asked Lira.

Lira paused for a moment, as if she was sifting through thoughts. “No, I don’t think so. As far as I’m aware, no one outside the inner circle, and the highest ranking Veyra knows there was even an assassination attempt.”