Page 26

I paced the library, and the soles of my boots scraped against the uneven stone.

Each step felt like an accusation, but I wasn’t the one on trial.

Not yet.

“You’re the only one of my sons who is enough like me to appreciate this power—”

The echo of Lucian’s voice wove through my mind like a curse, looping around the memory of the vision at the Spire.

My brothers, dead at my feet.

Cold-blooded killer. Heir to Lucian’s power.

In the vision the enchantment had shown me, I had been both.

If I dared—

No.

“We will share her,” Lucian’s voice was smooth and mocking. “She will bend and break so perfectly between us—”

Fury lashed through me.

No. She was ours .

Titus, Valen, and mine.

Not his.

Never his.

The vision from the Spire filled my head and stretched into every corner of my thoughts.

Suffocating.

Tempting.

My pace quickened.

I could never be like Lucian.

Never.

Lucian’s chilling laugh, the vision—it was nothing more than a dark fantasy meant to torment and drive doubt between us.

Titus and Bastian had shaken off what they’d seen in that cursed place.

But I couldn’t.

And that was what scared me the most.

I could sense it, the creep of darkness—how easy it would be to remove them from the line of succession until I was the only one left.

One look in the mirror was all it took to remind me how like Lucian I really was.

I raked my hands through my hair and held them there, my fingers tangling.

“You’ll stand at my side. My heir. My true heir.”

There was no escaping his voice.

My eyes squeezed shut against the memory.

His mouth, his eyes, his pale gaze—how he’d said it.

Like I didn’t have a choice.

As though my betrayal was inevitable.

Valen and Titus didn’t understand.

They’d never seen what I’d seen. They didn’t know how far he would go.

What he’d make us do.

Or what we’d be willing to do to keep his anger at bay.

I shook my head, but the vision was a poison that wouldn’t leave my system. It threaded through me and twisted around the memories of Lucian’s words—had they really been part of the vision? Or were they real? Had he said these things aloud?

Or did I just wish for them?

I didn’t doubt that he wanted us to tear each other apart as we fought like starving wolves for the rights to inherit his power. The image of my brothers’ bodies, bloody and broken, flashed in my mind.

I pull my hands from my hair in frustration.

It was an illusion.

An enchantment.

A fucking dream.

I couldn’t let it control me.

I wouldn’t.

I opened my eyes. The walls close in.

We’d waited too long and it seemed as though the games and manipulations were twisting in on themselves.

Valen and Titus wouldn’t risk making a move.

But Lucian already knew everything, had planned every moment before it even happened.

If I went through with it—if I fulfilled the promise of the vision I’d been shown—Lucian would welcome it.

He would reward me.

“You’re the only one—”

I didn’t know what was worse: that the vision might be right, or that I might be willing to go through with it.

Fuck.

I had to know what Lucian was planning.

We’d been guessing for too long and I wasn’t going to just wait for whatever was coming. I wanted to be ready—with a blade in my hand.

I dragged my captive through the mist-soaked underbrush and his wheezing breaths were like a wet cough behind me.

The trees creaked as they moved in the wind, branches swaying in the predawn chill.

The man was as repulsive in captivity as he was in his natural habitat as Lucian’s creature.

His expensive clothes snagged on branches and tore like tissue paper.

“Where are we— You cannot—”

“Keep moving,” I growled and yanked the rope tighter around his wrists.

We were near the edge of the estate now, far enough from the mansion to go unnoticed—far enough that no one would hear his screams for help—but not so far that I couldn’t still feel the pulse of my blood bond with Avril.

The advisor staggered behind me, stumbling over roots and rocks.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” he sneered in a thin and wheedling voice that I despised more than anything.

How had Lucian tolerated him for so long…

I ignored him and the way the rope cut into my palm as I pulled him forward.

The vision from the Spire slashed through my mind.

If Lucian was planning to set us against each other, the advisor would know.

And if he didn’t, I’d make him regret it.

The ground sloped downward, and the trees thinned to reveal the edge of the ravine at the borders of the estate.

“Here,” I said as I shoved him against the thick trunk of a nearby tree.

His head snapped back and hit the silvered bark with a satisfying thud.

“What are you doing?” he spat. His black eyes darted around, seeking some escape.

His hands glowed faintly—trying to use his magic against me.

I clicked my tongue against my teeth. “Careful— these ropes are stronger than you think,” I cautioned. “Did you really think I wouldn’t take precautions?”

His expression twisted, and he looked even more like a lizard than ever.

Even Titus would have laughed.

The repulsive man’s tongue, thin and pointed, darted out to wet his lips and sweat glistened on his perfectly bald head. “When Lucian finds out what you’ve done—”

“He won’t be finding out,” I said casually. I pressed my finger against his forehead and pressed hard enough to make him wince as his head hit the tree trunk again. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know, and then we’ll see what your fate will be, hm?” I stared into his black, dead eyes, and then let him see the sneer on my lips before I stepped back.

He let out a breath. All of his conceited bravado was gone.

Lucian couldn’t protect him here.

“I— What—”

“I want to know what my father has planned,” I said as I pulled my dagger from the sheath fastened against my ribs. I held the dagger in front of me and angled it to catch the faint light that filtered through the branches.

His eyes flicked to it, then back to me.

“So this is how the youngest son behaves when Daddy isn’t watching?” he taunted.

I struck him quickly with the hilt of the knife.

His head rocked back and he let out a strangled cry.

Dark blood smeared under one nostril and a thin line of carmine trickled from a cut on his lip.

I didn’t have to force my grin. “And you’re a man with nothing to lose. So why don’t you save us both some time and start talking?” I gestured at him with the blade of the knife. “I’m surprised that you actually bleed— I was half-expecting to see something else leaking out of you.”

He laughed, a brittle sound. “You’re wasting your breath. Lucian will kill you before you get a chance to—”

“Then you’d better speak fast.” I lunged forward in a smooth motion and pressed the dagger against his throat. The blade was sharp, and it took very little pressure to draw a thin line of blood across his sweating flesh.

The advisor winced, but his expression stayed defiant. “What do you want to know?” he said with a sneer. “What do you already suspect?”

“What is he planning for the wedding?” I hissed.

“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. His voice dripped with contempt. “He didn’t bore me with the details—after the marriage to the traitor’s whore, there wasn’t much to change… Even the bridal gown—”

“You don’t lie very well,” I interrupted and pressed the blade against his throat again. I wanted to snap his neck for even coming close to mentioning Avril. I wanted to silence his vile little mouth for good.

“What does it matter what I tell you?” he wheezed. “You’ll kill me either way.”

I stared at him, at the blood-splattered collar of his shirt.

I hadn’t decided how far I’d go for this.

“That depends,” I said.

His mouth twitched. “On what?”

“On whether I get what I need.”

His eyes narrowed, calculating.

I stepped back and let the silence stretch as I crossed my arms over my chest. His eyes followed the blade of the knife and the sheen of his blood on the bright metal.

“Lucian plans to use her,” he said finally. His voice was hoarse. Almost conspiratorial.

I didn’t react. “How?”

The advisor chuckled darkly, as though he could see the way what he’d implied had already twisted my guts. I took some small joy in seeing him wince at the pain his action caused. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what he’s going to do. He wants to expand his power. Take back what was denied him.”

I forced myself to stay still. “You’re lying.”

My captive shook his head and a fresh trickle of blood dripped down his chin from the cut on his lip. His tongue darted again. Tasting it.

Disgusting creature.

“He’s been waiting for this for years,” he gasped. “Long before you had come into your power— You were still at school. Valen’s whore of a mother was still alive… Your mother was still alive—” he said, the gleam of a challenge in his eyes.

Unease prickled through me.

Lucian had planned this for that long?

“You can’t scare me,” the advisor said and his voice grew stronger, as though he knew he’d already won. “I told him you’d try something stupid—”

My teeth bared as I moved toward him again. “You’re starting to be boring— I don’t have time for boring—”

“What do you know about Dario Velez?” he choked out.

“A traitor,” I replied. “Executed as he should have been.”

The man’s expression twisted, but only for a moment before he took a deep, steadying breath. “The girl has power,” he said, his tone shifting to something almost... respectful. “A legacy. That fool of a father passed it down to her by accident—”

“What kind of accident?” I pressed. Something inside my memories stirred, something Valen had said—

The advisor’s grin widened and exposed bloodstained teeth. “The most powerful sorcerer among you is that girl. Did you really think Lucian would let you have her?”

“ That’s why he’s marrying her?”

He nodded, slow and deliberate, savoring each moment of my dawning comprehension. “To unlock her potential. To expand his own power—exponentially.”

My mind reeled, racing to process this new betrayal.

I staggered back, almost too stunned to speak.

Almost.

“It’ll kill her,” I said, more to myself than to him.

“Yes. But not before she serves her purpose.”

A wave of revulsion surged through me, hot and acidic.

“Purpose? What purpose?”

The advisor’s grin was venomous. “To replace you,” he said in a voice that was oily with satisfaction. “To create an heir that Lucian can mold from the beginning. Someone more powerful than any of you.”

My grip on the dagger tightened. “An heir,” I said, incredulous.

The repulsive man’s eyes glinted with a greedy light. “You didn’t think it would end with her death, did you? You’ll be obsolete before that even happens.”

The knife in my hand trembled.

I wanted to sever his head from his shoulders.

I wanted to see this worm twitching at my feet.

But I had to know.

“You’re lying ,” I said through gritted teeth and I swallowed acid.

He shook his head. “You know I’m not.”

“You fucking liar,” I shouted.

I moved toward him, and the dagger pressed against his throat once more.

His mouth curled into something that might have been a sneer, but his black eyes were wild with fear.

“You can’t be surprised,” he said thinly. “You’re the most like him—you should appreciate this power more than anyone.”

I tightened my grip and blood welled up around the blade.

He gasped, his breath a gurgle of desperation, and I loosened my grip just enough to let him choke out his final words.

“You and Lucian... you have more in common than you think—”

I drew the blade across his throat in a swift motion and hot blood splattered over my hands.

He couldn’t be dead fast enough.

A wet gurgle burst from the man’s lips with a gout of dark blood and he slid down the tree trunk and collapsed in the dirt.

Black eyes sightless as his body twitched.

I looked down at the body and a wild rage surged through me.

What he’d said—what Lucian was planning… I spun away before I lost control and did something that would leave more than his blood on my hands.

It was supposed to be a threat, a warning.

I hadn’t considered what would happen if he’d escaped.

Now you don’t have to.

A howl of rage tore from my throat as I dragged my fingers through my hair.

Had I really thought Lucian would just let her live?

Had I really thought—

“Fucking bastard!”

I didn’t even know if I was talking about Lucian.

My pulse thudded in my ears and I wiped my hands on my jeans and grimaced at the dark smears left behind.

I didn’t have time for anger—I had to move.

I had to get back before it was too late.

We had to stop this.

Without looking back at the body, I stumbled through the trees and didn’t flinch as the leaves slapped wetly against my face. The slick growth of moss on the rocks and branches made my footing treacherous, and more than once I slipped and nearly fell, but I pushed forward.

He was going to mold his own heir — replace us .

The words echoed in my mind, and I realized I was stumbling over my own fucking feet.

Avril was going to die. But not before—

We’d been stupid to think the wedding was Lucian’s endgame.

Na?ve to think we could wait until the right moment to strike.

We’d waited too long.

The vision, the spell at the Spire, the grimoire—none of them came close to this. Not by half.

I staggered against a tree trunk and braced my hand against the smooth bark as I gasped for breath.

My plan had gone straight to hell.

This was not how it was supposed to go.

Not this fast, not this bloody.

I hadn’t wanted to kill him.

Idiot.

This was the fate you were trying to escape.

In the end, I’d given Lucian’s snivelling advisor exactly what he wanted.

I looked down at my blood-caked hands—the smears on my jeans—the handprint on the tree trunk.

I had lost control.

He’d known I would.

If he could have, he would have bet on it.

I should have pushed the body into the ravine—

Maybe it was better to leave him to whatever made its home in the forest. It was more than he deserved.

I hadn’t even bothered to take his magic.

Rage was the only way I could process this.

Lucian wanted an heir he could control.

We were just placeholders until he got what he needed.

Until he got her.

The air was thick and heavy and I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes.

His voice wouldn’t leave me, even in death.

He was right. I’d gotten what I needed.

But at what fucking cost?

Your father has always sought a more powerful heir.

He’ll kill her—but not until she’s served her purpose.

I hadn’t believed it at first.

Hadn’t wanted to believe it.

But that’s why it stung.

That’s why the knife sank so deep.

A breeze stirred the branches, and I caught a flicker of movement between the trees.

The advisor’s final rattling breath echoed in my mind.

A whisper. Faint but clear.

“He’ll kill you too.”

My vision swam, and I braced myself against the tree.

I had to get back. Had to warn Valen and Titus before Lucian set us against each other.

Had to warn Avril.

Too late.

His words lingered like the coppery scent of blood in the air.

“You were never his heir. You were just a placeholder.”

No.

“Until he could create the perfect vessel.”

No.

“Through her.”

NO.

The world narrowed, honed to a single, cutting point. All the rage and panic and fear I’d fought to keep at bay crashed through me. Lucian had been planning this for years. From the day she was born…

Bastard.

Bastard.

Bastard.

The advisor’s dead voice rose like a wraith in my mind. “He’ll have you at each other’s throats—”

“Enough,” I shouted, and black fire erupted from my palms and scorched through the underbrush. Trees cracked and shook as my power ricocheted wildly through the forest.

I stood there, numb and shaking and empty.

I was damned now, more than I’d ever been.

He was right.

This was who I was.

I wasn’t like Valen and Titus.

I was like Lucian.

That’s why he needed me gone.

That’s why he would set us against each other and laugh while we destroyed ourselves.

The advisor’s laugh lingered in my thoughts like blood on my hands.

The vision swam back into my thoughts.

My brothers dead at my feet, Lucian smiling, the vision from the Spire—none of them seemed so impossible now.

I shook my head to banish the vision, but it lingered longer than I wanted it to.

With gritted teeth, I pushed away from the tree and forced my legs to move.

The manor was in sight now, shadowed and sprawling against the dawn.

Light glowed in the windows and the gardens crawled with servants making preparations for a wedding that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Not if I could help it.

My legs burned as I closed the distance, and the pulse of the blood bond grew stronger.

My boots slipped on the wet ground, but I pushed on.

I skirted the mansion and ducked in through the servant’s entrance unseen.

The halls buzzed with activity, but I didn’t slow down.

Voices reached my ears, fragments of conversation, but I wasn’t paying attention to what was being said.

I needed to find my brothers.

I skidded around a corner and almost crashed into a servant carrying an armful of white flowers. I heard their muffled curse as I sprinted past. I didn’t stop to apologize.

I flung open the door to Titus’s library and stormed inside.

The words tumbled out, frantic and raw. “We need to stop this fucking wedding.”

My brothers’ heads snapped up. I slammed the door shut, locking it behind me.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Titus snarled. “That’s the plan—”

“We don’t have time for plans,” I choked out.

Valen rose from his chair. “What’s going on— Why— Whose blood is that?”

I looked down at my hands, my clothes and caught sight of my face in the window—a ghoul with a crazed look in his eyes.

“Not mine,” I snapped.

Titus set down his book. “Obviously. Where have you been?”

“It’s worse than we thought,” I said, the words tumbling out in a rush. My heart still thundered, adrenaline masking the exhaustion in my limbs. The need to tell them was overwhelming. “So much fucking worse.”

“Spill it,” Titus growled.

“That fucking bastard,” I said. “He’s been planning this since before he killed Avril’s mother.”

Valen and Titus were silent as they stared at me.

“It’s what you thought all along,” I said, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.

Valen’s expression twisted. “He’ll kill her. We knew that.”

The words didn’t sting so much this time, not now that we all knew them to be true. Not now that I was prepared for them.

I nodded. “If we don’t stop him— And he won’t stop there. He’ll kill us, too.”

Titus’ chin lifted. “He won’t. He needs us.”

I glared back at my brother. So arrogant. “No. He doesn’t,” I said through gritted teeth. “Not once he has Avril. Once she serves her purpose .”

His eyes narrowed. “Her purpose? What the hell does that mean?”

“You know what it means,” I shot back. “He wants an heir he can control.”

Valen’s jaw tightened and the cords in his neck tensed as he turned toward the window.

“Start talking,” Titus said, crossing the room. “We need to know everything.”

“He wants her power,” I said. “Lucian believes Avril has something inside her— something her father hid from Lucian. That’s why he waited so long. He had to be sure—”

Valen let out a low breath, almost a growl. “I told you,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “Didn’t I fucking tell you?”

Titus shot him a warning look.

My hands shook, and I wasn’t sure if it was from anger or from fear or from something else.

“That was always his plan,” Valen said, his voice distant. Hollow. “If he has an heir— Then he won’t need us anymore.”

Titus and I locked eyes.

We both knew it was true.

“We stop the wedding,” he said, his voice cutting through the room like a blade. “No more waiting.”

Valen turned, and a dark light burned in his eyes.

We didn’t need an excuse— We all wanted Lucian dead. We’d all had our own reasons before. But now? Now it felt like we were united in our hatred.

Our purpose.

Avril belonged to us.

The legacy of this place—belonged to us .

And soon everything would be ours.

But we had to act quickly.

“The timing has to be perfect,” Titus said. “Lucian isn’t helpless, and this paranoia— it’s made him unpredictable.”

“We can manipulate that,” Valen said.

“Can we?” My voice teetered on the edge of laughter. Insane. Unhinged laughter. This was hopeless. All of it.

“Get your shit together!” Titus’ voice echoed in the room. “You saw who Lucian’s guests would be— He’s not without allies.”

“And enemies,” I finished. “He’s not invincible.”

Valen shook his head. “Titus is right. We can’t do anything stupid.”

“And we can’t do nothing ,” I exploded. “Avril wants us to trust her— but I don’t trust him .”

“None of us do,” Valen said grimly. “But if she has a plan—”

I let out a furious breath and turned away. My reflection in the window was haunting.

“Do you trust her?” I hissed.

Titus’ boots were heavy on the stone floor. “Do we have a choice?”

My smile was bitter as I looked over my shoulder at him. “Probably not.”

“Go get cleaned up,” Titus said. “Lucian will expect us to be in full view.”

“On our best behavior,” I retorted.

“Something like that.”

I snorted and walked toward the library door. I had no intention of behaving. Avril had begged us to trust her, and I wanted to. But she didn’t know what was at stake. Or she didn’t want to believe it.

If I couldn’t count on my brothers to have my back, I was going to take matters into my own bloodstained hands.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Valen called after me.

I let the door slam behind me as I strode into the hallway.

“No promises.”