Page 6 of Queens

“You’re one lucky woman,” David chirps, taking a seat at the table.

Silas, Aziel, and Valeria are already seated around it, the three of them deep in conversation. Aziel is still in his loungeclothing, so I assume Silas hasn’t told him of his suspicions. If he had, Aziel would’ve been waiting in his office alongside the fate.

“Where’s Gray?” I ask, looking around.

It’s David who answers. “That’s none of your concern.”

I turn to snap at him, but Mom beats me to it. “He’s taking a shower.” She shoots David a sharp look. “Leave your sister alone.”

He should take Mom’s advice, lest he find himself with a broken neck.

“Are you staying for breakfast?” Mom asks me.

“No—”

Aziel interrupts. “Yes.” He points to the spot beside him. “Sit with me, Cassia.”

His tone leaves no room for argument, and I suck my cheeks into my mouth as I shift my focus to the table.Calm, Cassia. Be calm.

The table is a beautiful oak, with thousands upon thousands of knicks and dents from my siblings and me stabbing it with our cutlery over the years.

The spot beside David is empty. It has been since Luca’s death. He was too young to use an adult chair, but his baby one was pushed into that spot. The baby chair is gone, but the empty spot remains.

Along the wall is a buffet. The drawers below are filled with coloring books and a plethora of toys that David used to insist on playing with while he ate. He could never sit still long enough to enjoy a meal, and the toys were the only way to keep him from slinking out of his seat and finding trouble.

My budding anger calms, settling into a slow simmer rather than a rolling boil. I unclench my hands, and somebody kisses the top of my head. I turn to the side just as Gray squeezes past me into the room.

“Good job, Cassie,” he coos. “So proud of you.”

He should be proud of me. These grounding exercises are a technique from the therapist he practically begged me to begin seeing last year. I’m still unsure how I feel about the woman, but the exercises are helpful.

I hate not having control of myself. Aziel says it’s because I’m a Wrath, and a powerful one, at that. He says it took him hundreds of years to restrain and manage his power, but I don’t have hundreds of years to wait.

I want to lead Wrath.

I want to take Aziel’s position and become the Queen of Wrath, and I’m tired of waiting. David has already taken Gray’s position, and Valeria is constantly sneaking off to fulfill tasks from the fates.

It’s my turn.

Everybody settles at the table, and I linger for a moment longer before taking the empty seat beside Aziel. I have things to do, plans to prepare and work to complete, but I knew this was a risk coming here. One meal with my family isn’t going to kill me. If anything, it might help get Silas off my trail. I don’t need him digging around my personal business.

Chapter Three

CASSIA

I SPEND ALMOST an entire week researching.

I wake before sunrise and spend hours studying every known text that so much asmentionsMammon or Greed. I find little helpful information. Entry into her lands has been prohibited since Luca’s death, so everything Idofind is outdated.

There are a few Wraths who spent time in Greed before the wards were put in place, but I can’t interrogate anybody without drawing suspicion. Aziel would find out. He’d hear about my inquiries, and my entire plan would crumble.

I make do with the written texts. There are dozens detailing the war in the years before I was born—the war that started all of this. It’s hard to relate to the treatment women went through. I can’t imagine being owned and treated as cattle.

The rehabilitation facilities still exist, and some women still choose to live inside them, but they’re largely unused now.

There’s been a boom in female births in the last ten years, especially within Wrath, and the shifters carefully monitor the areas slower to adjust to the changes. I’m not heavily involved. Aziel allows me to oversee many of Wrath’s affairs, but not this.

I suspect it’s out of shame.