Page 124 of Unveil

“Stop! Please!” I scream, lunging for Bart’s gun. I’m easily shoved aside like I’m nothing, and pain shoots up my ankle as I hit the ground with a cry.

“Luna!” Orion shouts along with my dad and Nox.

“Quiet.” Bossie lifts her hand.

A heavy, weighted silence follows for a full breath. Then she shrugs, a genteel smile cresting her lips like she’s helpless to stop the violencesheset in motion.

“Until your daddy speaks with respect, I can’t help my boys defending me. They’re only doin’ what they’ve been taught.” Her narrowed eyes slide between me and my dad. “Miss Luna, I don’t think he quite understands the gravity of our little situation here.”

His eyes slam shut, a vein throbbing in his forehead as the rest of him vibrates with rage. My tongue turns to ash, on the verge of begging him not to push further. It takes him several long, controlled breaths before he lifts his gaze again. His real eye is as flat and cold as the prosthetic beside it.

“You’re right, Bossie. Please. Enlighten me.”

Her tone gentles like my grand-meré’s when she chided me about pralines before dinner.

“We’re here to make a truce, dear.”

“A truce?” Orion scoffs hoarsely from across the room. “Afterthis?”

“I have to second that,” Dad growls, thunder punctuating the rumble. “This is a joke, right?”

“I don’t joke over truces, Solomon.” She gestures toward me, and the hair on the back of my neck rises. “From what I hear, your daughter’s a mighty important piece in this here feud. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to finally beat the King Furys once and for all. We’ve been playing children’s games thus far.”

Her eyes glitter as she leans forward. “But allies like the Troisgarde woulddestroythe Furys’ power once and for all.” She chuckles, leaning back. “And to think, we considered attacking you. Almost threw the baby out with the bathwater. Good thing rumors fly like crows around here. We wouldn’t have known about the Troisgarde daughters pact at all if one hadn’t squawked.”

My lip curls at the thought of a Troisgarde snitch. The flare in Dad’s eyes is the only sign that he’s shocked she’s confirming everything Orion warned him about. No one wants to believe they have a traitor in their midst.

The flicker is gone in a blink before he seethes. “I’ve already told King, but I’ll tell you too. A drunken bet does not make a pact. The Troisgarde wants no part in your feud. We’ve fought long and hard in our own territories, but after two decades, we’ve finally achieved peace?—”

“And we have never known peace!” Bossie explodes from her seat in a fit of speed that makes me scramble back.

“You speak of decades, Bordeaux?” Spit flies from her lips, a sliver of hair escapes from her bun. “Trycenturies.”

She stands regally now, posture straight, her cane forgotten against the throne. Her wrinkles vanish in flickering firelight and shadows, like her hate has forged her into something immortal.

“You have felt pain. You wear it clear on your face, and I commend you for that.” She nods toward the side of my father that will forever remain burn-scarred. “But untilyou’vefelt the spirit leave yourchild’sbrutalized body on one last breath…”

She shakes her head. My hands clench tighter at the memory of Benoit’s weight, suddenly too heavy in my arms.

“Until you’ve feltthat,” she whispers. “Do not speak to me of decades. Do not speak to me of fighting. Do not speak to me ofpeace. I have lost more than you could ever imagine and clawed my way out of hell more times than I can count, all before you were even born. You knownothingof war.”

She returns to her throne, the tremble of her fingers the only thing betraying her age. The clean-shaven guard slips the cane back into her hand, and she lowers herself onto the white pew with a long, breathy sigh. Her chin lifts as if a crown were placed atop her head, a queen presiding over judgment.

“So now… we’re doing it your way. You promised to hand over your firstborn daughter in a dadgum drunken card game. That might not count as a pact in the Troisgarde’s eyes, but ’round here, we’ve been enforcing moonshine vows for generations.” She flicks her hand like that point doesn’t matter. “Even so, your daughter was in her right mind when she agreed to marry a Wilde.”

Her words rattle the rafters and settle in my bones, and Orion’s growl rips through the thick air.

“No! She didn’t know. She never would’ve been with him if she’d known the truth.”

I would’ve been with you, I want to say. Regret surges through my veins, so quickly it makes me lightheaded. If I weren’t already on my knees, I’d crumple to the ground.

Bossie doesn’t acknowledge him, her focus staying on my dad.

“Those are the terms of my truce. You’d be wise to agree to them. Life for life is meant to be much, much worse for her.”

“Luna is innocent,” Orion insists, his raw voice scraping me from the inside out. “If life for life is what you want, then take me instead.”

“Orion, no,” I whisper, my heart twisting.