Page 128 of Unveil

Luna inhales, opens her mouth?—

“You know what? That’s enough. If you think taking my daughter hostage will unite our families, you’re delusional,” Sol snaps. “You think we’ll be allies? I’m warning you, if you force my daughter into this farce, I’ll rain hell on every last one of you.”

Bossie’s smile twitches. “Threatening to hurt people is some blasphemous talk in a house of God. It’s a mighty fine threat,though, I’ll give you that. But it ain’t got no teeth. Once your daughter’s in Old Bridge, we’ll take care of her well enough. So long as you play nice when we call on you to stand against the Furys. The rest of the Troisgarde will follow suit once we have their daughters too.”

Fuck.

Dread hangs my head. I was afraid of this. My brothers are gonna go ballistic.

Luna’s breath hitches. “Wh-What do you mean?”

I swallow past my dry throat. “It means your sacrifice is just the beginning, baby.”

Luna’s eyes meet mine, worry creasing her brow, but Bossie’s chuckle snaps her attention back.

“He’s right. We ain’t stopping at the Bordeauxs. It’s the Troisgardedaughters. The three of you are part of this, and if we don’t finish the job,” Bossie says, narrowing her eyes at me, “the King Furys will.”

“No,” Luna chokes. “You can’t cage Brylie like this. And Lucy… Lucy’s not strong enough for this life, Bossie. Let’s end it here. None of this has anything to do with them.”

Bossie leans forward, a copperhead ready to strike. But her position is all the more chilling as she replies calmly.

“It haseverythingto do with them. The King Fury branch attacked my kin. Murdered us. It’sthemwho tried to destroy us from the roots up.”

“Really?” Rage hurls out my accusation. “Tell her what y’all did. Tell her how my mom was murdered byyoursons.”

“You mean…herbrothers.”

I open my mouth to shout back, but the words hit their target.

“What?” I breathe.

Bossies sighs and shakes her head. “Figures no one ever told you about your momma’s side of the family tree. Can’tsay I blame them. Before she was your ‘Queenie,’ she was my princess. My namesake… my Ruthie.”

“Wait.” I can barely form my mouth around the words. “My momma… she was a Wilde?”

As far as my brothers and I knew, she had no living family. Never talked about it. We didn’t think much of it, since my dad had family to spare. But to hide something likethis?

Bossie nods. “Wilde through and through. Until she was bewitched under your King’s spell. The moment she set foot in Dark Corner, she was no kin of mine.”

“You exiled her?” I spit.

It’s the Wilde way, to cut off your family like that. But how could anyone be so cruel to someone as good as my mom?

“Yourmommacutusoff. She knew the consequences of running off with your daddy and she still spit in our eye, choosing Fury.”

Jesus, no wonder her branch of the tree in our books starts with her and ends with…

Us.

My eyes widen at Bossie as she slowly nods.

“Which makes you and your brothers my grandsons.”

She says it with zero warmth, and I feel the same. But I can’t help throwing her own words back at her and raising my bound wrists.

“Then what’s this, huh? What happened to ‘kin is kin’?”

“It’s the reason you ain’t already buried out back and the last courtesy I’ll give my late daughter,” she counters, hands tightening on her cane. “I have no love for you, boy, and I’ll do what I have to for this family. Her line is rotten to the core, and rot’s gotta be cut off or the whole tree falls down. I won’t have y’all’s traitorous blood continuing your line and infecting mine. The Furyswillbe defeated, and King Fury’s direct linewillend with you, Dashiel, and Hatton. We’re stealing your preciousTroisgarde daughters for our own, like King did with mine.Hestarted this.I’mfinishing it.”