I stormed away in search of House Viper’s patriarch, leaving my mother weeping on the stone bench nestled within the ancient garden.
Warren was doing the right thing. That was what I told myself as I searched. He was saving Dahlia, which was precisely what I would be doing if I found myself in any position to offer such salvation. But he was taking a risk as well. He was risking offending the tribunal in the hopes that his candidate sister could fix the wreckage before it affected our family. And I didn’t appreciate being thrust into this gamble without my knowledge.
Where is your grandfather?I asked noiselessly as I strode through the empty foyer and descended the short steps to the great room below.
I don’t know. I haven’t seen him all day, Dante replied.Why? What’s happened?
I need to speak with him. It’s urgent. Perhaps you should be there as well. You would serve to remind him of just how much he’s invested in me.
I strode purposefully through room after room, ignoring the servants bowing to me and the other members of House Viper jumping out of my way, stopping only once to send a maid scurrying after Bria with a request to retrieve my mother.
For a moment, I considered that Dante might not respond. Partner or not, he didn’t owe me this. But his answer came a moment later.
He’s in the drawing room. I’ll meet you there.
Relieved by Dante’s decision, I turned and made my way to the elaborately decorated room located behind the dining room of the mansion where the elders of the family sometimes adjourned to drink or smoke and talk about the issues that plagued the lower rings which they hadn’t an interest in or a knowledge of.
“Cosmo,” I said as I strode through the door.
“Adrian,” he replied in greeting. He sat leaned back in an enormous recliner with a pipe in his mouth, reading an old book. “Come to rage about your friend once more?”
I kept my temper in check, only clenching my fists at my sides to keep myself from flying off the handle. Behind me, Dante slipped inside the room. If Cosmo noticed his arrival, he gave no indication.
“I’ve come to ask for your help. For my family.”
He raised a brow and slowly drew his gaze away from his book to me. He watched me for a moment, as if trying to decide if I were serious, before setting his book aside and folding his hands together upon his lap, waiting for me to continue.
“My brother was practically engaged to the woman you stripped of her titles,” I spat. There was no sense in beating around the bush. I wasn’t interested in playing games with him. Not when so much hung in the balance. “It seems as though her punishment hasn’t swayed his course.”
Cosmo’s jaw twitched, the only sign of his anger. “You mean to tell me that the brother of a candidate, elevated to the Second Ring of our society, above any station he has ever seen or could have ever hoped to see without you, is intending to marry a humbled Decker and bring her up to his level?”
I tensed but nodded.
Cosmo rose, his robes pooling around him as he stood, and glared at me. “Your brother intends to subvert the will of the tribunal.”
It wasn’t a question.
“No,” I answered anyway. “Warren isn’t—this isn’t political. It’s not about the rings or the tribunal or even challenging your authority. It’s about Dahlia. It’s always been about her, about helping her. Whether it’s out of pity or a sense of duty, I don’t know. But he was intending to marry her before her punishment, and he intends to marry her now.”
“So what is it you want from me?” Cosmo snapped.
“For whatever care you have for me, little though it may be, do not seek punishment for my brother.”
There it was. The request was made. Now, I could only wait. And wait I did.
Cosmo’s eyes ticked up to his grandson, still standing behind me. Dante leaned against the bookshelf at his back, arms crossed and lips set in a firm line. He didn’t say a word but merely stared back at him. Cosmo turned away and paced to the other side of the room.
“You’ve done nothing but question my authority since the day you arrived,” he said, and my shoulders sagged in despair.“You fight me at every turn. You’re too angry to be honed, too stubborn to be taught, and too careless to be helped. You despise the wealthy and rage against the Geist. You’re every bit the picture of the barbaric Third Ringer our class has painted you to be.”
I clenched my fists tighter but held my tongue.
“And yet,” he continued, “you remain. You press on, Trial after Trial, despite your gross inabilities and your open hatred of the gods. It’s perplexing. It calls into question everything I am and everything I’ve done to see my family succeed.”
He turned to face me. There was a fire behind his eyes I’d never seen before.
“I am bound to you, Adrian, whether I like it or not. And I’ll be damned if I’m not just as eager to see how this whole thing plays out as everyone else. If, as you say, your brother’s actions were not made with malice in an effort to subvert the will of the tribunal, I’ll give you my word that I won’t seek his punishment.”
A wave of relief washed over me, and I relished it, grinning like a fool.
