“But,” he cut through my joy with a crooked finger in the air, “I want something in return.”
“Anything,” I breathed.
His lips spread into a slow grin as his gaze flicked to his grandson.
“Heirs,” he drawled.
My heart stopped and my jaw dropped. “You can’t possibly think—”
“You and my grandson are the most powerful pair of candidates in five hundred years. I can only imagine what your offspring might be capable of.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not me. Him.” He pointed at his grandson, and my cheeks burned.
I narrowed my gaze at the Viper patriarch and wondered. Did he already know? He couldn’t. Could he?
“Don’t do this, grandfather,” Dante growled. He pushed off of the wall and stepped forward.
“They will likely strip your brother of his rank as well,” Cosmo said easily. “Strip your whole family, most likely. All of the hard work you’ve done, the progress you’ve made, your candidate status, none of it will matter. You’ll all be humbled by the very Tribunal whose ruling you ignored.”
“How dare you,” I snarled, hands shaking at my sides.
“This was always how it was going to be, girl,” Cosmo spat. “There is only one use I have for you here. It’s all your kind is ever good for. It—”
“Fine,” Dante said, and I whirled to face him. “Save her family, leave the girl alone, let them claim the marriage. Then we’ll talk.”
Cosmo raised a brow. “Truly? You’ll entertain this now? After so long of trying to convince you?”
“Will you save them?” Dante asked, jaw ticking with barely restrained fury.
Cosmo’s grin was wicked across his wizened old face.
“I will.” He returned to his seat, smiling broadly up at us, his fingers templed in front of him. “Of course, I’m only one of three. If House Lynx and House Avus intend to seek your brother’s punishment, I’ll be outnumbered.”
“Leave that to me,” I snapped at him, having already considered this. “Just hold up your end, you old shit.”
He gave me a curt nod, and I turned for the door. I glanced back at Dante, whose bright green eyes were aflame as though he was considering murder himself, before stepping into the hall and heading for House Avus.
***
“Is Milo here?” I asked the servant who answered when I arrived a matter of minutes later.
She nodded and bowed to me, wide eyed, before scurrying off to locate my friend. When she returned, she led me to the library.
“Adrian!” Milo greeted enthusiastically as I entered an enormous room littered with books on shelves, desks, or even stacked upon the floor. “I’m so pleased you’re here! I’ve made a remarkable discovery I’ve been meaning to tell you about, but I’ve been unable to tear myself away from it. It’s truly incredible.”
“Milo,” I tried but, lost in his academic fervor as he was, Milo didn’t seem to hear me.
“I was researching the Trials, you know, since Myrine asked if I could try to locate anything that would assist you and Dante in knowing what the next one pertains to. I found a few bits and pieces here or there, but what’s truly amazing is what else I noticed. Not about the Trials at all. It’s about the Cullings.”
“Milo.”
“I realized there was absolutely no mention of them in the earliest books we have here, the ones which talk about the beginning of the Trials and the formation of Sanctuary, the journals from our saints and their kin. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any mention of the Culling at all for a good four hundred years into our history. Strange, don’t you think? For an event of such magnitude to go completely unmentioned for centuries? Unless, of course, the Culling didn’texistuntil—“
“Milo!”
His beaming smile turned into a frown, and he closed the book in his hands with an abrupt snap.
