Nadi took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and walked back into the corridor. She had a wedding to attend, a family to help destroy, and her own people to face.
All while trying to keep the vampire she’d come to kill, that she’d grown to care for, alive.
The afternoon’s deceptive serenity was about to shatter completely.
And she still wasn’t sure which side she would choose when it did.
The bells continued to toll, their bronze voices carrying across the estate like a funeral dirge disguised as celebration. Guests began moving toward the garden pavilion where the ceremony would take place, their voices bright with anticipation.
Nadi moved with them, scanning faces for signs of recognition or threat. The seamstress had vanished, melted back into the crowd of servants and vendors who made such gatherings possible. But her message burned in Nadi’s memory like a brand.
She spotted Raziel near the main pavilion, speaking with Mael and several other family members. Even from a distance, she could see the tension in his posture, the way his eyes moved constantly, cataloging threats and opportunities.
Their gazes met across the crowd, and she saw him nod almost imperceptibly. He’d received some kind of signal too—whether from his own sources or simply from reading the atmosphere, she couldn’t tell.
But they were both ready.
An arm caught her wrist and jerked her around to face the scrutinizing face of Volencia Nostrom. “Get to your seat,girl.Before you make an ass of us all.” And with that, the matriarch pushed her forward with a dismissive gesture that held more strength to it than should have been possible.
Mother moon, shehatedthat woman. Fire seethed in her blood. And if she had her way, the dusty old hag would not leave the wedding alive, no matter what Raziel had made her promise. He had said they were only here to kill Mael, but if she saw an opportunity to take out VolenciaorLana—they were going to die. Especially the bitch of the old woman.
The bells fell silent, and in that sudden quiet, Nadi heard the rustle of fabric, the whisper of steel, the collective intake of breath that preceded violence.
And she still didn’t know if she was a soldier, a spy, or simply another casualty waiting to happen.
Raziel positioned himself near the main pavilion, his eyes constantly scanning the assembled guests while maintaining the appearance of casual conversation with the security detail. The setting sun had nearly finished its journey below the horizon. It cast long shadows across the manicured grounds, like hungry, grasping fingers.
He had a glass of wine in his hand, swirling it idly between his sips. It gave him something to do. He was told toying with his usual gold coins or smoking a cigarette was absolutely out of the question.
“Raziel.” Mael’s voice cut through his focus, drawing his attention to his brother’s approach. The massive vampire movedwith surprising grace through the crowd, his golden eyes bright with what might have been anticipation. Or calculation. “I trust everything is in order?”
“As much as it can be with these many variables in play.” Raziel withdrew the leather-bound ledger from inside his jacket, noting how Mael’s gaze immediately fixed on it with hungry intensity. “The item you requested.”
Mael accepted the ledger with careful hands, as if it contained something far more precious than mere trafficking records. “Excellent. This will prove quite useful for our purposes.”
“Will it?” Raziel stepped closer, lowering his voice so their conversation wouldn’t carry to nearby guests. “I’m curious, brother. What exactly do you plan to do with Braen’s client list? Most of those names are already known to us—minor nobles with unsavory reputations, merchants seeking exotic pleasures. Hardly earth-shattering intelligence.”
“You’d be surprised what patterns emerge when you have the complete picture.” Mael’s smile was enigmatic as he tucked the ledger away. “Sometimes, the most valuable information isn’t what’s written down, but what connects the dots between seemingly unrelated events.”
Something in his brother’s tone set Raziel’s nerves on edge. There was a smugness there, a satisfaction that went beyond simply acquiring useful blackmail material. “Enlighten me.”
“Have you ever wondered,” Mael began, his voice taking on the cadence of someone settling in to tell a story, “about the deeper implications of fae trafficking? Not just the immediate horror of it, but the…ripple effects it creates in their communities? Or evenwhyour kind desires to keep them as pets?”
Raziel’s hand stilled on his wine glass. “What exactly are you getting at?”
“Oh, just thinking about cause and effect. Actions and consequences.” Mael’s golden eyes gleamed with something that made Raziel’s skin crawl. “Tell me, do you remember every family you’ve destroyed over the years? Every life you’ve snuffed out in service to our mother’s ambitions?”
“Get to the point, Mael.” He rolled his eyes. “Unless you’re about to confess you have a personal taste for fae flesh, you’re boring me.”
“The point?” Mael chuckled, the sound carrying an edge of cruelty that Raziel recognized from their childhood. His brother rarely brought it out in public. “Very well. Once upon a time, long ago, there was a young fae girl who watched her whole family get murdered by a serpent. A tragedy, certainly, but hardly an uncommon one.”
Ice began forming in Raziel’s veins. He kept his expression carefully neutral, but internally, alarms were screaming.
“But this particular young girl,” Mael continued, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper, “wasveryspecial. A shapeshifter, you see. The Rosovs were in conversations with her family to buy her a long, long time ago, but she disappeared the moment her family died. You can imagine how useful a fae with the gift to become anyone would be, if she could be broken and tamed. That is, unless, she had instead decided to exact the most exquisite revenge on those who had wronged her.”
Raziel’s mind raced through the implications, the terrible mathematics of what his brother was suggesting. “That’s a fascinating story, Mael. But I fail to see?—”
“Oh, but you do see, don’t you?” Mael’s smile turned predatory. “You see it perfectly clearly. Because you, my dear brother, have been sleeping with the enemy, haven’t you? Quite literally.”
