The words hit like physical blows. Raziel fought to keep his breathing steady, his expression unchanged, but inside he feltsomething fundamental shifting. His brother knew. He kneweverything.
How?
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?” Mael leaned closer, his voice barely audible over the growing chatter of arriving guests. “This ledger isn’t for me, Raziel. It’s for my new business partners. They want to expand their own…operations. This is the key to their own rise to power. One of my new fae associates grew up with little Nadi in the Wild. Remembers her quite well, actually. Sweet child, apparently, before you turned her into a killer. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together once I had that piece of information.”
Raziel’s hand moved instinctively toward the knife concealed in his jacket.
Mael caught the motion and laughed. “Please. We’re at a wedding, surrounded by hundreds of witnesses. Besides, you’re hardly in a position to threaten me now, are you? Not when your precious Monica—or should I say, your preciousNadi—is somewhere in this crowd, completely unaware that her cover has been blown.”
The implications crashed over Raziel like a tidal wave. If Mael knew about Nadi, how many others knew? Was this why Lana had been testing her so aggressively? Had they been trying to convert her to their side earlier by forcing her to reveal her true nature? Had the entire family beenplayinghimfrom the beginning? Or were they playing them both?
“What do you want?” The words came out rougher than he intended.
“Want?” Mael’s eyebrows rose in mock surprise. “I want exactly what I’ve always wanted, brother. Order. Stability. A family that serves its interests rather than its obsessions.” His expression hardened. “I want you to stop destroying everything you touch out of some misguided need for revenge.”
“And Nadi?”
“Ah, yes. Your little assassin.” Mael’s smile turned almost gentle, which somehow made it more terrifying. “She presents a fascinating dilemma, doesn’t she? On one hand, she’s exactly what she appears to be—a weapon pointed at our family’s heart. On the other hand, you’ve clearly developed…feelings for her.”
The way Mael said the wordfeelingsmade it sound like a disease.
“So tell me, Raziel,” Mael continued, “when the moment comes—and it will come very soon—which will you choose? Your family, or your fae pet?”
Before Raziel could formulate a response, the first wedding bells began to toll across the estate grounds. The clear, bronze voices rang out in a pattern that was both celebration and summons, calling all guests to witness the union of Lana Nostrom and Zabriel Rosov.
“Ah.” Mael straightened, his demeanor shifting back to that of the dutiful brother. “The ceremony begins. We should take our places, don’t you think?”
As if nothing earth-shattering had just been revealed. As if Raziel’s entire world hadn’t just been turned inside out with a few carefully chosen words.
Around them, the crowd began moving toward the main pavilion where white silk chairs had been arranged in perfect rows. Vampires in their finest attire, human dignitaries, and—if Mael was to be believed—fae infiltrators disguised among the servants and guests.
Raziel found himself scanning faces with new intensity, looking for signs of deception, for the subtle tells that might reveal interlopers among them. His mind raced with contingencies and calculations, trying to adapt their carefully laid plans to this new reality.
Mael knew about Nadi. Which meant others likely knew as well. Which meant their window for action was closing rapidly—if it hadn’t already slammed shut.
The bells continued and guests filtered toward their seats with the excited murmur of spectators gathering for a grand performance. But Raziel could hear something else beneath the surface chatter now—a tension, an undercurrent of anticipation that had nothing to do with weddings and everything to do with violence.
“Before I forget, brother,” Mael said quietly as they began walking toward the pavilion. “When this all begins—remember that I gave you a choice. Remember that I tried to offer you a way out.”
“A way out of what?”
But Mael was already moving away, his massive frame cutting through the crowd like a ship through calm waters. Leaving Raziel standing there with questions burning in his throat and the terrible certainty that everything they had planned was about to go catastrophically wrong.
The bells reached their crescendo and fell silent, leaving behind a sudden, expectant quiet that felt like the breath held before a scream.
In that silence, Raziel caught sight of Nadi across the crowd, her borrowed face composed and serene as she took her seat among the other family members. She looked so perfect in her deception, so completely convincing as Monica Valan. But it was all a lie.
A lie that had long since fallen apart. How many knew about it, and what they planned to do about it, was what Raziel didn’t know. The ceremony was about to begin. And with it, whatever chaos Mael had been planning would finally be unleashed.
Slowly, carefully, as to not raise suspicion, he began to make his way to her. He had to reach her. Warn her. Get her out ofthere safely—somehow. They had to escape. To where, he didn’t know. But their cover was blown. He had to reach her before Mael did. Before everything went to the void.
Because now, all they had was their lives. And each other.
For however many precious seconds all that might last.
TWENTY-ONE
