“When I asked him about anyone he knew who might be able to shapeshift between faces, he offered the whole story to me for free.” Mael shook his head. “That alcohol you lot drink issomething else.How do you pronounce it? Ghripsa?”
Nadi smirked despite herself. “Ghri’sa.”
“I had already given my word I wasn’t going to kill you. He just seemed happy you were alive. I think he might be harboring a bit of an old crush.” Mael closed the ledger and tucked it back into his coat, sitting back in his chair. “Lana and I had nothing to do with the death of your family. That was Volencia and Raziel. And you already got your revenge on one of them today.”
“Good job with that, by the way.” Lana laughed. “Crushing the skull! You really didhateher, didn’t you?”
“We have taken the precaution of severing her head from the neck. They have already been cremated separately and the remains will be scattered on opposite ends of Runne.” He gestured at the boat.
Ah. That explained the yacht. Though she was still suspicious.
“Now…can we please see the real you?” Mael smiled gently. “I find I’m deeply curious. And seeing this dead woman—the real Monica—I assume she’s dead?”
“Raziel killed her.” Nadi didn’t know why she was offering up the information. Maybe part of her was reminding herself of the hard truth of the situation. “I switched places with Monica when she first arrived at the metropolis. I paid her off. But when Raziel went to ‘sacrifice’ Monica, I learned…well, I hadn’t been fooling him as well as I’d thought.”
“You had been playing him forthat long?”Lana’s eyes went wide. “Oh, youaregood. I thought the swap came later.”
“Not good enough,” Nadi sighed and shrugged. “Because here I am.”
“You got caught because there are how many of us, and how many of you?” Mael shook his head. “You also let yourself be compromised. If you had just taken out Raziel and vanished, then tried again for any one of us, and gone for us one at a time? You might have succeeded.”
The truth of his statement hit her harder than any kind of torture could have. She knew he was right. It was the same thing she’d been repeating to herself over and over again. But she kept arguing herself out of it—sayingNo, she had to stay, it was her only choice.
But it hadn’t been.
Shutting her eyes, she let her glamor fall. What was the point? She kept her legs, however. When she opened her eyes again, Mael and Lana were looking at her with shockingly similar expressions.
Both a mix of hunger, fascination, and…lust.
Even Zabriel was eyeing her like he was wondering how she might taste.
Vampires.
“I…” Mael’s golden eyes flicked between hers. “I can see why my brother has become so smitten with you. If anyone could crack the heart of that madman…”
“Of course, he loves her! She’s a broken thing because of him. An assassin ofhis making.So much blood on his hands, but all of ithisfault?” Lana chuckled. “So wonderfully narcissistic, isn’t it?”
She’d never thought of it that way.
“If he asked you to wear his face while he fucked you, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Lana rolled her eyes. “You represent every life he’s ever ruined, all the carnage he’s left in his wake—and the thought that he had fashioned you in his image? A little work of art? He fell in love with you because, in his mind, you’rehim.”
It churned her stomach. Raziel didn’t love her. That wasn’t possible. And everything Lana was saying was just a manipulation to get into her head. It had to be. “It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
“It does.” Mael stood from his chair, straightening out his suit coat. “If you still have feelings for him, it does. What were you two plotting?”
“To kill you.” No harm in telling the truth. They knew. That much was already clear from the way he asked the question. It was just a test to see if she would answer. “The moment you stepped off stage, Raziel was going to kill you in the shadows. I was to cover the exits in case you took a different direction—get you somewhere alone. If that didn’t work, we knew the fae were going to attack, and we’d hoped in the chaos no one would notice one more corpse.”
Lana’s grin was positively gleeful. “I love how just—how matter-of-fact she says it,don’t you?” She was basically in Zabriel’s lap. “Ugh, I could eat her up.”
“I have always wondered what fae blood is like.” Zabriel tilted his head to the side slightly. “I never believed that old lie of it being a poison to us.”
“It’s worse than poison.” Mael shook his head. “It’s extremely addictive. One of the most potent drugs available to a vampire. You’d do well to stay away from it, Zabriel. I’m damn sure it’s what sent Braen half-mad. It may be another reason why Raziel is smitten with her, if he wasn’t aware of its effects.”
More reasons to doubt. More fuel for the fire. They were doing a very good job at putting a rift between her and Raziel. She just had to judge for herself whether or not it was legitimate. And she knew she had to judgefast.
“Why attack your own wedding?” Nadi had to ask. They had no reason to answer her—she certainly wasn’t in a position of power. “Just to get Volencia out of the way?”
“You say ‘just’ like it isn’t something we’ve worked toward for decades. Some of us are too well positioned to simply breeze in, murder someone, and vanish.” Zabriel grimaced. “It took the careful planning of nearly half a century to be rid of her. Even if you just waltzed into the room to do the deed like it was nothing, it was becauseweprovided the setup for you to do so.”
