TWENTY-FOUR
Raziel was impressed, quite honestly.
Organizing the fae to attack their own extravagant party, all to stage a situation where Volencia could be murdered and he himself could be taken out of play?
Masterfully done.
He’d told his siblings as much, as Mael had punched him in the jaw. The single hit had knocked him unconscious. The next day and change had been ones of confinement and solitude. No one spoke to him. Nor did he particularly care.
Tonight, however, that changed.
He was dragged out to the family yacht. He would know the rumble of the engine anywhere. He was forced to his knees, his hands cuffed in front of him to a loop in the deck usually reserved for tying down furniture.
The bag was pulled from his head. And he watched as Lana, Zabriel Rosov, Mael…and Nadi, wearing her own face, approached.
She was unrestrained. But by the way she was rubbing her wrists, and her uncertain, unhappy expression, it hadn’t been for very long.
Betrayal burned in his chest. If he had cut him open, gutted him like a fish, it might have hurt less. No, itwouldhave hurt less.
But something bothered him more. Something that pushed through the realization that Nadi had turned on him to side with his siblings.
They were going out to sea. Why?
“You didn’t have to go through this kind of effort to hide my body, brother. They will celebrate my death. It’ll hardly be a crime.” He tugged on the handcuffs that tethered him to the deck. No. They wouldn’t budge. And they were edged in silver—which meant he couldn’t change his form into a swarm of bats.Fantastic.
“This isn’t about hiding evidence. This is about punishment.” Lana smiled, hugging Zabriel’s arm. “Besides, we have to dump Mother’s ashessomewhere.I don’t want that dusty cunt wafting around Runne.”
In a strange way, Raziel was honestly relieved that Lana and Zabriel were truly in love. He wanted his sister dead. Hehatedher. But in the same breath, he wanted her to be happy.
Families were complicated.
“We figured that since you’ve spent so many decades creatively making your victims suffer, it only made sense to ensure that you suffered creatively in return.” Mael walked over to an object on the deck that Raziel hadn’t noticed before. It looked like a couple of crates covered with a canvas tarp. As he pulled the covering away, however, Raziel understood.
He began to laugh.
It was a coffin.
Asilvercoffin, withsilverchains. One with a decorative R.N. emblazoned on the lid.
“Oh brother…you truly have outdone yourself.” He tilted his head back, grinning his best, most sadistic expression. “I amtruly flattered. Mother would be so proud of you. How did you have it made? No one in our circles would have done it without alerting my men.”
“I commissioned it.” Zabriel Rosov’s tone was surprisingly cold and level. “I told my men it was for Braen. He was no more loved by me than you are by your siblings.”
Raziel was also impressed with the middle Rosov sibling. He was clearly the calculating one. Good. Mael and Lana would need someone who could handle logistics.
“Take care of her, Zabriel. Keep her bloodlust contained.” Raziel leaned forward slightly. “I am not the mad dog in the family.She is.You’ll learn that soon enough.”
“Shutup.” Lana spat at him. “You don’t get to talk!”
“You’re—” Nadi was staring at the coffin, quietly interrupting. “You’re going to…chain him in the coffin, and…throw him…overboard?”
Mael opened the lid. “He will drown. Forever. The blood in his body will not be consumed, as he’ll enter a sort of stasis. But it will be agony. It will shatter whatever is left of his twisted mind. If anyone is ever unlucky enough to dredge him up, there will be nothing left of him but a raving madman.”
“Mother did it to several of his bursars who betrayed him. Raziel will have good company!” Lana sounded downright pleased with herself.
“And this is where you have your first choice to make, Nadi.” Mael turned to face her. “The coffin is big enough for two. Will you let this happen? Or will you join him?”
Nadi was unrestrained. She could shift forms. Take the shape of Ivan, himself, or even Mael. Cause total chaos. They could escape. She had the opportunity to upend everything.
