“A prospect.” He spat truths twisted in poison. That the burned body we had found hadn’t been him, just some prospect, and I had fallen for his illusion. “I knew my baby sister was going to be a weak spot for you the second your face dropped when I came to ask for your help. I added my signature tattoo to his leg and made sure he would burn in the house just enough to be unrecognizable.”
His nose brushed the side of Acelynn’s face before he caught my eyes again. His tongue flicked out as he licked up the side of her face. She screamed at the contact, body convulsing in fear. Alec’s dark chuckle filled the barn. “She is on hemlock right now, so I could convince her of just about anything, like I had the night of the massacre.”
“You drugged your own sister that night?” I growled, the pieces finally falling into place.
Acelynn’s skewed view of what occurred the night of the Spade massacre made more sense now. But it wasn’t hemlock that he used then. I turned my head to the side. “It was with Muze, wasn’t it?”
I tensed under his smirk as he spoke, “My little sister has been microdosed with Muze since she was old enough to speak. It was a preventive measure my father thought would help us when we shipped her off to the Knights. Guess he didn’t take the same precautions with hemlock.”
“Let. Her. Go.” My voice broke sharp as a whip, gun trembling now with the fury I could barely contain. “This is between us. You want power? Kill me and you’ll have it.”
Movement behind Alec caught my eye, and I could see Vince’s figure hidden in the barn’s shadows. He was holding the same position as me, gun raised and aimed directly at Alec’s skull. I made the play, dropping to one knee and sliding my gun across the floor. Raising my hands, I baited him. “Come on, Alec.I’m the reason you did all of this. If you kill me now, you have a right to the Knights’ presidential seat. You have the power.”
Alec laughed, blood and spit spraying Acelynn’s face as he yanked her hair, forcing her to look at him. She sobbed against her brother’s hand as he stroked the gun along her cheek. “Look at that. The King of Lovelen, ready to die for you, little Spade.”
“He’s not dying today,” Acelynn hissed at him.
In one brutal motion, she slammed her head into his again, this time with more power than before. His nose crunched, and blood gushed down his face. Alec dropped his hold on his sister, a hand coming up to clutch his face. I leaped to my feet, hands lunging for the gun I had abandoned, but before I could get my hands around it, Acelynn had picked it up and leveled the barrel at him. Blood streaked down her own forehead, but her hand was steady.
“What are you going to do now, Em?” Alec taunted, grinning through blood. “Shoot me?”
“I shot Logan,” she hissed. “You think I won’t kill you?”
My fingers brushed against her lower back, ensuring she knew I was behind her, no matter what she decided. Alec snarled, “Look at you. A Knight’s little slut.”
“Queen,” I corrected, pressing my lips to Acelynn’s throat, never looking away from him. Her pulse was steady, and I noted that she no longer looked like she was floating from the drug in her system. But I continued, taunting her brother as my lips continued their trail. “The new Queen of the Knights.”
The gunshot cracked like thunder. Alec screamed, buckling as the bullet tore through his arm. He buckled in pain, weapon clattering to the floor. Acelynn stepped forward, planting the heel of her boot into his wound, grinding down until he howled. I watched, half in horror, half in awe at her actions. She leaned down, voice ice-cold. “Hope it was worth it, Alec. Because it was for me.”
“Fuck you.” He spat blood, words coming through choked breaths.
“Say hi to our father.” Acelynn cocked the gun back, placing the barrel just a few inches away from his skull. “Make sure to tell him that the little girl he raised for slaughter destroyed every Spade he ever loved more than his own family.”
Alec laughed through his bubbling chest. “You’ll never outrun it. You are still a Spade, no matter what you say. The blood that runs through your veins is the same as mine.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” She smiled, cruel and lethal, before the sound of the gunshot ricocheted off the metal in the barn. Acelynn stood over him, chest heaving, blood on her face, and gun steady in her hand. Her voice was quiet, but it filled the barn, final and absolute. “I’m a Knight.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
acelynn
Silence hungin the air as I watched the light drain from my brother’s eyes. Alec’s body jerked once, then stilled, his chest sagging under the weight of death. For a moment, everything inside me went silent too. No rain against the barn roof, no thunder rolling in the distance, no Kaius shifting nearby—just me and the monster I had grown up loving.
There were so many questions still lodged in my throat, a thousand things I had wanted to scream at him, demand of him, beg him for, but the chance slipped away with his last breath. All I could do was watch. Watch as the boy who once held my hand during storms, who taught me how to fight, who used to sit on the edge of my bed after our parents’ screaming matches and whisper promises that we’d always survive together, faded into nothing but a corpse at my feet.
My chest heaved violently, guilt laced with rage, grief, and a hollowness that could never be filled. I had killed him. Not justthe monster he had become, not just the soldier poisoned by his cruel upbringing, but my brother. My blood. I raised the gun again instinctively, hand trembling as a shadow shifted in the corner. My finger itched against the trigger.
A warm hand closed around my wrist, lowering it with careful strength. “It’s just Vince.”
I didn’t resist as Kaius slid the weapon from my grasp. My eyes tracked Vince instead, desperate for an anchor in the storm brewing in my chest.
“Astoria?” My voice cracked, hope and panic cutting through the numbness.
Vince’s hand caught my arm when I tried to lunge forward. “Nolan already has her. She’s beat up pretty bad, a few broken fingers, but she’ll live.”
Relief punched through me so hard my knees nearly buckled. I nodded, unable to find the words to thank him. Vince stepped closer, rough palms cradling my face, examining me like I might break apart at any second. His eyes softened briefly, then he let me go.
“You were the thief swiping from my collection, weren’t you?” he said, voice practical, clipped. I could only nod at him, so tired of hiding anything. He chuckled once. “Well, good thing. Those doses of hemlock you were taking probably just saved your life tonight. It should be fading, but if you start feeling off, I’ll give you something to burn it out faster.”
