“If you’re reading this, I’m already gone,”I began, my voice breaking. I had to pause, my throat closing around the words.“Killian, Tyson, I need you to have a cool head. Just listen.”
“Keep reading,” Cade urged.
The other heirs gathered around me, their faces grim with shared dread.
I forced the words out, each one tasting of burned paper.“I made a deal with my father: he retreats, and I go with him. It was the only way. He would have breached the Veil. How long could we hold out against a fucking army that wouldn’t stay dead? So, before you all start yelling about stupid sacrifices, just stop.”
The heirs opened their mouths to protest, then snapped them shut. Even in her absence, Barbie knew us too well.
“Ruin believes I carry the last drop of the old magic. I let him believe that for my plan to work. Yes, I have a Plan B and a Plan C. Here is what will happen: I’ll play the dutiful daughter for three days. Get close. Make him lower his guard. Then, I’ll use the weapons I’ve been hiding to strike him hard and true.”
“What weapons?” Silas burst out.
The room erupted as the heirs fired off overlapping questions, their supernatural ADHD making silence impossible.Only Rowan remained a steady force behind me, though I could feel the coiled tension in every line of his body.
“Let Sy finish reading the letter!” Rowan’s voice cut through the noise.
“I expected all of you to shout, ‘what weapons?’ right about now,”I continued, almost smiling at her insight. Trust Barbie to script our reactions from miles away.“Remember the Seed of Heaven? It was never fully purged from my blood.And I have Heaven’s Arrow. And I borrowed something from my beloved mate, but I won’t say what yet. A girl needs her secrets to stay interesting, and I must keep my mate hooked.”
I risked a glance at Killian. His face had gone terrifyingly still.
“My going with Ruin is the first move, just as the Oracle warned me five times it must be.”Killian let out a low, venomous hiss. If Lady Moirai were present, I was certain he would have snapped her neck.“Now you must do your part. Do not come after me. Not immediately. I know it’s killing my mates not to act—it’s in their primal wiring to protect me at all costs.They’re too fixed that way, there’s no changing them, and I don’t want to change Killian and Tyson. I like the way they are. So help me out, heirs and kings—don’t you let Killian out of your sight.”
As if on cue, the heirs shifted positions, casually but effectively placing themselves between Killian and every door and window.
“If you show up too early, you’ll ruin my plans.I need my father to soak in his victory and suspect nothing. Come get me in three days.That’s when I’ll need you to carry me out of evil’s lair.”
Tears burned in Killian’s eyes. He must be picturing her suffering. And from the storm gathering behind his glacier-cold gaze, I knew he wouldn’t last a few hours, let alone three days.
“Sy: Stay in Underhill. I don’t care how much you hate it as I tell you not to come after me. You’re the real prize, not me. I’m expendable. You are not. If Ruin ever gets his hands on you, it’s over. You hear me?”
A roar thundered across the room, shaking dust from the rafters.
Everyone froze.
“My mate isnotexpendable!Never!I will burn this world to ash before I let that stand!” The voice that tore from Killian’s throat wasn’t entirely human. It was layered with a dragon’s fury, the words vibrating at a frequency that hurt the bones.
“That’s the dragon!” someone hissed.
“Are you going to lose your shit?” Rowan demanded, stepping squarely in front of me as a human shield. “Rein it in, Killian! You can’t shift here. There isn’t enough room for your dragon!”
“Rowan is right,” Cade said, his hands already glowing with containment spells. “Cool your jets for one second, Killian!”
Killian growled, his face a mask of strain as he wrestled the beast within. “My dragon and I are in agreement. We won’t allow our mate to be a sacrificial lamb. Not for anyone. Not for any cause. Not even for our realm.”
“I understand, brother!” Cade’s voice cut through the chaos king’s icy rage. “Blood Covenant or not, we’re not like those motherfuckers who do terrible things in the name of the ‘greater good.’ Now, can you and the dragon be quiet and cooperate long enough for us to hear the rest of your mate’s plan? Or should we escort you out of the room?”
Killian went rigid, every muscle taut, but after a tense moment, he gave a single, sharp nod. Cade truly had a gift for managing the impossible.
Rowan gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and I drew a shaky breath, continuing to read.
“To my ridiculous found family, some personal notes:
“Silas: You called me ‘little shit’ when I lived in your house. Do you remember our final confrontation? You said, ‘You stink, Little Bob!’ and then you backhanded me. You even made me carry rocks for a week. I forgive you for being an ass, but I’m still telling everyone you indulge in rose baths with too much pink salt.”
Killian’s glare could have melted steel. “You dared to strike my mate?”
“I didn’t know Little Bob was a girl!” Silas protested, having the grace to look ashamed. “And she was bad at her job and had a worse attitude. When I told her she was the lowest-ranked shifter in my house, she refused to lower her eyes to her alpha. No one else dared!”
