“It was a fucking massacre.”
My dad had pulled me out of the room for a minute under the pretense of wanting to show me something, then locked the doors, trapping everyone else inside. Once I realized what was happening, I begged and pleaded for him to reconsider.
But all he could do was smile and tell me how proud of me he was.
I left Ignareth that night.
Smoke began to sneak out through Maia’s nose. “See, this is exactly why you need to be here. To be in charge. These old ways of doing things, the constant fighting, the senseless killing… Magiks don’t want to come here anymore.”
I shook myself out of the violent reverie, the last sounds of my friend screaming for his life echoing in my mind. “They don’t?”
Whenever I came across any news about Ignareth, I purposefully ignored it, so I didn’t have any clue what was really happening here anymore.
“No. Haven’t you heard? Tourism has dropped by over ten percent in the last few years, with the other city-states taking over what made us so successful, bit by bit. You want clubbing? Now everyone’s going to Noctis. Gambling? Fenmoor’s new Blue Moon Casino is so popular, they’re opening a second location. Tideholm’s dining scene is booming, and I’m sure you haven’t noticed, but the shopping in Halcyon is off the charts.”
She gestured to her outfit, which I hadn’t noticed before. I supposed her black leather pants and cream tank top—was that cashmere?— were stylish.
But I knew crap all about women’s fashion.
“And I keep telling Dad that even if we end up as the only family left in Ignareth, it won’t matter if we’re sitting on an empire of ashes. But does he listen?”
“Nope.”
“Nope,” she repeated. Her eyes glowed fiercely as she looked away, the subject firing her up. “Because I wasn’t born an alpha, so my opinions don’t count. And I’ve got so many ideas on how we could fix everything.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
She focused her gaze back on me. “Really? You want to know?”
I gave a small shrug. “Sure.” I scooted closer to her. “I mean, I have zero thoughts about the future of our family aside from just getting Sage back. And if your plans involve less bloodshed, I’d love to hear them.”
She grinned, easing the tension in my chest.
But as good as it was to see her again, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t more pissed at me. Maia obviously cared way more than I did what happened here, and if I’d never returned, then my dad would have had no choice but to leave the empire to her.
I’d ignored her for a decade and then taken her inheritance, and yet here she was, completely open with all of her thoughts and plans.
“Ignareth is an entertainment capital, right? And sure, we’ve built a reputation for drugs, sex, and money. But you can get that anywhere these days, so we need to branch out. Innovate. Give Magiks something they can’t get anywhere else.”
She pulled out her phone and started her music app, playing a song I recognized.
“What does Sirena Murphy have to do with anything?”
Maia got up and went to my window, opening the shades and pointing towards a large hotel in our territory. “The Inferno Hotelhas a state-of-the-art convert venue, and so far all we use it for is magicians and comedians. They never fill the space, and honestly? They’re boring.”
She started playing her music again. “But what if we got a big-name pop star to perform?”
I deflated a bit. “I mean, that might make a bit of money, but—”
“Every. Night.”
My interest piqued again. “Every night?”
She nodded. “Sirena’s manager was here a few months ago, and we got to talking. Apparently, the merfolk princess of pop is exhausted from constantly touring, but still loves performing. So, I was thinking we could offer her a residency here, headlining atThe Inferno, five days a week, for six months. Imagine the kind of runics we could make!”
Wow. Sirena wasn’t my favorite artist, but even I found myself singing along to her songs whenever they played on the radio.
She was definitely popular enough to draw strong crowds. Plus, without the fees and costs associated with being on the road, the general ticket sales would be lower than at her usual concerts, making her shows more affordable for both tourists and locals.
