I soak up the warmth I find in his words. Take in the strength of Anarchy’s embrace. Fill my ears with the panthers’ purring and snarls, forceful, alternating sounds, as if they can’t decide which will soothe me most.
I focus on the defiance of those around me since I’m struggling to find my own.
“What do I do now?” I ask, my voice small. “What am I supposed to do?”
“What did you want to do?” Anarchy asks, her arms remaining around me. “Before you heard about the book.”
“Well…” I blink away the tears in my eyes. “Simple vengeance lies in taking down my father.” I draw back a little. “Him alone. Nobody else has to get hurt. No other dark creature has to die.”
I might have spoken with Ryuji about broken teapots, but that was in the context of convincing him that I wouldn’t hurt his people. And as for the dark beings that follow my father, my vengeance has never lain in punishing them for belonging to the Nostra Empire or following orders. The empire is my family and that makes all of them family, too.
Anarchy’s eyes gleam. “You will become the head of the Nostra family, just as you originally wanted when you thought your father was dead.”
“Nobody else has to die,” Lucian says, nodding his head, his dark hair falling across his eyes, which are brighter than before. “Only our father.”
“And what of you, Lucian?” I ask softly.
His forehead creases at my question. “What do you mean?”
“Well, until I turned up, you were the heir?—”
He makes a soft, scoffing sound. “I was never the heir. In fact, I’m certain my father intended to have me killed and blame it on a rival.”
I wish I were shocked at Lucian’s theory, but oh, that does sound like something our father would do.
“What better use for me?” Lucian’s bloodshot eyes leak a little and he squeezes them closed, blinking hard. “He could orchestrate my death at a time that suited him and create justification to take someone out as ‘revenge’ for my death.” He grimaces. “No, sister, you will never have to watch your back with me. If I help you end our father’s reign, all I will ask for is my freedom.”
I believe him.
When I was seeking answers from him back in the apartment, I sensed that he was keeping something from me. Now, there is nothing but openness in his eyes, as if he’s peeled away the secrets and the burdens.
“You’ll have your freedom,” I say.
He’s pressed in beside Anarchy and at my declaration, she casts him a little smile, side-eyeing him from beneath her lashes. He swipes at the liquid dripping down his cheeks with his free hand, the corners of his mouth lifting a little at her.
But his smile quickly fades as his focus returns to me. “How do we take him down? He’s the Ultima Nostra. Other supernaturals have tried again and again. Even the Assassin’s Legion has failed to end him.”
“Because they would have tried to kill him, I’m sure,” I say.
“Well… yes.”
My jaw clenches and my teeth grit as a little of my fire begins to build again.
“We won’t take his life until we’ve taken everything else from him,” I say. “We’ll tear him apart, piece by piece. Slice by slice.Thenwe will finish him.”
Lucian’s eyes have widened, but the panthers are grinning at me, as if they’re already imagining the little pieces into which I’ll cut my father.
“Back in his lair, you said it yourself, brother,” I continue. “Our father is vulnerable now. James Vanguard, the old god, no longer stands at his side. The protection our father enjoyed from that alliance is gone.”
There was a time when both James and his sister, Halle, used to protect my father. From the little that Vanguard told me, I’ve surmised that Halle ended her alliance with my father at the same time she had the disagreement with her brother. Now Vanguard has ended his alliance with Taiven, too.
“You weakened Dad,” Lucian says, exhaling slowly as a little light returns to his eyes. “When you helped Elijah escape. Dad’s leverage over Vanguard is gone.”
“I’m assuming Jonah’s left our father’s side now, too?”
Jonah, the fire jotunn, behaved like a beta toward Vanguard. His loyalty to Vanguard and his protectiveness of Elijah was clear. He would have laid down his life for that boy.
“Jonah helped me deliver you to Dad, and then he left.” Lucian shifts a little, his lips pursing again.
