“Two weeks?” I stare at James in confusion, trying to make sense of that timeframe. I was gone for a month on the island and it’s only been two days at most since I stole the book. “It’s only been two days.”
James blinks at me. “You stole the book two weeks ago.” The crease in his forehead clears. “Oh. But of course. You’ve been in the Underworld.”
I nod.
“Time passes more slowly there,” he explains. “A day in there is a week out here. It’s a quirk of hell. The price for visiting is time.”
Damn. Well, what’s done is done, so I quickly gather my thoughts. “Okay, so the longer I evade my father, the weaker he appears.”
“And the more flustered he becomes. He has demanded a meeting of the heads of the most powerful dark families. Human and supernatural alike. He is desperate to crush the rumors of your growing strength and shore up his control of the Nostra Empire.” James pauses to smile at me. “You pushed him to this.”
“Me and my careful knife,” I murmur.
“You must go to this meeting. Announce your claim to the empire in front of the other families.”
“But rather than assassinate my father, I will challenge the gargoyle king instead?”
“You must kill him on the spot. Only then will you convince the other families of your strength and force your father to bow to you.”
I scoff. “Taiven will never bow. He will fight to the death.”
“Of course. At which point, you must kill him,” James says. “But only after you give him a chance to yield.”
“Why?” I ask.
James considers me quietly for a moment. “You are not your father, Veda. You must show the other leaders that you have the power to end your enemies. But you must also show them that you are completely in control.Youchoose when you will or will not strike. You are above them. Always. Only then will you control the empire.”
Control is everything.
My mother drummed that into me. Damn, she was smart about what she taught me.
But in the last two days—or two weeks, as it turns out—I’ve learned how much control Idon’thave. Wresting it back is going to take a lot of conviction.
“Where is this meeting taking place?” I ask.
“At the White Wing Tavern. 8p.m.tonight.”
My eyebrows arch in surprise. “But I know that place. It’s more public than other places my father could meet with the leaders. Why would he choose such an exposed position?”
The White Wing Tavern is where I met James and Jonah for the first time. The front of the building is a regular restaurant. Behind and beneath it is a maze of underground corridors and tunnels.
I’d gained access to one of its hidden rooms through a green door that Mom had told me about, which was situated at the back of the restaurant. As it turned out, Halle had placed a spell on that door and the corridor beyond it with the intent to killanyone who stepped inside it. Her target had been James, since it was their own special entrance.
I’d waltzed through the door and the corridor without a scratch or even any awareness of the danger that place had posed to me.
“Heknowsyou know about the White Wing,” James replies. “After Jonah and I met you there, we told him about you.”
“Ah.” I purse my lips. “So he wants me to come for him.”
“You’ve evaded him for two weeks, Veda. If he can’t find you, he’ll lure you in.”
“He’s confident he can beat me.”
“Like you, he needs his victory to be seen by the other leaders.”
I breathe out carefully as I consider my options. Not many. Or rather, none. “I’ll walk into a trap.”
James grimaces. “Effectively, yes.”
