“No.” Knight glares at the table, face pinched tight in thought. “There was a scent in the air at all the scenes. Tar or lava rock. Something familiar but not Argent. And it was messy.”
“Messy how?”
“Like someone lost their shit.” Sinner laughs. “And blacked out in rage.”
I wave dismissively. “People lose their shit every day.”
“Not like this.” Creed worries, looking over at Knight.
I glance between the two and sit back with a sigh. “Just say what you’re thinking,” I mutter, bored now. “Enough of the philosophical shit.”
Knight sighs and leans back, running a hand through his hair, the scar slicing through his brow tugging slightly as he moves. “We need to keep as much normalcy as we can. We come into this reign soft. Last shit we need is people running around and treating their own kind like they’re threats and making our job harder.”
I stare at him.
“Again,” I repeat, slower this time. “Just say it. Clearly you two talked about it already.”
Creed snaps to me. “We need to go back to Rathe University.”
The words hang there for a beat—just long enough for theLeviathan bone beneath my boots to pulse again, as if the ancient beast can feel the ripple of what that means.
Back to the university. Where we’re forced to live on the pathetic place known as Earth, in the giftless world, yet in a school dedicated to our own. Where the next generation of magic-bloods are trained. Where politics are sharpened behind false smiles, and swords are dulled behind glamours. Where the throne was first promised to us. Where we were watched. Groomed. Tested.Hunted.
“We killed Magdelana, remember?” I remind them of what no one could have forgotten—of the mage who was the leader of the Argents, those of light magic, and the headmistress of Rathe U. She and the rest of the bullshit ministry that plotted against my family are nothing but ash in the wind now. A fact that their people might not be too happy about. “Who is going to rule over Rathe U now? And what about the murders happening here?”
No one answers at first. Not because they don’t have ideas—but because none of them are good.
Creed clenches his jaw while Knight expresses his irritation by sharply exhaling through his nose. Sinner, of course, just smirks, always the kind of bastard who relishes watching things spiral out of control.
“New year starts in less than a week, in giftless time,” Knight adds flatly. “New blood. Freshly gifted. Half of ’em still shaking from their first vision. The other half hoping they glow in the dark or sprout wings, or whatever wild shit the Argents have been whispering into their ears since birth.”
Sinner cackles and leans forward, tossing his bottle lazily from one hand to the other. “And for once, we’re not the ones getting tossed into the pit with the rest of the softlings. We get to watch. We get tochoose. We get to be the ones who tell them what this year is really gonna be like.”
Knight raises a brow. “We’re still beingsentback to keeppeace.”
Creed nods. “Symbolic presence. Eyes on the ground. Prevent panic. Show unity and make them think we are offering protection to the most important of our kind—their untrained, precious children. That kind of thing.”
“Unity,” Sinner snorts. “Is that what they’re calling it now? The Argents are creaming themselves over the idea. Oh, yay, let’s all cohabitate. Let’s be good little magelets and build bridges between good and evil. Bunch of free-spirited, happily-ever-after-loving hypocrites.”
Creed narrows his eyes. “They’re not all bad.”
Sinner scoffs. “No, just naive. The real fun’s gonna be watching the Stygian young lose their fucking minds when they find out they’re expected to sit next to Argent-borns in their elemental theory classes andsmile.”
Knight leans back, arms crossed. “There will be blood. There always is.”
My mouth kicks up in a grin. “Don’t count out some of those Argents. They’re only light magic because they can fuck you hard enough to melt the skin from your bones.”
I shift slightly in my throne, the Leviathan bone beneath me pulsing with that same quiet awareness. I can feel it in the air already. The tension. The spark. The weight of a thousand new sets of footsteps crossing over the veil and stepping into the world of the giftless. Where control is tested and reality checks are served.
This is kind of perfect. Now her presence will serve an even better purpose.
“Looks like the decision’s been made. We’re holding an announcement ceremony,” I say, voice dripping with amusement. “Today.”
Creed arches a brow, slow and suspicious. “Why, dear brother…do you look so excited about that?”
I tilt my head, grin stretching wide. “Because,” I murmur, kicking my boots back off the table and standing, shadows folding over my shoulders like armor. “I’ve got something of my own to announce.”
The weight of what I’m about to do presses against my spine like a blade as I make my way back through the doors.
