Chapter 23 #2
“If he asked you to wear his face while he fucked you, I wouldn’t be surprised.
” Lana rolled her eyes. “You represent every life he’s ever ruined, all the carnage he’s left in his wake—and the thought that he had fashioned you in his image?
A little work of art? He fell in love with you because, in his mind, you’re him. ”
It churned her stomach. Raziel didn’t love her. That wasn’t possible. And everything Lana was saying was just a manipulation to get into her head. It had to be. “It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
“It does.” Mael stood from his chair, straightening out his suit coat. “If you still have feelings for him, it does. What were you two plotting?”
“To kill you.” No harm in telling the truth.
They knew. That much was already clear from the way he asked the question.
It was just a test to see if she would answer.
“The moment you stepped off stage, Raziel was going to kill you in the shadows. I was to cover the exits in case you took a different direction—get you somewhere alone. If that didn’t work, we knew the fae were going to attack, and we’d hoped in the chaos no one would notice one more corpse. ”
Lana’s grin was positively gleeful. “I love how just—how matter-of-fact she says it, don’t you?” She was basically in Zabriel’s lap. “Ugh, I could eat her up.”
“I have always wondered what fae blood is like.” Zabriel tilted his head to the side slightly. “I never believed that old lie of it being a poison to us.”
“It’s worse than poison.” Mael shook his head.
“It’s extremely addictive. One of the most potent drugs available to a vampire.
You’d do well to stay away from it, Zabriel.
I’m damn sure it’s what sent Braen half-mad.
It may be another reason why Raziel is smitten with her, if he wasn’t aware of its effects. ”
More reasons to doubt. More fuel for the fire. They were doing a very good job at putting a rift between her and Raziel. She just had to judge for herself whether or not it was legitimate. And she knew she had to judge fast.
“Why attack your own wedding?” Nadi had to ask. They had no reason to answer her—she certainly wasn’t in a position of power. “Just to get Volencia out of the way?”
“You say ‘just’ like it isn’t something we’ve worked toward for decades.
Some of us are too well positioned to simply breeze in, murder someone, and vanish.
” Zabriel grimaced. “It took the careful planning of nearly half a century to be rid of her. Even if you just waltzed into the room to do the deed like it was nothing, it was because we provided the setup for you to do so.”
“A very fair point.” Nadi paused. “I at least managed to eke out some revenge for my family. And for that, I… admit I’m grateful.
” She pulled against the restraints that kept her hands behind her back.
There was no budging them. Even if she shifted to Ivan’s form, she would just break all the bones in both her wrists.
This was a bad, bad situation. She couldn’t see a way out of this.
Unless she decided to change sides.
Mael paced a few steps away from her, staring out over the ocean, black against a barely brighter night sky. “Raziel is a madman, Nadi. He plans to destroy the metropolis. Burn it all down and rule over the ashes. He’s had this dream since he was a child.”
“I know.”
“He told you, then.” Mael turned to watch her, his golden eyes glinting in the darkness, reflecting the light back at her. “And you were willing to go along with it?”
“You only have to hitch yourself to a train to get to the next station. I wasn’t planning on following it off a cliff.
I knew it was something I would have to deal with eventually, but our chances of making it that far were slim enough I figured it wasn’t a problem.
I was right.” She shrugged, tugging on the restraints to prove her point.
“My goal has always been to take out as many Nostroms as possible. I never expected to get out of this alive.”
“You realize… he was always doomed to fail. In all of it. Killing us. Ruling this world. He was never going to win.” Mael crossed the deck to her chair to kneel at her feet. He placed his hands on her knees.
His touch was warm. Sincere. He was so much kinder, gentler, than his younger brother. She searched his face for any sign of cruelty. Any sign of a lie. Any sign of a monster, lurking beneath the surface, waiting to burst through the waves and clamp its jaws down around her throat.
She wondered who he really was, deep down—was he really the smiling, gentle vampire? The one who dealt drugs because he had to? Because it was a necessary evil?
Or was he the inverse of Raziel? Was Raziel cruel on the exterior, with a kindness buried within, while Mael had cruelty hidden deep within?
At least with Raziel, she knew what she was getting.
With Mael, it was a gamble. A risk. Turning over cards in a deck until she came up short.
“When he killed Monica, I had a choice. Return to the Wild or join with him to work with killing all of you.” She shook her head. “I had already sacrificed so much to get that far. It… felt so wrong to run away.”
Mael lifted a hand to her cheek and stroked it gently.
“You aren’t a coward, Nadi. You followed your heart, not your head.
And you are loyal. To Raziel, of all people.
” He laughed in quiet, stunned disbelief.
“That is to be lauded, not shamed. He’s my brother.
He will always be my brother. I love him.
But I have to make sure he can’t hurt anyone else, ever again. ”
He stood, walking behind her. “I am going to trust you, Nadi. Our family hurt you in ways I can’t even begin to imagine. And you took one part of your revenge tonight.” He unlocked the cuffs at her wrists. “Which does not begin to right the wrongs we have done, I understand that.”
Pulling her hands in front of her, she rubbed her wrists, stunned at the fact that he’d just simply released her. But… what could she really do? She was surrounded by vampires with guns. She was one, unarmed fae.
But they likely didn’t know that her true form was that of a creature who could swim and breathe underwater. Otherwise, Mael likely never would have released her wrists.
Kalo had presumably left that part out of his story. Small favors from a childhood pseudo-bully, pseudo-friend, she supposed.
Ten steps and a jump and she would be free.
She glanced between Mael, Lana, and Zabriel. “None of you had a hand in what happened to my father and my family. At least, not that my research has turned up. It was Volencia who ordered it and Raziel who did the deed.”
Her goal had been to wipe the Nostrom plague from the face of Runne. But now? Everything had been cast in such a different light.
“Tonight, I am going to deal with Raziel, once and for all.” Mael’s expression was grim.
“You may take part or recuse yourself. Then, you will have a choice. Join us—stand at my side as Nadi Iltani, wearing your own face, and help me reshape the metropolis for vampires and fae alike. Or… we will bring you anywhere you like. And you live your life however you like, or you may disappear. The same offer my brother gave you.”
Nadi considered his words for a long moment. “What’s… happened to him?”
“Nothing. Yet. We wanted you to witness it. Because you should have this chance to choose your next step.” He held out his enormous hand to her. “We’ve decided enough of your life.”
Swallowing the rock in her throat, she put her hand in his and let him help her up to her feet.
Another choice lay before her.
Only this time, it wasn’t just the direction of her life that would be determined.
It wasn’t just Raziel’s.
It was all of Runne.