Chapter 19 #2
The silence that followed was heavy with everything unspoken. Nadi found herself studying the two men—the massive, stoic bodyguard and the slim, sharp-featured vampire—and seeing something she’d missed before. A partnership that ran deeper than mere conspiracy.
Interesting.
Raziel seemed to reach the same conclusion, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he moved to the window and peered through a crack in the shutters at the city beyond. “Tell me what happened.”
Ivan and Azazel exchanged a look. It was Azazel who spoke first.
“Mael and Lana announced that you and Nadi had attempted to assassinate the family during the wedding. That you’d killed Volencia”—a slight pause—“which, to be fair, was technically true.”
“And people believed it?”
“The people who mattered believed it. Or pretended to.” Azazel’s orange eyes glittered with bitter humor.
“The Rosovs threw their full support behind Mael and Lana. With Braen dead and Zabriel married into the Nostroms, it was a unified front. The other vampire families fell in line within days. Those who didn’t…
” He made a cutting gesture across his throat.
“And the humans?”
Ivan’s face darkened. “They claim you killed the mayor.”
Raziel laughed. “We didn’t.”
“Yeah. We know that. The humans don’t.” Azazel shook his head.
Ivan kept talking. “There were riots, the first few days, when people realized what was happening. But pretty soon? Any semblance of hope that humans were in charge—that we had any say in how the city was run—just… vanished overnight. Mael declared martial law. Vampires came in from the outer territories. Started the patrols, the chain gangs, the—” He stopped, swallowing hard.
“The executions,” Nadi finished.
Ivan nodded. “Anyone who speaks against them, human or vampire. Anyone who resists. Anyone who even looks like they might be thinking of causing trouble.” His hands tightened on the rifle. “It’s a fucking nightmare out there. But it’s not all bad news.”
Raziel turned from the window. His face was unreadable, but Nadi could see the tension in the set of his shoulders. The anger burning behind his carefully controlled expression.
This wasn’t what he’d wanted. She knew that with sudden, startling clarity. He’d planned to tear down the old order and build something new in its place—something brutal, yes, something ruled by vampires, but not this. Not this graceless tyranny that crushed everything in its path.
Raziel addressed his bodyguard. “By all means. Enlighten us.”
“The Rosov alliance is shakier than it looks,” Azazel said, picking up the thread. “Zabriel is playing along, but he’s not happy. He and Mael have been butting heads over territory and tribute. And there are factions within the Rosov family who think Zabriel’s being too passive.”
“What about the other families?” Raziel asked.
“Scared. Resentful. But too afraid to move openly.” Azazel got up and began to pace, the movement restless and agitated.
“The Toths are furious about the human restrictions—they run half the labor operations in the outer districts, and the chain gang system is cutting into their profits. The Veriks lost three council members in the initial purges. And even some of the minor houses are starting to whisper about the old days, when the families had actual power instead of just scraps from Mael’s table. ”
Nadi listened, filing away each piece of information. Cracks in the facade. Pressure points. The same kind of weaknesses that Raziel had always excelled at exploiting.
“The humans?” she asked.
“Underground resistance is starting,” Ivan said. “Nothing organized yet—anyone who tries, ends up on a lamppost. But the anger is there. The hatred. They’re just waiting for someone to light the match.”
Raziel was quiet for a long moment, his fingers steepled against his lips. Nadi could practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes. “We need an event where we can take them all out. We need something explosive to hit with that match. Azazel?”
“I’m going to regret saying this.” Azazel sighed, shutting his eyes.
“Right now, the word is you two are dead at the hands of Ebiti and the fae in the Wild after the warehouse attack. So Mael and Lana are throwing a gigantic party out at the old estate to celebrate. Everyone who’s anyone will be there. ”
Ivan grunted. “But it’s only a few days from now, and that’s not nearly enough time to prepare. And if word gets out that they’re alive—”
“Then we make sure word doesn’t get out.” Raziel straightened. “This isn’t an opportunity we can pass up.”
Ivan let out a noise that was halfway between a groan and a laugh. “You plan on marching straight into the Nostrom estate and murdering everyone?”
“In short? Yes.” Raziel smiled.
“We should be using this as a chance to gather intel.” Azazel laughed. “You’re absolutely insane. We might, maybe, survive this with people backing us. But just the two of you? It’s suicide! How do you plan on pulling it off?”
“One step at a time.” Raziel shrugged. “We started with less, Nadi and I. A fake marriage and a lot of mutual loathing. Look how far she and I have come.”
Despite everything—despite the horrors Azazel had just described, despite the nightmare the city had become—Nadi felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward.
Azazel just stared, dumbfounded. “You’re insane.”
“So you’ve said.” Raziel’s smile was sharp and dangerous and somehow, impossibly, comforting. “But we’re going to win anyway.”
Outside, the sirens continued their endless wail. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the crack of rifle fire—another patrol, another incident, another thread in the tapestry of horror that the metropolis had become.
But inside the watchtower, surrounded by unlikely allies and impossible plans, Nadi felt something she hadn’t felt in a very long time.
Hope.
Fragile and dangerous and probably foolish—but hope, nonetheless.
“All right,” she said, straightening her shoulders. “Where do we start?”
Raziel’s smile was all Serpent.
“First, we get some rest. You look like you haven’t slept in days.”
“I’ve been busy fishing vampires out of the ocean and making sure the Wild didn’t eat them alive.”
“And I’m very grateful.” He gestured toward the spiral staircase. “Fourth floor. Bedroom. Same as before. Ivan and Azazel can brief us on everything else in the morning.”
She wanted to argue. Wanted to insist that there was no time for rest, not with everything that was happening. But her body betrayed her—the exhaustion of what they’d been through was catching up with her all at once, settling into her bones like lead.
“Fine,” she said again, and this time, she meant it. “But tomorrow—”
“Tomorrow, we begin.” Raziel’s hand found the small of her back, guiding her toward the stairs. “I promise.”
She let herself be guided. Let herself lean, just slightly, into his touch.
Behind them, she heard Ivan say something to Azazel—low and quiet, not meant for their ears. Whatever it was, Azazel laughed. A real laugh, not the sardonic edge she was used to.
Strange bedfellows, all of them.
Against an empire.
Against impossible odds.
Against everything.
Nadi smiled as she climbed the stairs, her husband—her real husband now, not the convenient fiction of their first marriage—at her side.
They were probably going to die.
But they were going to take a lot of bastards with them.
Fuck it.
She was ready.