More faint memories of Luca flash through my mind, and I shake my head as I dress and teleport outside the front door of my family home. The files I need are in Aziel’s office, which is practically impenetrable.
I’m hoping the household is still sleeping, and I suppose that’s one benefit to waking up at such an ungodly hour. I’d teleport directly inside Aziel’s office if it wouldn’t alert Silas. He somehow always knows when somebody materializesinsidethe manor, leaving me no choice but to sneak through the house like a teenage human.
If my parents catch wind of what I’m planning, they’ll lock me up within Wrath. It’s a risk I’m more than willing to take.
Mammon murdered my baby brother, and Iwillbe taking my revenge. The Queen of Greed will pay for what she did. I’m going to kill her and her entire fucking bloodline. I’ll leave her kingdom in ruins.
I don’t care if it goes against fate. I don’t care if it damns me to an eternity of misery.
I’m as quiet as a shadow as I slink through the manor and into Aziel’s office. Photos of the family—photos of me—line the walls. They’re constantly rotating, but I don’t take the time to see what new ones have been added as I begin sifting through my father’s files.
I need every bit of information he has on Mammon’s kingdom.
Mammon captured Luca, plucked him from Wrath the first moment he had ever been separated from my fathers, and let her worthless soldiers murder him like the animalistic little heathens they are. Then she had him deposited in our backyard for us to find—formeto find. I’ll never forget.
I believe she was attempting to send a message. She wanted to prove that the kingdom of Greed still held power, that she and her people aren’t afraid of my fathers.
And she lives to tell the tale. It’s despicable, and I refuse to tolerate it a minute longer.
That bitch would’ve been dead years ago if my parents weren’t so afraid of taking revenge. They fear war. They fear angering fate. They won’t risk losing another child.
They’re cowards.
I’m taking matters into my own hands.
Greed’s file is in the back of Aziel’s desk drawer, the paper worn thin from years and years of handling. I take off the moment they’re in my hand, hurrying through the dark, quiet corridors and out the front door of the manor. I’m sure several shadows have spotted me, but they know who I am.
They won’t feel the need to wake my parents and alert them of my intrusion.
I disappear the second I’m outside, teleporting to my cabin on the outskirts of Lust. It’s a small property, and I paid in cash so the sale couldn’t be traced back to me. Only Valeria knows about this place.
I’m giddy with nerves, and I shake out my limbs before getting to work. The file is large, and I’m hoping to learn something valuable from it. Mammon shut down her kingdom almost immediately after Luca’s murder, and the bitch even managed to access enough magic to prohibit any teleportation within her borders. It’s ironclad, too.
Nobody goes in. Nobody comes out.
We’ve had practically no insight into Greed’s dealings for almost twenty-two years. I suspect my fathers know more than they let on, though. My gaze drops to the paperwork I stole from Aziel. I’m about to find out.
Several hours pass, the cabin silent minus the occasional scratchy flutter when I flip the page. Valeria appears quietly, her calming scent enveloping me a moment after the air ripples with her arrival. She’s in blood red, her signature color this year, and her black hair has been carefully braided down the center of her head. She looks good.
“Morning,” she says.
I grunt.
She walks around my desk, her movements unnaturally lithe. I can practically feel her gaze roaming my face, but I ignore it.
“Have you slept?” she eventually asks.
“A bit.”
A quiet sigh. “Cassia. You need—”
“Have the fates told you anything?” I interrupt. “About Greed? Or about my plans?”
I know Valeria’s answer before she even begins to speak. It’s always the same. “No. I’m too invested. The fates won’t show me anything regarding you or Greed.”
I should’ve never pulled her into my plans. She hasn’t been helpful, and her knowledge of them is a liability. Our parents have explicitly told us to stay out of their dealings with Mammon. Several times. They’ll kill me when they learn what I’ve done. Mom will fry me alive. For a human, she sure knows how to make it hurt. Her ire is my favorite thing about her, but only when it’s not directed at me.
There’s another ripple, and David appears.
