My fathers have never told me the details—they shy away from them—but it’s common knowledge that they were awareof the issue for several years before doing anything to help. They sat on the information that condemned my gender to generations of rape and abuse.
I’m not under any pretense that my fathers are good people. Gray purchased Mom from an auction, and it doesn’t take an expert to assume the reason why. I love my fathers, but they aren’t the heroes the world makes them out to be.
They were lucky, and they did an exceptional job repairing their image during the war, but I’m no fool. It doesn’t change anything, though. My fathers could kill millions of innocents, and I’ll still stand beside them. I’ll always stand beside them, beside my family. It’s why I’m going to execute Mammon.
I work on my plan every morning until the sun rises, then I return to Wrath to complete my public work. I make appearances at functions. I approve budgets and contracts and read through thousands of sheets of mind-numbingly dull paperwork. I hold meetings with government officials.
I’m positioning myself to eventually take Aziel’s title, and I’m doing a damn good job at it.
At the end of each day, I return to Lust to resume my research. Sometimes Valeria joins me. Sometimes David. But most of my time is spent alone. I don’t mind. I prefer being alone. I can better concentrate that way.
All the information I find regarding Mammon and Greed is outdated, but it’s better than nothing. I scour maps of her land and accounts of those closest to her. I find details about her shifter mate—herdeadshifter mate—and I smile every time.
I should visit Uncle Chev and ask him about Vont. I want to hear every detail about that man’s painful death. Every. Fucking. Detail.
I linger in Lust until my eyes are so heavy, I can’t make out the words on the page. Only then do I return to my apartment and sleep. My social life is sacrificed. My health is sacrificed. Myprecious sleep and sanity are sacrificed, but it’s worth it. It’s well worth it.
I do this daily without fail and without pause.
The air surrounding me ripples, and David appears beside my desk a heartbeat later. It’s too early for him to be awake, and I sigh as I set down my pen and spin around. He reeks of sex, and he’s holding a glass container filled with sludgy-looking black liquid.
He smirks, pulling off the lid. “Look what I have!”
I recoil. The scent is acrid, almost even violent. It burns my nose, and I instinctively back away. What the fuck is that? It’s vile, and I have half a mind to tip it over onto David’s crisp, white shirt.
“This is guaranteed to dull your power,” David says. “I was told to warn you not to take more than a few sips at a time. It won’t kill you or anything, but it’ll put you on your ass.”
He reaches over me, grabbing my half-empty cup off my desk and unceremoniously dumping the remains of my water out the window. Then he pours in some of the vile, black liquid and shoves the cup into my hands.
“Drink up.”
I grimace, peering into the cup. “I’m not drinking this.”
“It’s the only way to dampen your power,” David quips. “This wasn’t easy to secure, either, so you better fucking drink it.”
I lift the cup to my nose and sniff the contents. Then I promptly gag. It’s atrocious, and I’m reasonably certain that, despite what David says, one sip will most definitely kill me.
If I die, though, my fathers will split David in half. He’ll never see the light of day again.
The thought brings a smile to my face. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if this killed me. I’d happily lay down my life if it guaranteed David an eternity of being miserable. I bet Gray would even take away his title. King no more.
I bring the cup to my lips and choke down the liquid in one large gulp. It threatens to come back up several times, my chest heaving as my body disobeys my straightforward order to swallow.
David watches the entire thing, a cheery grin playing at the corners of his mouth. I bet he’s waited his whole life for this. He may be older than I am, but I’ve always been stronger than him. I’ve always held more power, and I’ve never been afraid to use it.
The tonic settles heavily in my stomach, almost like I swallowed an iron paperweight. That feeling quickly travels to every part of my body, starting with my legs and ending with my neck. Holding my head up is a chore, and my drinking glass shatters as it slips from my fingers.
David’s on me in a heartbeat, pure panic in his brown eyes as he lifts my head and scans my face.
“Fuck, Cassia,” he says. “I was told the first time would be the worst. Your body isn’t used to operating without power, and it’ll take a while to adjust. The effects should only last a few days.”
A few days? He can’t be serious. That would’ve been helpful to know beforehand. I can’t walk around Wrath like this. People will take one look at me and immediately know that something is wrong.
David helps me out of my chair, one arm wrapped around my waist as he guides me to the couch pushed up against the back wall. I practically fall onto it, unable to manipulate my limbs the way I want.
Through sheer fucking will, I manage to remain upright, and I glare daggers at David as he kneels before me. He still looks panicked, but the fear softens as he takes note of my threatening stare.
“You’re okay,” he murmurs. He’s talking to himself, the nutjob. “You’re going to be just fine.”
