“Are you hearing yourself?” Gabriel shoved a hand through his hair, the air around him crackling with his anger. “Fucking hell, Charlotte. You find out your uncle’s a demon, and suddenly you’re an expert in navigating supernatural politics.”
Dorian was out of his chair in a flash, but he stopped just short of putting his little brother through the wall. As much as he wanted to defend her from his brother’s utter dickishness, Charlotte was doing a fine job on her own.
“Watch your tone, brother,” he said instead, letting him off with a warning—the last he’d offer before mounting Gabriel above the mantle like a piece of art.
“Look, Gabriel,” Charlotte said. “I don’t pretend to knowanythingabout supernatural politics. I’m just speaking as someone who’s spent her entire life watching men swing their dicks around and play bullshit power games just to get one more slice of the proverbial pie. Vampires, demons, mortals… Corruption and greed rots everyone the same—from the inside out. So if you don’t mind, kindly put your dick away before you break something, and give me a fair shot for once.”
Dorian let loose a laugh, but Gabriel failed to see the humor.
Instead, he turned on Dorian with ice in his eyes. “I know you think you’re in love, brother, but that’s no reason to let this woman lead you into the wolf’s den.”
So much for Gabriel’s compassion.
“In all your long years,brother,” Dorian snapped, “have you ever cared foranyone? Or do you honestly prefer keeping your bed as cold as your heart?”
Gabriel slammed his drink onto the mantle. “Insults. Excellent strategy. In the meantime, I hope you like the feeling of hellfire up your ass. I’m sure Rogozin will pull out all the stops, especially after what we did to his demons in Woodside.”
“You were supposed to pin that on Chernikov.”
“I did what I could, brother. No guarantees. Had I known you’d be pitching him a deal, I might’ve suggested a different strategy in Woodside. Alas…”
“Bloody hell, Gabriel. This isn’t a game. This—”
“This is a suicide mission! You can’t possibly think you can walk in there and make a deal with the very demons we tortured! The very demons with the power to kill you in a bloody heartbeat!”
“What other options do we have? Chernikov is gaining power as we speak. We can’t very well—”
“Gabriel’s right, Dorian,” Charlotte said.
“Finally,” Gabriel said with a shallow laugh. “The human is talking sense again.”
“He’s being a totaldoucheabout it,” she added, glaring at Gabriel with a look that would’ve set a mortal man on fire. Then, turning back to Dorian, “But he’s right. You can’t pitch a deal to Rogozin… ButIcan.”
Dorian blinked. He couldn’t havepossiblyheard that right.
“Charlotte,” Aiden said, “while I agree you’ve brought us some ideas worth considering here, I’m afraid I can’t—”
“No,” Dorian said, his mind finally catching up with her ridiculous suggestion. “Absolutely not. Out of the question.”
“Come now, brother,” Gabriel mocked. “Charlotte asked us to give her a fair shot. If she wants to get herself killed, that’s—”
“Gabriel, I’m telling yourightnow, if you—”
“Rogozinwillbite,” Charlotte cut in. “I have proof one of his most trusted advisors is conspiring with my uncle—a longtime Rogozin associate—to double-cross him. And I’d be going in as an emissary to the vampire king, offering him the deal of a lifetime on the blade and a seat on the supernatural council. There’s no way he’ll refuse to see me.”
“I’m not worried about him refusing the invitation,” Dorian said. “I’m worried about him picking up where he left off when you were a child.”
“That wasn’t Rogozin. Those men were humans, or I’d already be dead. Besides, apparently I’m some kind of hell-bride for his precious raven king, remember? Isabelle said Rogozin’s demons won’t touch me.”
“She’s right, Dorian,” Isabelle said. “I understand your concern, but I’m with Charlotte on this one.”
“Charlotte…” he breathed, his heart already seizing with untold worries, but he feared he’d already lost the argument. He felt the shift in the energy—a sense of new hope rising among them, where moments earlier there had only been despair.
Even Gabriel seemed to be thawing out again, quietly nursing his drink in the corner of the room.
Dorian closed his eyes and sighed.
It was a terrible idea. The worst.
