Page 92 of Vows of Ruin

His other hand reaches across the console, resting gently on my thigh. Warm and Solid. “Sparrow,” he says quietly. “What do you want to do with it?”

I drag my eyes from the envelope, meeting his. “Let’s go home. Everyone should be there when this thing blows up.”

He nods once, already shifting gears. “Yeah. Home it is.”

He pulls his phone from his pocket and hits Reaper’s contact as he steers with one hand. It only rings once.

“Reaper,” he says. “We’ve got incoming. Another note.”

A pause, his eyes flick to me. Whatever Liam says, it makes his shoulders drop a fraction.

“She’s fine,” Max answers. “She wants everyone there when she opens it.”

Another pause. “Yeah. We’ll be there in fifteen.”

He ends the call, tossing the phone onto the dashboard, and presses harder on the gas. I sit there, trying to breathe like everything isn’t unraveling inside my chest. The city melts into the open road, and still I can’t stop staring at that goddamn seal.

He said it’s time. Time for what? The fucking house of horrors he’s been building in the shadows? Time for him to crawl back into my life like he never left? My brother doesn’t do accidents. Every move he makes is a trigger waiting to be pulled.

Max reaches over again, squeezing my leg just above the knee. “Hey,” he murmurs. “You’re not alone in this. Never.”

I nod, but I can’t trust my voice enough to speak. The drive feels too long and too short all at once. When we finally pull through the gates, the mansion rises ahead, sunlight gleaming off the windows, serene and silent like it doesn’t know what’s coming.

Inside, I drop the envelope on the coffee table and sit on the edge of the couch. My hands clasped so tight my knuckles ache.

Liam’s the first one in. He crosses the room without a word and sits beside me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “You okay?” he asks softly.

I give him a small, tight smile. “I’m okay.”

His hand finds mine, fingers interlocking, grounding me. The others file in one by one. Torque, Wrecker, Elias, Margot, Riot. They take their places around the room, the familiar orbit forming like instinct.

I look down at the envelope again, the seal gleaming in the light. The weight of every past note presses in at once, the threats, the riddles, the taunts. Each one was a step closer to this.

“Okay,” I say, exhaling slowly. “Let’s see what my psycho brother wants now.”

Liam’s hand tightens around mine. Max stands just behind the couch, silent, eyes on the letter. I reach for the envelope. Everyone in the room holds their breath.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Reaper

The room is silent when she breaks the seal. The wax cracks, sharp as a gunshot. The paper unfolds in her hands, heavy cream cardstock, Sebastian’s kind of luxury, taunting by design. Wrenley stares at it a moment too long before she starts to read.

Sister,

Every queen feeds her throne with blood, but you forgot that it isn’t yours anymore.

The serpent eats what it loves to become what it fears.

When it’s finished, I’ll be waiting where it ends.

--S.

The words hang in the air like smoke, faintly sweet and toxic all the same.

Torque breaks first. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Riot leans forward, elbows braced on his knees. “The serpent eats what it loves… is he talking about us?”