Page 127 of Fallen Court

“And me,” Baptiste added. “You killed a vampire elder. The punishment for that treason is death.”

His head drooped at her words, and he fell silent again.

Baptiste produced a wooden stake from her apron pocket, and my chest tightened. He deserved worse, but he had confessed. She gripped it tightly and leveled the point at Caleb’s heart.

“Tell him everything,” she commanded, her voice as sharp as its point.

Caleb’s hateful gaze flicked from me to the stake, a flicker of fear in his eyes. Then he began to talk, the confession spilling out of him like poison.

“No one would listen at the meetings. They wanted to help you, bring you back here even when the bona fides spell was clearly draining our magic. When Thalia suggested it, I nearly killed her in front of everyone. But then others agreed with her and the spell was cast. You came home, and they congratulated themselves. And those of us who disagreed were ordered to shut the fuck up.”

Baptiste hissed, but a twisted smirk pulled at Caleb’s mouth. “Even you,” he added, the words dripping with disdain. He glanced at me. “She’d probably blow you if you asked her to.”

She snarled, shoving the stake forward a fraction of an inch. Blood blossomed on the front of his shirt. “Give me a reason.”

But he continued to grin. “I decided to send a message. I wanted everyone to see the true price of their loyalty. We weren’t loyal. We were dogs waiting for our next command. You wouldn’t protect us, help us. I wanted them to see that.” He shook his head. “But you made sure that no one got that message, so I sent another one. I thought the police would find the human first—that you wouldn’t be able to cover it up. But our kind would know when they saw that memento mori.” He chuckled softly despite the blood oozing down his shirt. “I didn’t expect you to care about the humans—you used to treat them like cattle. But you found that one first, too. So I had no choice. Thalia was clever, but she was a nobody. The tourist should have made the papers. But none of you could ignore the murder of a member of the Vampire Council.”

Rage smoldered under my skin with each word, my muscles coiled tight with the effort of holding back.

“You’re weak, Gage. Soft.” Caleb sneered up at me, baring his fangs. “You don’t deserve to lead us. You never did.”

The last threads of my control snapped. I lunged forward, wrapping a hand around Caleb’s throat. Metal crunched as I slammed his body against the dumpster. “And you don’t deserve to live.”

Caleb just laughed, the sound as harsh and ugly as the loathing etched onto his face.

Baptiste stepped up beside me, pressing the stake into my free hand. Her fingers curled around mine, forcing them to grip the worn wood.

She leaned in. “He’s right about one thing. He’s not the only one who feels this way. There are others who think they can defy you, question your authority.” Her smile was sharp and ruthless. “You need to send a message. Show them what happens when they cross you. Show them why they answer to the Nether Court.”

I stared down at him, stared at the bloodstained stake in my hands, stared at the man who had killed my father’s oldest friend, and found no mercy in my heart. “Any last words?”

Caleb met my gaze, eyes burning. “Go to hell.”

I smiled. “You first.”

I plunged the stake into Caleb’s chest, ribs splintering and crunching from the impact. His eyes flew wide, filling with shock and agony as it pierced his heart. A choked gargle escaped his lips, followed by a trickle of blood as he turned ashen, cracks spiderwebbing across his face.

And then he was gone.

He deserved worse.

I wrenched the stake free, letting Caleb’s lifeless body slump to the ground. Disgust roiled through me, bitter on my tongue, and I turned away, unable to look at him a moment longer. The stake clattered to my feet.

Baptiste stared at the body before swallowing. “At least that’s done.”

“You liked him,” I said through gritted teeth, daring her to lie to me.

“I did,” she admitted, tipping her chin. “But he disappointed me, and we can’t have that.”

Sentimentality had never been one of her weaknesses. Étienne might be gone, but maybe I still had an ally in his coven.

She nodded toward the kitchen door, her expression unreadable. “I’ll have someone take care of the body before we open for dinner.”

I followed her back inside, each step mechanical. The anger that had consumed me only moments before was fading, leaving behind a hollowness in its wake.

Caleb might have betrayed me, but that didn’t mean he was entirely wrong. Baptiste had sided with me because she had no choice. But even she had to see there was some truth to why he had acted. The city had sacrificed to protect me, and I had led those people to slaughter.

As the door swung shut behind us, I felt something in me crack, the numbness giving way to a grief so sharp it stole my breath. Baptiste continued to the cutting board, resuming where she had left off like nothing had happened. But I braced my hands against the counter, my head bowing under the weight of it.