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Veronica shrugs. “The Vatican had an agreement with Lucan. It fed his addiction, and The Vatican got paid. Lucan never took money for his dealings, though, and the leader of The Vatican got the one thing they wanted. Power.”
I think over everything she has told me. “You’ve taken over what he did since he died.”
She nods slowly. “But worse.”
“How so?” I snarl, baring my teeth.
She opens her mouth. “I run The Vatican, too. Always have.”
I’ve peaked. Tapping out. I’m done playing this fucking game. “I knew you were full of shit with this cursed shit,” I snap, dropping down to her eye level. “See, I knew everything.”
She pauses but doesn’t offer a fleck of unease at the way I’m moving fluidly without restraint. Good. “I knew you ran The Vatican. I found out the night you tried to say Saint was my sister.” She opens her mouth, but I raise my hand to silence her. “I knew she wasn’t my sister all along. You think I’m stupid? Or even worse, your lack of education when it comes to The Elite Kings is even more humorous than I could give you credit for. I admit, watching this fucker put his hands all over Saint, and having to play along with the brother act was one of the worst fucking things I’ve gone through, but Veronica?” I reach for the knife that’s in my pocket and unclip it. Her eyes fly around the room now. I lower my voice. “Ah, I see it. Now you’re scared, right? Have you finally figured it out?”
Her brows curve in, shading her eyes. I rest the blade in my hand. “This has always been our game, and you played right into our riddle.” I hear the footsteps behind and don’t have to turn over my shoulder to know who are all behind me.
Veronica shakes her head. “No. Impossible. You can’t have known. No way. My plan was flawless! Confusion and knots that not even you could untie!”
I chuckle, running my tongue over the front of my teeth. “You underestimated us, and that—” I flick the knife around my fingers before sinking the tip into her knee cap. She cries out a scream that has a direct line to my fucking insanity. “—was your biggest mistake. Now it’s my turn to talk. I trusted you, yeah. I trusted you when you told me all of my life that you ran a halfway house for children that didn’t have a home. Hell, I even believed every single fucking time you told me that you were nothing like my father. That you were pure, good, too good to be around him, which was why you left him. You said you knew you couldn’t take me away from him, and I believed that. I believed all that shit for most of my life. That I will give you. Because, make no mistake, there’s no way you would have come near Saint had I known.” She pants desperately as I yank the blade out of her. “Now to fast-forward, before you came to the house, spewing the bullshit about Saint being my sister, we were tipped off.” I turn over my shoulder and flick my blade to Samael. I bring the tip to the edge of her jaw. Exactly like mine, only smaller. “We all knew of the lies.” I lean down to her ear and whisper, “Saint included.”
Veronica shakes her head. “She didn’t. I would have known.”
I run the pointed tip over the curve of her jaw. She wriggles backward and forward, sweat dripping down the side of her neck. “Because of your gifts? You’ve been living in your bullshit little world of covens, witches, and Elders for so long, you actually believe the shit you talk.” She screams once I get to the end of her chin. Blood trickles down her neck. “Just off subject.” I tilt my head. “Have I ever mentioned to you that I know exactly how to make someone bleed out without killing them?” I smirk.
“Oh, come on,” Samael grunts in the background.
“There’s an art to it. You just—” I lean beneath her chin to see the parting between her skin and her muscle. “Have to make sure you don’t cut too deep. Back to my storytelling…” I stop my cutting, standing straight. “We all knew she wasn’t your daughter, but with her own stubbornness, and with the argument of Samael being in The Coven, she said she would be safe. Learn what you were planning. Stay close to you. Fuck, I was mad about this. I think I almost lost all of my control and dragged her back by her hair. Lucky for you, I prefer her hair on her head, where I can grab hold of it.” I glide the knife up to Veronica’s cheek. “The Kings are always three steps ahead of everyone. Remember that when you’re reunited with Lucan.”
