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“But…” I prod.
“But… this is the first time he’s contacted me since they disowned me. It can’t be for any good reason. I don’t like to think about what he’ll do if I disobey.”
“What if I came with you?”
“I don’t know.” Gabriel knits his fingers in mine. “My parents are vicious. I’d be throwing you to the lions.”
“I’ve got claws of my own. I’ll be fine.” I pat his leg. “We’ll go together, okay? After things calm down here and I know Eli is safe, you can whisk me away to your castle. And maybe introduce me to that English ale. I’m dying to know what all the fuss is about.”
Gabriel and I spend all evening and night in his room getting reacquainted. Around 2AM he collapses, his body spent, his arms wrapped around me as he snores adorably in my ear. I stare at the wall, unable to sleep, my mind buzzing with everything that’s going on.
The walls of the room bend in toward me, and the darkness swirls and twists and becomes the dark of nightmares – the dark of a silk-lined coffin and stifling air and rising panic clawing at my throat. I fight against the memory, but it’s too much, and I know I won’t be going to sleep any time soon. I slip out from beneath Gabriel. Queen Boudica is curled at the foot of the bed, pressed up hard against him, sapping his body warmth for her contentment as a true queen should.
I pull on his oversized Octavia’s Ruin hoodie, holding the collar over my face to breathe his scent in deep. I pad down to the media room, where I choose a horror film, make some popcorn, and stare at the screen without seeing anything until Antony returns from the Colosseum at 3:30AM. He must see the lights on because he appears at the doorway, looking like shit. He tosses his suit jacket over the arm of a chair and flops down beside me, digging his hand into my almost-empty popcorn bowl. There are bags under his eyes and he smells like blood and desperation.
“Rough night?”
Antony loosens his tie. There’s a lipstick stain on his collar – a glittering shade of pink that could have been pulled from Mackenzie’s makeup bag. “There was trouble tonight. A couple of fights broke out.”
“I thought that was the whole point?”
Antony smiles, but it’s weak. He really does look tired. “These weren’t fighters. A bunch of Lucian higher-ups came tonight to talk shop in the VIP area. They took exception to Brutus’ soldiers being there. Relations between the families were already strained because of the changes Brutus was making, but now that his empire may be up for grabs, things are escalating.”
I roll over to face him. I want him to see that I’m giving him an opening to start to repair our trust. “You never tell me about what’s going on with the families. What’s Brutus been doing? What are these changes?”
“You know his beef with Uncle Julian was over wanting to expand into other markets – skin, organs, harder drugs, that kind of thing?” Antony asks. I nod, happy he’s talking. “Julian didn’t want to touch that stuff, but Brutus had a lot of support within the ranks. There’s a lot of money to be made, and money makes people shift loyalties. That’s the only reason Brutus was able to take over the way he did and keep himself alive despite being an accursed man – and why Dio and Lucian allowed him to become the new Imperator, even though he broke every law in our code.”
“And now?”
“And now the August empire is bigger and more lucrative than ever, but it’s been disintegrating around Brutus for a long time.” Antony licks salt from his fingers. Queen Boudica peers around the door. She has her lap radar initiated, because she barrels across the room and launches herself into his arms. “The families may enjoy the money he brings in and the new markets he’s opened up, but they can’t trust him. Why would they? He murdered his own brother. They could replace him with someone they do trust, but why do that when they can just squeeze him out? After what Brutus did, there’s no clear line of succession. The Imperators plan to get rid of him and absorb the August family into their own empires.”
A seething rage burns in my veins as Antony’s words sink in. If Dio and Lucian succeed, our family will be obliterated. Everything my father and our ancestors fought to build will be destroyed. All because Brutus couldn’t stand being second fiddle to his older brother. For that, he broke the sacred ties of family. Et in morte fidelitas. I have my own reasons to hate the man, but now my father’s vengeance wraps around my heart and refuses to let go.
It’s an irrational desire. I’ve spent the last four years pretending I’m not Claudia August and trying to escape the legacy of our family. If the August family ceases to exist, Antony and I will be free.
The man who knows my face will die, and take my legacy with him.
Except… I wouldn’t be the one to do it.
And that’s unacceptable.
Daddy’s number one rule – your enemies must die looking you in the eye.
He’s taught me well.
I don’t expect Brutus to go down easy. He’ll be plotting his return in December. He knows what the Imperators are planning, and he’ll be ready to pull the rabbit out of his hat. All it takes is for him to blurt out my secret and everyone I love is in danger…
I can’t wait for him to be drawn out for Saturnalia, especially not with Nero cozying up to Eli. I need to move on Brutus now. My hands ball into fists.
I need to taste his blood.
Antony averts his eyes, and I know he’s holding something back, even as he says, “I believe this might be why Brutus has chosen to come for you now. Perhaps he’s known you survived for some time, or maybe he only figured it out when the story of Mackenzie Malloy’s return hit the news. Either way, he knows that if he has Julian August’s daughter under his power, he can regain control of the family. I think that’s why he got rid of Brentwood, to win you over.”
“Is that what he thinks?” I growl.
Queen Boudica digs her claws into my leg.
That man held me down, pushed my face into a pillow, whispered ‘baby girl’ in my ear. I thought he couldn’t take anything more from me, but then he took my parents, my name, my whole life.
