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When I’m done picking at my food, I push my chair back. Nero and Constantine stand as well, and they both shake my hand again. “Leave the Saturnalia feast to me.” Nero holds my fingers in his longer than necessary. “I’ll make you the belle of the monster ball.”
With legs trembling beneath my purple gown, I step over the bloodstain in the doorway into the dim corridor. Noah, Eli, and Gabriel crowd around me as we make our exit. This time, no guards bar our way. Outside, we walk quickly across the street to the car and get inside. Noah’s fingers drum on the wheel. I glare at him, and he starts the engine. No one speaks.
We’re climbing through Harrington Hills before Gabriel breaks the silence. “So what happens now?”
“There’s a ceremony in two night’s time where they induct me as an Imperator, and then I take over the family business.” I swallow. “And I guess I’ll need to buy a wedding dress.”
Eli presses his fists into his eyes. “Claws, you can’t marry them.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I keep my voice calm, shoving my hands under my ass so they can’t see them tremble. “I’m a Queen now. Even if I’m theirs in name, I can still be with the three of you.”
“But you can’t marry them.” Gabriel’s fingers tangle in my hair.
“I don’t have a choice. I had to walk out of that room as Imperator, or we would’ve all come out in body bags.”
“But you can’t marry them.” Noah’s eyes are dark as death.
Weirdly, it’s Noah who breaks me. That crack in his voice where I’ve chinked his armor is more than I can bear.
Bile stings my tongue.
I hate Nero.
I hate Constantine.
I hate myself.
I jab at the button to lower the window. I lean my head out and throw up. All that rich food dribbles down the side of the car. My stomach heaves, empty now but desperate to wring out every last memory of what went down inside that room.
I don’t want this.
I think about standing beside them at an altar, about Nero lifting my veil and planting his fat, wet lips on mine, of Constantine’s cruel eyes as he drags me up to our honeymoon suite. My stomach cramps with fresh bile.
“We can fix this.” Eli’s fingers rub circles on my back. “We’ve got time, right? They can’t marry you right away. Nero’s still engaged to my mother; he’ll have to sort that out. We’ll find a way out of this.”
That’s Eli, still trying to protect me. I swallow again and again.
He can’t get me out of this. I’ve secured Antony’s freedom by making myself a slave. I knew there would be a price. I just never expected it to be my body.
We take the long way back to Harrington Hills, along the beach. Out the window, Emerald Beach zooms by. Noah drives along the beachfront, and the towering boardwalk rides loom over us, menacing with their garish lights and spinning colors. Behind the boardwalk, the tumbling waters of the Pacific beat against the shore. All around us, the city sprawls across the hills – an endless expanse of concrete and steel and people like fleas in a circus. Out there, beneath all the sparkle and glamour, my empire lurks, waiting for me to claim what’s mine. I may be tied to Nero and Constantine, but they’ll never own me.
This is their power play, their way of hobbling me, the way Brutus was hobbled by his own betrayal. Well, I won’t bow to them. I will rebuild my father’s legacy, and when my fellow Imperators least suspect it, I’ll come after everything they hold dear.
I’m not the only one with leverage.
When we pull up at Malloy Manor, a new determination grips my heart with an icy fist. I thought taking the August empire would give me freedom. But now I see I can’t hold that freedom for myself or anyone I love until I control the whole damn city. Nero and Constantine force my hand.
I stare up at the house that’s been my home and my prison since Brutus killed my parents. Mackenzie Malloy is moving up in the world.
We drive into the tunnel. I’d barely stepped out of the car when Tiberius’ vehicle screams up beside me. Antony leaps out, grabs my arm, and hauls me against the side of the car.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Antony yells.
“I could ask you the same question,” I shoot back.
His jaw works. He looks like there are all sorts of vile things he wants to spit back at me, but I have him. We both know he went there to claim the family business for himself. He lied to me. My actions won’t erase that.
Antony’s fingers curl into a fist. His whole body trembles. For a moment… a fleeting moment… I see something evil in his eyes. I think he might actually take that swing at me. Then he drops my collar and jerks himself away. He clutches his head in his hands and bellows, kicking the door of Tiberius’ Mercedes.
