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“No argument from me,” said his brother.
Both men looked at me. I contemplated leaving Philippe Moreau to rot in a cell, in agony but unable to die because of his magic. Vampires had survived in similar situations for centuries. It was tempting, but I shook my head. De Froulay probably wouldn’t agree to it anyway, but that wasn’t my main reason for saying no.
“I just want this to be over. And I want to know he’s ashes with no chance of being set free.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Zaq said.
The time ticked by. De Froulay texted instructions to meet him at ten p.m. at his mansion. We’d drive together to Moreau’s lair, where we’d all enter—Leo and I openly, the Kral brothers in the shadows.
We got dressed. I checked my blades again. Rolled my head from side to side, shook out my arms.
And then it was time to leave.
36
ZAQ
We took a silver Rolls Royce to Philippe Moreau’s lair. Ridley sat next to me, and Gabriel and Leo de Froulay took the seats opposite us.
Ridley’s sire hadn’t changed since the last time I’d last seen him ten years ago. Same long blond hair, same stunning face, same lean, sinewy body. Except for the fact that he was grim-faced, quiet. I remembered him as charming, larger-than-life—a silent-film version of a vampire—but tonight he was subdued.
At one point he gave Ridley a look of naked yearning, and I realized he wanted to claim her as his. Very much.
She didn’t see it; she was staring the window.
I took her hand and interlaced my fingers in hers. De Froulay glanced from our intertwined hands to my face, and I knew he got the message.
Maybe Ridley would let him acknowledge her as his spawn, and maybe she wouldn’t. But she was my mate, first and foremost, and whatever she decided, I was part of the equation.
Gabriel shifted his body so he was looking at de Froulay. “So,” he said, “I’m still wondering how Moreau came to be involved in this. Other than the fact that he was Prima Victorine’s sire, that is.”
De Froulay pursed his lips. “Here’s what I’ve discovered so far. Philippe knew Karoly Kral was pushing SI too hard, and he and Victorine came up with a plan to hire SI to take out the Krals. Meanwhile, Tomas Mraz somehow heard about it and got involved. He was on board with the plot to kill the Kral brothers, but not Karoly.”
Gabriel nodded. “Mraz said something like that to my father.”
“Whether or not Karoly died,” de Froulay added, “wasn’t important to Philippe. His ultimate goal was to point the blame at me, not Victorine, thereby forcing Karoly to come after me. And if Karoly had died before he had a chance to take revenge on me, Philippe would’ve made sure whoever succeeded him as primus would know I was responsible.”
“His mistake,” Ridley muttered.
Froulay glanced at her. “What do you mean?”
“You’re stronger and smarter than him. He couldn’t have won a fight against you.”
A pleased smile curved De Froulay’s mouth. “Thank you, my dear.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “It’s the truth. Honestly, I think he might be in the first stages of blood madness. The man’s not thinking clearly.”
“Then it’s time we put him out of his misery,” said de Froulay.
“And what about Ridley?” I asked. “He put the hit out on her because she’s your spawn?”
“Yes.” De Froulay’s eyes narrowed. “He’d been trying to kill her for years, but then he lost her when she went into the SI training program. He didn’t want to take a chance that she’d succeed me as my heir. He believed she was dead until she resurfaced as Reaper. He couldn’t risk staking her once she’d been embedded in his lair, but after she left with you...”
I ground my back teeth. “The man needs to die.”
“In that,” said de Froulay, “we are in complete agreement.”
We turned onto Moreau’s street. The limo stopped in front of his lair, and the driver got out and opened the door for us. De Froulay got out first.
