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“Your father and I have been waiting for this day for a long time, Halen. I have to admit…” She rolls her eyes. “If anyone had asked me when I was at high school if this was the life I wouldlike for my children, I would have shot them on sight.” Her lip twitches into a smirk. “But it occurred to me that that in itself is why I would never be satisfied with a prosaic life.”
She pauses, her hand settling on my arm. “I need you to know that from now on, all of you are going to find yourselves in situations where you might think you’ve got no way out.” The corners of her eyes soften, but her mouth flattens. “But you always do, Halen. You’re more like your father than you are me, that’s for sure.”
She blinks back the tears I can see forming in her eyes.
“Mom…” My heart sinks. I hate seeing her upset, because she never is. She’s the toughest woman I know, and I know this because she married my dad.
She winces. “Go up. I’ll be right behind you.” She stops for a moment, holding my eyes. My stomach twists like she’s the one holding it. “I need you to take what I’m about to show you with a softness you only share within the family. And by family—" She reaches out to touch my cheek and my eyes close. “—I mean theentirefamily. Incest aside…”
“Mom!’ My eyes widen, choking on my laugh.
She wiggles her brows at me. “Go. I’m right behind you.” I don’t know what kind of secrets I’m about to walk myself into, and in the back of my mind, I wonder why she had to do it right now. Before the ritual.
But I take the first step anyway.
The door closes as Mom follows behind, and we get blanketed in darkness, tiny specks of LED lights creeping over the rail to guide the way. It doesn’t take long to reach the top, and after a few moments, my feet hit the final step.
I turn to her. “You know, you’re going to have to repaint my face because I didn’t sign up for a workout today.”
Her laughter echoes as she passes me, and my eyes fly to where she grips the handle to the door. “You’ll be wearing your Calvaria anyway.”
We’re both around the same height now, and she makes it her mission to tease me about getting her height when Priest clearly inherited Dad’s. “If you’re worried that I’m going to run, I’m not, Mom. I’m going to stand here and fight for our family until my very last breath. I love you, but nothing you can show me will scare me away from this life.”
Her mouth parts, her face frozen.Literally.Without another word, she pushes the door open.
Air leaves my lungs as static prickles down my spine, leaving a plethora of fear in its wake.
The concrete walls match the ceiling in starless radiance, but it’s the fluorescence of scribbles that steal my breath. A single wingback chair sits lonely at the center, sewn with satin black suede and gold curvatures. Paired with a neat ebony table where a bottle of Louis XIII Black Pearl, it’s spine-tingling how morbidly elegant the room is.
As soon as I see the label, I know who occupies the space. I’d know even if it didn’t, since every breath you take in here leaves the venom of Priest D’mon Hayes behind.
“At least he didn’t steal Dad’s Henri IV Dudognon Heritage this time.”
No—just an easy sixty-five-thousand-dollar limited edition bottle of cognac. When I say limited, I mean Priest bought all of them. He doesn’t share withanyone.It’s his whole personality at this point.
Mom steps inside farther, tracing the writing on the walls. She drags her finger over one of the names.
Dylan.
I blink back to my mother. “Did you bring me in here to ask me to save him, Mom? Because I can’t. No one can.” I wrap myarms around myself when the temperature drops. I don’t know if it’s from the inverter or just because he who occupies it is the Devil, but it’s cold. Soulless. It’s what I’d imagine death to feel like right before it takes you.
“No. I know.” Her body shifts to mine, her head shaking gently. “I brought you here so that you’d understand that your brother may lead this generation, but you will be the one to keep it in line. We love you all equally, but we also know that out of the six, it’s you who has the most humanity. You may be like your father, but you have a heart of your own.” She smiles, but it’s not a happy one. “You hold yourself to a caliber where you try to do good.”
I wince, my gut laden with guilt. “I killed someone the other night.”
Oh God. I can’t believe I’m telling her this, but I need her to know that I’m not the angel she thinks I am.
She brushes off my confession nonchalantly. “And how did that make you feel?”
I reach inside of myself to comb through the sensations of that night. “It felt like he deserved it.”
She smiles once more, this time wide enough to reach her eyes. “And that is exactly what I mean. Your decisions are powered by logic. The rest of them, with the exception of War, can be callous.”
She wanders over to the chair, lowering herself down and swiping the bottle of brandy. “When I met your father, it was during a different time. Swans were forbidden, and your pop was still carrying on the traditions of the Old Kings. The original Founding Fathers.” She twists the cap off. “They kept a lot of secrets from us during this time. Kept us in the dark. I rest knowing that this won’t happen to you.”
“So why did you show me this?”
She swallows a shot of Priest’s forbidden love, swiping her mouth with the cushion of her thumb to hide her smugness.
