Page 34 of Dirty Little Saint

And with that, Laurent and his initiates are gone, leaving us in a state of disarray and self-loathing.

A nagging twinge of dread twists in my gut. A thought that hadn’t crossed my mind until now. “What if the curse started long before Silas killed Jessamine?”

Val looks at me for the first time since his father arrived. “What are you talking about, Maur?”

I swallow hard, my mind racing. “There’s something your fathers aren’t telling us. You think they’d be happy we broke the curse. But they seem terrified.”

Riot stalks over to the bar and pours himself a whiskey. “They’re just pissed we did it without their permission. They’re so greedy, they want their hands in everything.”

I shake my head. He’s not getting it. “I think there’s more to it. They really don’t want us to leave Raven’s Gate.”

Atlas runs a hand through his blond hair, slicking it back with his sweaty palm. “Maybe they don’t want us to go to Ever Graves.”

“But why? What don’t they want us to find out?” I’ve been on the precipice of something big. Something important. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until now.

Riot’s face pales. “The curse isn’t real.”

Maureen

The only thing stronger than fear is hate. When you loathe someone so much, you don’t care what they’ll do to you as long as you can hurt them first. And if Laurent Erebus hates Val half as much as his son hates him, then it should come as no surprise that he’s been lying to us. That they all have.

“You’re saying that there was never a curse. Only a lie to keep us from leaving Raven’s Gate? That’s insane,” Val quips.

It sounds even more insane saying it out loud. But it tracks.

I twist my hair up into a top-knot and fan the back of my neck. “Is it? My family ran Riot’s out of Ever Graves when Silas got Jessamine killed. Except she didn’t follow him to the After. They got separated… or she got stuck. Whatever. She was controlling the ravens before I came along. Until I joined Nocturnus.”

“Why would our families make up a lie like that? For what purpose?” Atlas leans forward, his interest piqued.

I pace around the room, my pulse racing. “Fear? Greed? Who knows… But there must have been something in it for them. Nocturnus didn’t exist before the feud. It was born from it. Your families worship the ravens and give sacrifices, and in return, they give you power. But where does that power come from?”

Riot places his hands firmly on my shoulders. “Do you hear how ridiculous this all sounds, Maur?”

I shrug him off. “You’ve never even been to Ever Graves, Riot. None of you have. The three of you were born here in Raven’s Gate after the Thorns and Erebuses sided with the Graves. You’ve said it yourselves. Tenebrose was built on hallowed ground. I think they made a pact, not a curse.”

Valentin balls his fists at his sides, the rage building inside him. “So our ancestors discovered a secret, and in order to protect it, they made up a lie to keep any of us from leaving. Is that what you’re saying, Maur?”

The new sigil on my neck crackles, stinging the flesh that surrounds it. I pause in my tracks and breathe through it. I’m more confused than ever, but I’m so close to figuring it all out. I can almost taste it. “I think so. I don’t know…”

Riot flexes his jaw after taking a long sip of whiskey. “They have their secrets. I’m sure of it.”

“Maybe they created a fake curse to keep the Blackwells out and you in… Until I came along and ruined it. And your fathers think I’m the fucking devil. I think this has more to do with them not wanting me to control the ravens.”

Riot looks down at the floor. “Fucking bastards.”

Atlas lines up rows of poison vials on the coffee table. “They’re afraid of you, Maur. Afraid you’re going to steal it all from them. That’s what last night was really about. The ritual, the punishment for Zeke—it wasn’t initiation—it was an effort to make you submissive.”

Riot looks up, his eyes glowing. “You’re the dark queen on this psychotic chessboard.”

“Afraid of me? I’m just a hot mess from a small town. The Blackwells might be scary, but I’m nothing like them.” I find it hard to believe that little old me could strike fear into the heart of someone like Holden Graves or Laurent Erebus.

Riot dusts his fingers across the sigil on my neck. “You’ve killed two men in cold blood, Maur. Maybe you’re more of a Blackwell than you thought.”

A wave of chills dance on the surface of my skin. I don’t want to think about either of those nights. “It was self-defense,” I whisper.

“Was it?” Valentin crosses the room and takes my face in his hands. “You and Bailey planned to kill Chad and Billy that night in Wickford Hollow. And Zeke… we were going to do it, but you flew past us with the knife.” He brushes his thumb against my lips. “Don’t fight that part of you, Maur. It’s one of the things I admire most.”

Was he right?

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