Page 40 of Reign

I shake my head, eyeing her warily as she goes back to the overboiling pot and turns down the dial.

“Then you’re right. You’re not one of them, yet. However, if they’ve…” she gestures to my phone dangling in my hand. “It’s clearly still in their plans to accept you.”

I’m desperate to get through to her and end up deploying the last weapon in my arsenal. “Ahmar’s looking into them. If he finds any proof of their history of trafficking, bribery, lies and murder—”

“Oh, honey, Ahmar will be blocked at every turn. And if you keep pushing him, he will be the only one that loses. You can’t tell me part of you doesn’t know that.”

Lynda lifts the pot from the stove—there’s no way that milk isn’t burned—and pours the brown liquid into the two mugs. Once finished, she carries them over to me at the opposite counter.

“It’s in his best interest for you to stop feeding him information,” she says as she hands me a steaming mug.

I stare at her in horror. “Who’s side are you on?”

“The one that’s gotten me through decades of living untouched by them,” Lynda says sharply. “Now, go on. Drink.”

I do, wincing as the scalded liquid hits my tongue.

A faint squeal carries down the hallway. Lynda jerks her chin to the sound, tilting her head. “Damn. Blair’s up again. You should get some sleep, Cal. We have a big day tomorrow, now that we also get to celebrate your first semester at Briarcliff.” She beams, then sets down the mug. “I’m not lying when I say we’re so proud of you. You’re so strong and you’re doing great.”

Lynda kisses my cheek, her lips cold despite her recent sip of hot chocolate. She sweeps out of the room, dimming the lights as she goes, until I’m left in a room of shadows.

I sag into a stool, staring into nothing.

It was such a stupid idea, thinking I could be happy with Dad and Lynda, that I belonged and had their love. The Virtues will never let me. They’ve seeped into Lynda’s soul, altering her and poisoning her to levels where she can’t see clearly enough to know she’s tearing me apart with her wish for me to just fall in line with them.

But, perhaps it’s the only way. As a Virtue, I’ll gain power. I can claim the status of the Missing Heir.

It could give me the leverage I need to cut Sabine down with the very knife used on Ivy. A blade that could’ve been used on my mother, too.

The only people who ever loved me are dead. Anyone alive pretends to care about me to serve themselves.

Glimpsing Sylvie’s new life was nice while it lasted.

I know my place now.

The only way to end the Virtues…

Is to finish becoming one.

15

Chase

No music plays.

The clink of silverware and Tempest’s loud sips of wine are the sole distractions in this expansive, grand, stifling dining room.

Nobody has even decorated it for Christmas, never mind Christmas Eve dinner.

Emma and I were largely forced to my father and Sabine’s penthouse in Manhattan through fear of impending doom. The happy couple was supposed to be bound for the tropics, but instead changed their plans last minute to attend all the Christmas parties the Manhattan elite offered, leaving me extremely suspicious of their motives. With Callie too close to Sabine for comfort, I cajoled Emma to come with me to the empty luxury of the five-bedroom apartment instead of to our mother’s in California. I guilted my sister, manipulated her, and told her that if something happened to Callie in the city, she’d never forgive herself.

I didn’t give much thought that this would be the first time Emma sat to dinner with the woman who auctioned her off then tried to burn her alive when she rebelled. The most I offered was to bring Tempest along for the ride, since he never has family around the holidays.

I can be a rat bastard, especially after having trash thrown at my face, but now that we’re here, my plan borders on fucking dumb.

My knife screeches against the priceless, gold-embossed plate as I cut into my steak.

“Problem, dearest?”

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