Page 53 of Reign

There has to be something here to prove to Callie that the Nobles can be saved. A document, a hidden relic from the founders, anything to showcase their lack of support in Sabine’s disgusting plans, or failing that, my ability to turn them around, even while they’re still under my father’s guidance.

Callie says—my sister proves—certain Noble alumni are signing forbidden agreements with Sabine to take advantage of Virtues enrolled at Briarcliff Academy. If I can find those men, kick their asses out and hell, provide their names to Callie’s NYPD detective, I can begin the cleansing process.

But if Father is part of those men? Not necessarily partaking in underage girls, but sanctioning it?

I step into the panic room, scanning the sterile area and the wall of gray cabinets, resembling more of a morgue than a Noble King’s workspace.

… then I’ll kick his ass out, too, and start my kingship early.

That has to be enough to convince Callie to leave us alone. Her focus can remain on dethroning Sabine. Then she can do whatever the fuck she wants with the Virtue society.

Something chews on the back of my mind as I pull open the nearest drawer, flicking through folders with the expertise of a person who’s been locked in here and forced to study Noble rites and rituals for almost a decade.

Why is Sabine allowing Callie to get this far?

It doesn’t sit easy with me. I’m in my father’s study to sift through all known documents and records of the Nobles, pulling out folder after folder of members, adherence rules, rituals, prohibitions, but it’s only now coming to light just how little I’ve learned of the Virtues.

Was it deliberate? It’s unclear what my father was taught, and his grandfather before him, though it makes sense that I learned the same.

Casting through my memories, I touch upon the Virtues’ origins. Rose Briar created them soon after her husband established the Nobles in an effort to educate women and provide them with benefits befitting a privileged woman at the time. Education, a perfect marriage match, a lifetime of wealth. When Rose committed suicide, Thorne Briar allowed the Virtues to continue under the auspices that they would always be second to the Nobles and, if ever overridden, to capitulate to the mens’ demands. That was about the time the Harringtons took over.

Add in my self-imposed research of the Virtues and…

Sabine Moriarty became pregnant and married Paul Harrington not for wealth, as she didn’t need it, or education, as she was already on track for Harvard, but to inherit the presumptive Harrington throne in the Virtues.

Paul didn’t have any sisters. He was an only child. His mother—what was her name? Prudence, yes. The Virtue queen, Prudence Harrington, was expected to hold the throne until Paul had daughters, otherwise—

Otherwise….

Frowning, I turn back to the files. What would’ve happened if Prudence Harrington died before Paul had any daughters, if he had any at all? That kind of loophole practically begs for a more cunning, opportune Virtue to step in.

Piper did say her grandmother and Sabine were close. Like true mother and daughter. I wonder if that relationship prospered before Paul came into the picture, and how much Prudence supported Sabine not only getting pregnant but marrying her son.

That would take away any fears of losing the throne to a…

I frown again. To a what? A challenger?

My mind fires on all cylinders and I flick through the files faster, desperation coating my fingertips. Incident reports, initiation prospects, background checks—all related to the Nobles.

Where are the Virtues? Is there anything in the Virtue handbook about challenges to the queen?

My hands freeze. I straighten, my stare boring into the opposite wall.

Fuck, how about challenges to the king? In all this time, since the Nobles and Virtues’ inception, there’s never been a Challenger. Thorne passed, and he bequeathed the society to his brother, Theodore. Theodore died, and without heirs or any remaining brothers, he performed the rite to pass it on to his best friend, my great-great-grandfather, Montague Stone.

It’s been carte blanche ever since. No ripples, no waves, no angry rebellions…

Until Callie.

The last time I was in here, Callie and I discovered a hidden birth certificate of a child born to Rose Briar. Beside that single piece of paper were decades old records of Virtuous members. But besides that, there is nothing in here on the Virtues.

Growling, I slap the tops of the files and step back. How could I not see it before? I could search through every folder in this place and come up with the same questions I did when I broke in here.

A deliberate veil covers the Virtues, and I’m pretty fucking sure it’s been in place since the first Harrington.

“What are you doing in here, boy?”

I don’t jump. Any jolt of surprise I feel is pushed down into the dark place I reserve specifically for my father.

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