Page 113 of In Prey We Trust

Her voice is barely a whisper as she says, “Then look at the texts from the land near the Witch Trials. Nonna said it was an uprising that was covered up and the oldest books will have information on the group who squashed if you can find them.”

Holy shit, is this the Society we keep hearing about? Are they the ones who make sure magical folk don’t resurface?

When I straighten, I blink at the raccoon. “How do you know this?”

“I’ve been talking to many people on the preynet in my spare time, Dolly. I’m hoping to help you stay safe. If this is truly the moment that the fight is coming back, I’m afraid for you. Even the Captain is, because you are an anomaly in our world—prey born to preds—and that sort of thing is always a sign of things to come.”

“Why are you telling me now?” I frown. “Have you thought about this since last year?”

She shakes her head as we head into the underground. “No. When the campus got destroyed, I wondered, but it has been very difficult to get people to talk about the old days. If we’re discovered disputing the accepted history, they could wipe families out. So it’s taken me a while to catch even whispers of theories. When you asked me about the tunnels, I realized you definitely need to know before you go into underground spaces none of us are familiar with.”

Rubbing my hands over my face, I groan softly. How in the fuck am I caught up in some ancient battle all our ancestors started? It’s so fucking stupid, too. Why can’t shifters and magic folks live together? Sure, greed has to be part of it, and I don’t put it past any of the families on Aubrey’s list to be part of this to preserve their legacies. But seriously, it’s 2023. What backwards dumbass shit requires us to subjugate a bunch of races just to stay relevant?

Ugh. I swear to Aphrodite’s brassiere, I hate rich people shit.

“Dolly?”

The questions flying through my head stop when Raina says my name again and I look around. We’re at the library and I’ve been walking along in a damn trance. I look like a total spaz today. “Sorry. I was just lamenting all the problems a bunch of species-ist old money bags are causing. It seems like we should just let the wizards come out of hiding and take part.”

“Money is a great motivator, Dolly. Preds have been at the top for centuries now. Who knows how that balance would shift when they had true competition? It is very hard to change centuries of beliefs without bloodshed.”

That’s what I’m worried about.

Walls Could Talk

Felix

“Who is this woman? I’ve never heard of her, but she clearly feels superior enough to throw her weight around. Did you send her?”

I took this call in the stadium office since no one would be around on the Wednesday before the holiday. It’s only three p.m. here, but it’s near to midnight at Bloodstone. My father is known for his insomnia—a fact I used to make certain I’d get him when I reached out. As long as he wasn’t drunk and passed out or fucking some courtesan, I knew he’d answer if I waited out the court sycophants. But calling him from this location was also to keep him from speaking to Fitz or asking to meet our girl. I don’t need his bullshit, making everyone angry.

We have enough shit bothering us without adding the casual cruelty of the Raj.

“What do you mean, son? Who do you think I sent and why? I’m thousands of miles away.”

Rolling my eyes, I try to rein in my irritation. My father has always claimed you’re less than fifty feet from a Khan loyalist no matter where in the world you go. That’s likely an exaggeration, but it’s close to the truth. There are ambush enclaves everywhere because his businesses—both legitimate and illegitimate—are all over the world. He’s fond of infiltrating cities important to various leaders and crime syndicates, so he certainly has several locations in D.C. outside of the fights beneath Inky Depths.

“Your reach is felt much closer and you know it. Who is this Kamara Rakoto women positioned at Capital Prep? She’s a tiger and a rare one, so I’m not so foolish as to assume you didn’t place her here. What I want to know is, was it a normal strategic move or are you spying on me?”

His laugh is low, rumbling, and full of pleasure. “You can’t think I’d be stupid enough to reveal my spies to you, Felix. You’d tell Fitzgerald, just as you did when you were a cub, and he’ll tell that scraggly cheetah he drags around like a security blanket. I might as well broadcast it on the internet.”

I count to ten in my head, hoping to keep my temper in check. My father loves to play mind games and his disdain for Chess is one button he pushes to get a rise out of me. When we were small, he often got his way by having various flunkies threaten our adopted brother any time our grandmother did not protect him. No one ever said a word out loud, but they’d make it very clear how they were going to hurt him, and I knew it was my father flexing his muscles.

Fitz has no idea how close he came to ordering Chess killed to convince me to marry his choice of bride before my exile—and he never will.

“I’m not asking for you to reveal anything other than her allegiance, Father. She’s overreaching with her behavior and as your proxy, I need to address the way she’s drawing attention to herself. A normal professor would not thumb their nose at kings and heirs, even if they were exiled. It’s making people wonder.” My lips curve as I press one of his buttons. “You wouldn’t want people to think you cannot control our ambush, even those from far-flung enclaves.”

The brief pause before he responds tells me my shot hit the mark. “You gave up the right to question my orders when you chose that ridiculous girl over your intended. That’s why you’re stuck at those snooty schools in the first place, Felix. Unfortunately, your choices of late are as dubious as the ones in the past.”

Breathe, Felix. Don’t let him know insulting the Princess is going to get him killed.

“If I have no right to question the business of our family, then what concern of yours are my unfortunate escapades? It seems you are confused who I answer to—you, myself, or no one.”

“Felix Ivan Nestor Khan, I will not allow you to take that tone with your King!”

As if he gives a randy red fuck what I’m doing other to flex his power and spread misery to anyone he can. “Again, Father, if I’m no longer part of—”

“You will go back to the fight club tonight and prove your worth.” I can almost hear his salacious grin when he adds, “Bring your brothers and that girl you’ve had dripping off your arm. Her mother had an interesting proposal, and I’d like to see what happens if we consider it.”

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