Page 119 of In Prey We Trust

“What do you see, Felix?” I murmur as I edge closer to the front.

Aubrey puts his arm in front of me, holding me back. “There’s something in there, but it feels wrong. Let him investigate.”

It feels like I hold my breath forever as I wait for our royal leader to come back, but I know it’s not that long. When Felix emerges, his lips are quirked in amusement. “This is definitely the Kavarit area. Draconis, you and Holliday should work on this one. There are several… robot Sphinxes guarding three doors and they seem eager to play games.”

Blowing out a breath pf air as I roll my eyes to the ceiling, I groan. “What the fuck kind of National Treasure bullshit did these fuckers think they were doing? I feel like we’re excavating for Tutankhamen, not digging through sketchy business records and family archives.”

“Secret societies are basically cults, snack size. They operate the same way and use the same methods of keeping their members in line. Everything we find in these places could bring down some of the oldest, wealthiest, and most powerful lines in shifter society. Tradition dictates they use the same places their ancestors always have rather than update to more advanced security, especially since no one has ever found them before us.”

A thought skitters through my mind, and my eyes widen. “Except maybe we aren’t.”

“What do you mean, Baby Girl? This shit is locked down,” Fitz says, as he scratches his head. “None of the shit we’ve gone through looks tossed.”

“No, but think about this for a moment. Apex is the only school we know of where a student like me was told how to use the tunnels. I was only told by the prey staff because I’m prey and I attended there. The minute I started using them, weird shit started happening, culminating in everything getting blown up. That meant construction crews and people running around recovering anything they could from the underground archives and shit. The magic doesn’t affect the prey, only the preds.”

Aubrey looks like I have smacked him in the face with a brick as it dawns on him. “They blew everything up on purpose. The blue lightning fuckers wanted someone to discover the family vaults under Apex and the room with the painted over maps for the other schools. Preventing Apex from being re-built with magic meant students would be sent to other schools.”

“Allowing His Grace to bring his crew meant you’d eventually figure out how to get into the prey tunnels wherever you went,” Raina says. “That’s why he could get us on so easily.”

“We’re playing right into their hands by raiding this shit,” I murmur under my breath. “The hoods want the dirty secrets of the founding families of the Treaty known. But why?”

Felix’s gaze lands on me, his eyes dark as he replies. “I don’t know, except that it definitely has something to do with you, Princess.”

And the hits keep on coming.

Secrets

Delores

Our trip to the tunnels led to one more room, and it was a doozy. They protected the Barrington room with a gauntlet of codes and ciphers that took the rest of us hours to unravel. When we got inside, it was as damning as the Charles room—filled with file cabinets from floor to ceiling with massive amounts of research on every pred and prey family that’s ever been anywhere near the media, even ones who aren’t wealthy or influential. Every person who works for their empire must have contributed since they formed their very first newspaper centuries ago. Their horde of knowledge is how they stay relevant and on top, no matter what anyone in their family does, even the youngest Heather.

No shifter would ever want this shit to go public.

Felix pulled out his phone, and we started searching for every family on Aubrey’s list of possible Society members. Not a single branch on any of their trees, no matter how small, was left in their cabinets when we finished piling up the folders and files. I have no idea how we’re going to make time to go through all of it, but there have to be answers here. Some boxes we pulled can’t even be opened unless Aubrey takes them down to his archives—a fact that made him shudder with glee once he finished his tasks at the Kavarit vault.

“The breadth of shit we found on those names is so enormous. There’s no way they weren’t involved in the Treaty and the war that preceded it. The Barringtons have been using this gold mine to blackmail and bribe people ever since,” Chess says as he flips through a file on a lesser branch of the Janssen tree.

My dragon snorts from his table, looking up from where we’re working on two ancient ass books with gloves and tweezers. “Obviously. That little snot acts as though no one can touch her and her Riptok audience isn’t that much protection. She’s been told she’s immune her entire life. I’d guarantee it.”

As much as I enjoy dunking on my ex-friends, it doesn’t hold the same satisfaction as it did before.

“She’s harmless on her own. The lot of them have been obnoxious this year, but the moment they weren’t saturated in glory like at Apex, their antics became pathetic, you know? Even hiring that doper for the Games backfired on them. Plus, Selene and the Plastics are eating them alive.” I set my tools down, pondering for a moment before I continue. “I actually don’t think I’ve thought of them as a genuine threat since.”

Rennie looks down at me from the top of the shelf he’s perched on while he reads his files. “It is the way of life, ma petite. Small people focus on small things—your old friends have nothing more significant in their lives than their petty rivalry. You, however, have moved on. Our family and solving this mystery before a bloody war begins are higher callings than they can comprehend. They cannot hurt you like they did last year because you evolved while they remained petulant children.”

“Agreed,” Felix mutters from behind a box of files on the Leonidas family. “Your escorts in the crew are not because of them, though you probably assumed they were.”

“Hell yes, I did. Those girls and the Plastics seemed dangerous,” I grumble. “Why wouldn’t you make sure they can’t shave my head or some shit?”

“Because your hair would grow back, Baby Girl. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have scalped the person responsible, but the bigger concern was hooded freaks, murderers, and unknown spies.” He walks over to me, lifting me out of my chair and places me on top of a set of shorter shelves. “We can’t get put in check or we’ll lose the whole game.”

My face turns red as he moves closer, standing between my legs and resting his hands on my thighs. “You need to quit calling me a queen. People will think I’m conceited and snooty.”

“Angel, three of your fated mates were kings. It’s accurate, despite Felix’s insistence on calling you ‘princess’, because it aggravates you.” Chess leans back, pulling off the glasses that make him look adorably nerdy and rubbing his eyes. “These codenames are infuriating, by the way. Every file has last names that correspond, but figuring out what reference they used to create the codename for the first moniker is making my eyes bleed.”

“Fuck, yes,” Fitz groans as he leans his forehead against my sternum. “I love a good nickname and watching mysteries with our sweet little cottontail, but this is ridiculous. There has to be some sort of master list so we can figure out which stupid ass Bruce is in which file. Their second tier Council members aren’t as familiar as the big ones.”

Aubrey sighs and looks up from his tome. His gaze narrows as he looks at us. “You’re all very distracting suddenly. I am trying to translate this while making certain the pages don’t crumble. Perhaps you could focus?”

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