Page 117 of Fated In Blood

“I’ve seen you fight, little slayer. We’re not worried about your skills.” I flashed her a tight smile as my insides went weak at the idea of her getting anywhere near Tyrell. “He can control you too easily because you’re part of his bloodline. You’d never get within twenty feet of him.”

“But I’ve trained for years,” she said quietly. “What if I just…”

“Five hundred years ago, Dominic Graves was Tyrell’s favorite progeny.” Maybe I shouldn’t be telling her this, but it was important history.

“When they came to America and settled in New York, he made Dominic king of the Nocturne Clan, leaving Laurent free to pursue his…darker pursuits. All you need to know is Rohr and I both are direct descendants of Tyrell.”

“I knew that already.”

“Blood hierarchy forces obedience amongst our kind. None of us can override our instincts.” I held her gaze steadily. “We can compel you, but Tyrell is eight times older than I am, eight times stronger, eight times crueler. I might get a three-second opening to incapacitate him and another two seconds to take his head before he gets me under his control. Once he does, I’m finished. You would have even less time.”

“Malachi isn’t Tyrell’s progeny; he has no connection to our bloodline,” Rohr explained. “That’s why I chose him to wield the dagger.”

I laid my hand on her shoulder, “We only get one chance, Evie. Only one, and we’ve been planning this for ten years. Draven’s already in place.”

“What do you mean…in place?”

Riordan leaned forward, his mind was already working, moving the chess pieces around, adjusting for this new information. “Malachi’s charming his way into Tyrell’s confidence. If our original plan won’t work, there’s still ways to leverage Malachi’s position. If Tyrell's not dead by the end of this, Malachi will break that blood oath, sell us out, and not lose a minute of sleep.”

“Rohr and I could go in alone.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Since we can’t wield this weapon, we’d have to use conventional blades. Time our attack down to the second. Malachi takes out Bosch and Valaine. If we move fast enough, there’s a chance we could take Tyrell’s head before he neutralizes us.”

“Too many things can go wrong in that scenario.” Rohr gave the dagger one more long look, then pushed to his feet. “We go back to our original plan. Sow chaos and then a direct attack. Evangeline. You’ll provide the distraction. Blake and I will coordinate the attack on Tyrell.”

“But I could?—”

“No, Evangeline.” I had to stand by and watch Rohr cup her chin with a stern expression. “You are the distraction. You will buy us time and nothing more. I can’t risk Tyrell getting his hands on that dagger when he puts you under his control, which he will.”

“But my sister…”

“I hate to say this, I really do, but if your sister really is truly mated to Tyrell, she’s safer with him right now than with you.” She opened her mouth, indignant, but I held up a hand. “Your family is hunting you because of that brand on your back. What do you think your father would do to Angelique after what he did to you?”

She blanched. “I don’t want Silas anywhere near Angel.”

“And we don’t want Tyrell anywhere near you.” I flexed my hands. “We have two days before Malachi breaks the blood oath, but if we don’t get that mark removed from your back, we’ll spend the next forty-eight hours looking over our shoulders.”

She went quiet, her throat bobbing before she swiped her sleeve across her eyes. “Can I ask you a question?”

She surveyed Rohr’s face for a moment, then looked over at me, biting her lip. “Why risk your lives to save a clan that doesn’t deserve to be saved?” She shrugged. “What I saw the night of the auction were a pack of depraved, soulless monsters. You both could walk away from this and never look back. Why don’t you?”

I paused, searching for the right words, but it was Riordan who answered.

“Because they aren’t all like that, and somebody has to fight for what’s right. My sire was as evil as Tyrell. But Blake showed me I could be strong and good, and not be weak. He showed me a real leader could make life better for his people, so while I watched my father and Tyrell carry on with their depravities, we made plans to rebuild this clan into what it should have been all along.”

I couldn’t help the surge of pride and the exhilarating rush of warmth in my chest at Riordan’s praise. Even though his speech was for Evie’s benefit, the words still meant something.

“And then your father died?”

Rohr stiffened; we traded a fraught, split-second glance before he answered. “He did. Because of some antiquated rules, I took the throne, Tyrell was left on the outside, and Blake and I began making changes. But change takes time, and Tyrell fights us, but still…things are better than they were ten years ago.”

“And with Tyrell gone, they’ll improve even faster, right?”

I nodded. “Once he’s gone, we’ll clean up the entire kingdom. Make life safer for everyone. Get rid of Tyrell’s loyalists, then start cleaning house, starting with Vincent.”

She rolled her eyes, “that, I’d love to see with my own eyes.”

“Would it surprise you to know Vincent Valentine is over four hundred years old?”

Her mouth dropped open. “That’s impossible.”

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