Page 56 of Enticing Monsters

I’m pissed as fuck, but I don’t want to hurt him. Not truly.

Devyn releases me and takes a step back, both of his hands gravitating towards the back of his head.

He begins to pace, his fingers forked through his messy black hair. “Fuck, you need to trust me.”

“By allowing you to imprison Gage?” I demand.

Though I no longer hold the blade against his throat, I keep it in my hand, flipping it expertly as I watch the empath wear holes in the carpeting.

We appear to be in a room similar to the one we just left—garish green carpeting, a long table, and a few rolling chairs. I wonder if all of these rooms are used for interrogation chambers or if they serve a different purpose.

“By allowing me to get close to the queen!” Devyn explodes, finally dropping his hands and whirling to face me.

It takes me an embarrassingly long moment to process his words.

“What?”

Devyn lowers his voice to a whisper. “Xander told me about V—or at least, he left a voice message.”

My heart hammers in my chest. “Which is why we need Gage.”

I expertly slide the blade back into my hair, where it disappears under a mound of bright pink.

“I understand that. And trust me, as soon as I’m able to, I’ll release Gage. But…” He reaches into the pocket of his leather jacket and grabs out a folded-up piece of paper.

Slowly, he begins to smooth out the creases before handing it to me.

Trepidation settles like a boulder in my chest as I study the intricate drawing.

“What am I looking at?” I whisper, though I already know.

How could I not?

“A diagram,” Devyn answers, “that depicts the anatomy of an angel.”

V.

I don’t think I say his name out loud, but I must’ve because Devyn nods, his expression terse.

“I think whoever is behind the recent attacks altered the virus specifically to take V out.” He lowers his voice to a whisper. “I found what I believe to be the culprit’s lab, though it was abandoned recently, probably when they got wind that the FIB was on their tail. Our team found this picture near an…experiment gone wrong.”

His jaw tightens, and I don’t need clarification to know “experiment gone wrong” is code for dead body.

“We suspected that the attacker is behind this,” I whisper through numb lips. “What does this have to do with the queen?”

“Charise and V were both attacked on the same day.” Devyn stares at me intently, as if waiting for me to put the pieces together, to somehow form a clear picture.

“You think the royal family is under attack?” I pause as something occurs to me, the knots in my stomach tightening. “Or do you think that the queen is somehow involved in this?”

“Look right here.” Devyn steps forward to point at the top corner of the paper, where a strange symbol resides, barely the size of my fingernail. “Do you see that symbol?”

It resembles a triangle with a slash through it. Honestly, I thought it was an ink smudge when I first saw it.

“What does it mean?”

“It’s the royal insignia, which means this book was taken out of Queen Marianna’s personal library.”

I suck in a sharp gasp as the ramifications of that statement wash over me. Could the queen be involved somehow? What reason would she have for harming her own children?

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