Page 62 of Owned

“How… how do I find you—”

I stopped and looked back at him and he raised his arm as though he was worried I was going to strike him with my magic again.I could have.“You won’t have to,” I shot back. “That meeting is happening in three days?”

He nodded weakly.

“Then in four days you’ll be hearing from me.”

His muttered curses followed me, and I let out a snort.Pitiful.

“And don’t forget your little Leona,” I called over my shoulder. “If you leave town… if you do anything I don’t like… she’ll get a visit from me.”

The clatter of boots on cobblestone echoed behind me, but I didn’t bother looking back.

If that pathetic excuse for a Necromi wasn’t lying to me, it seemed that my father wasn’tentirelyinsane.

Although, it made a sinister kind of sense that Necromi weren’t as loyal as Lucian demanded—

How could they be with him as their example? He wasn’t exactly a paragon of virtue and honor.

My father valued one thing above all else.

Power.

And he didn’t care how he acquired it.

As long as it all belonged to him.

Blood and fear were his currency, and sometimes it seemed like he had more of one than the other.

Especially lately.

My work was done for the night, and I made my way back to my waiting motorcycle without taking notice of anything, or anyone, else.

A damp fog rolled through the streets from the harbor and curled around my bike like eager snakes as I roared through the winding roads toward the highway. Withermarsh loomed over the city like a predatory bird, and the sky above it hung heavy with an impending storm.

Maybe it was my imagination, but the storm clouds had been darker in the last few weeks.

The lightning and thunder storms were more intense.

But the dreary atmosphere suited this place.

Sunlight and warmth didn’t have any place on Lucian’s estate.

As I guided my bike toward the narrow road that led up to Withermarsh, I couldn’t help but imagine how my father would react to the information that was now in my possession…

Members of the Black Council meeting with Sages… in secret.

Did I tell him now?

Or wait…

That little rat I’d sent scurrying into the streets to spy on his master would tell me everything, or he’d wish that he’d never taken the dark oath that bound him to the Necromi.

He probably regretted it already.

I had to wait.

Lucian would want names.

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