Page 27 of The Queen
“Definitely beaten; dead if it happens, I don’t care. But I want her to know I had a hand in her downfall.” His vicious expression would be hard to feign, even for the best actor, especially with James back to waving his gun in his face.
“Why on earth would I trust you now after everything?”
“Because we both want the same thing. I was merely passing the time until you realised.”
“Realised what?”
“Who I was and what I could do for you. I wanted your attention.” He smirks.
“So, you tried to kill me?”
“That part was never real. Fun, maybe, but I wasn’t going to kill you.”
“Eliza…” James warns as he sees me about to give in.
But fuck it. I actually believe him. Felix. My half-brother-slash-cousin.Hold the vom.
He had multiple opportunities to take me out and he didn’t. I didn’t even know he was watching me closely enough to match my moves, hunt down the exact same knife as mine and take a picture of me sleeping. Not sure what that says aboutme, but it says a lot abouthim.
“You want a piece of this pie?”
“I want to be a Hughes.”
“You’re gonna have to get past Daddio.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” he scoffs.
I snicker. “Oh, you should be. You should be pissing your pants.”
He gulps and pales slightly.
Felix’s bravado wilts like a flower in winter, and I can’t help but revel in the power shift. For all his talk, for all his bluster, beneath it all, he’s just another man trying to claw his way out of the shadows, and our dad taught me that I am the sun—it’s my light he’s desperate to bask in.
I turn back to James, who’s still pissed but trusts my judgement—or at least respects it enough not to argue. His loyalty is unwavering, anchoring me in ways I never dare say out loud. But right now, the focus needs to be on the upcoming war at our doorstep.
“The shit we’re in is deeper than the Thames and about to be filled with more bodies. You want to be a Hughes? You earn that shit; you don’t demand it.”
Felix nods. “All in.”
I move closer to Felix, my gaze never wavering from his. “Listen up because I’m not going to repeat myself. You fuck around, you die. You play games, you die. You think about crossing me, you die. We clear?”
He smiles. It’s slow and menacing but full of the kind of joy that you only ever see in this life. “Totally clear.”
“Then this is your mission. We let you go, and you give me all of your mother’s weakness.”
“That will take some time. We aren’t exactly best buddies.”
“You have time. Not much, but some.”
“How much?” he asks suspiciously.
“Not much.”
He rolls his eyes. “Fine.”
James slices the zip ties away, and Felix stands, rubbing his wrists. He holds his hand out to me, and with a fierce glare, I take it, crushing his bones as I shake it.
He chuckles.
