Raihn and his performances.
“I made a deal I can’t get out of,” he went on. “I’ve granted Septimus that much. But… regardless of whether we find what he wants, he may not even be the one who can use it. And there are other things in the House of Night that are just as powerful. But to wield them, I’ll need your help.”
I scoffed, and he raised his palms.
“Easy, viper. Let me finish,” he said, before I could speak. “Help me find the god blood. Help me fulfill Septimus’s ridiculous quest. But then, I want you to help me use it to betray him and throw those Bloodborn bastards out of this kingdom once and for all. And after that, you’re free to do whatever you want.”
I scoffed again. “Whatever I—”
“Whatever you want.”
I didn’t mean to look surprised. Mother damn my face.
He laughed softly. “You never believed me, but I never intended to keep you captive. I’m asking you—not forcing you—to help me. And after that, you have my word that we’re done.”
“What is your word worth?”
“Not much. It’s seen better days. A little banged-up. But it’s all I have to offer, unfortunately.”
I stared down at my father’s sword. He’d died with it soaking up his blood mere feet from him in the colosseum sands.
The House of Night was my father’s kingdom.
It was my kingdom.
Raihn had lied to me so many times. And yet…
I found myself considering this.
“Won’t Septimus suspect this?” I asked. “He has eyes everywhere.”
“No vampire has eyes here.” He gestured to the dim, dusty room—distinctly human. “You’re right, though. We’ll have to be careful. Make sure he sees only what he expects to see. I’ll play the part of the brute king. You play the part of the prisoner wife who hates him.”
“That will be easy,” I said. “I do hate you.”
I’d thought those words to myself countless times—I hate him, I hate him, I hate him—and yet, when they slipped over my tongue, they tasted rancid, bitter for all the ways they were true and untrue. Because they should not be anything but true, when I was standing before the man who murdered my father.
Raihn’s face went still, just for a split second, like he was collecting himself after a blow.
And then he smiled, easy and comfortable.
“Oh, I know,” he said. “That’s for the better. You aren’t much of an actress.”
He extended his hand. “But,” he added, softly, seriously, “you are one hell of an ally.”
Ally.
A lifetime ago, he had offered me an alliance. I knew it was a mistake to take it then, too.
But I was powerless now, just as I was then. A human in a world of vampires. An Heir with no teeth. A daughter with no way to avenge her father.
Raihn was offering me power. More power than I’d ever dreamed of wielding.
And power was the currency of revenge.
I took Raihn’s hand. It was warm and rough, and much larger than my own. He folded his fingers around mine, just slightly. Even his touch felt different now—like all the magic that pulsed beneath the surface of our skin called to and repelled each other, as if recognizing its natural enemy.
Raihn was stronger than ever. But so was I. And with the power that Raihn talked about—the power that belonged to me by birthright—I would be unstoppable.
He was offering me everything I needed to destroy him.
“Deal,” I said.
14
RAIHN
I do hate you.
I knew Oraya hated me. Who could possibly blame her for that? I didn’t know why it bothered me so much to hear it. Bothered me enough that it overshadowed my victory.
“Victory.”
I’d gotten her to agree to something she essentially had no choice but to do. And I wasn’t stupid—I knew that there was a good chance that the entire time, she’d be waiting for her moment to kill me. I knew that perhaps that’s exactly what she told herself as she took my hand and agreed to our deal.
It was a gamble for both of us.
But she’d had her blade right there in that armory, right at my heart, and she hadn’t taken the shot.
That was something.
And the truth was, my… complicated personal feelings for Oraya aside, I needed her. Without her, I had no chance of getting out from under Septimus’s grasp. Maybe a small, pathetic part of me had also been grateful for that—grateful to have any excuse to have her as an ally again, even a reluctant one.