Ruby fever epb, p.27
Ruby Fever EPB, page 27
I stood up and smiled. “I have some things to take care of. Please excuse me.”
I walked away before he had a chance to stop me.
What she’d gone through was awful. Franco Sagredo was truly a monster, as she’d said. But now Alessandro had a mother, who obviously loved him, and his sisters. I wasn’t sure if I was angry, horrified, or happy, or all of them at once. It was too much at the same time. It didn’t seem real, like when you barely avoid a catastrophic accident in traffic and a part of you refuses to let go of the adrenaline.
I walked into the main house and nearly collided with one of our guards.
“Prime Tremaine is asking for you,” she reported.
At the worst possible time. I girded my loins and went upstairs.
Victoria Tremaine stood in the middle of a ridiculously complex arcane circle. Technically it wasn’t a circle, it was an array, or rather a constellation encompassing two separate arrays with six power sinks and an off flow. It covered the entirety of the large suite, the bathroom, and the closet. I had utilized the walls and the ceiling. It took me two months to draw it and I had left it unfinished specifically so I could complete it fast. Once activated, the circle would eventually lose power and need to be redrawn, but I would get another week or so out of it.
The chalk lines pulsed with angry white. My grandmother was not pleased.
Victoria crossed her arms. “I suppose you think you’re quite clever.”
“Not at all, Grandmother. I’m only an amateur. I still have a lot to learn. Your example inspires me to try harder.”
Victoria glared at me. I wondered if her head would explode.
“And now you’re mocking me.”
“I’m not. That is a true statement.”
“You took Trevor.”
There was no point in lying. “Yes.”
“What else have you done? Out with it.”
“The Empyrean Holdings. Also, House Belfair and the Finch, LTD.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed. “How did you get to Albion Finch?”
“He has a daughter he’s hiding.”
Her eyebrows crept up. “Alesia? His niece?”
“That’s the one.”
“I should have replaced him five years ago.”
“But you didn’t, and now I have access to a third of your investments. Also, Bern loaded a fun little virus into your House network. You can’t issue payroll to your people unless I authorize it.”
“I’m so angry with you,” she snarled.
“Of course. But you’re also proud.” I held my fingers close together. “Just a little bit.”
She paced inside the circle. It flashed with white like a strobe show. Wow, she was mad.
I would’ve loved another three years or so to complete and adjust my elaborate trap. I had her temporarily contained but it wasn’t enough. The plan had been to shift all of the moving parts into place, so if she ever crossed the line, I could neutralize her with a single blow. Instead, I’d had to resort to this half-baked arrangement, and now she was aware that I posed a serious threat.
“How long do you intend to imprison me here?”
“That depends entirely on you, Grandmother. Arkan is coming, and we could use your help.”
Her gaze bored into me. “You never answered my question.”
Here we go. “No, I didn’t.”
“Why is Arkan fixated on you?”
“You know why. He killed Alessandro’s father. Alessandro has been annoying him for the last decade. He wants to remove him once and for all.”
“You’re lying.”
“Your magic doesn’t work past the circle boundary.”
“I don’t need my magic, you stupid girl. You’re my granddaughter. I can see it in your eyes. Also, I have a brain. I know what that Russian butcher is capable of and how he thinks. He is risk averse. Your pretty boyfriend isn’t enough to draw him out.”
You know what, screw it. “You got me. I’m lying to you. But your lies are bigger, Grandmother. They’re worse.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What lies?”
“Linus Duncan is my grandfather.”
She took a step back as if I’d punched her.
“You knew and didn’t tell me. You allowed me to continue thinking he was just an inexplicably altruistic family friend. You, who always talked about how important family is and how vital the family ties are, how could you?”
She inhaled. “He told you, the sonovabitch.”
“It doesn’t matter who told me. I know.”
She struggled with it for a few moments and raised her chin, her face defiant. “He doesn’t deserve it!”
“What?”
“He left me and James. He abandoned us when we needed him and when James ran away, he helped him hide from me.”
“Maybe it had something to do with the way my father was born.”
She clenched her teeth.
“Grandmother, you implanted an embryo into a woman who couldn’t consent to it and forced her to carry it to term. She was catatonic! I don’t even know what that is. Is it rape, is it a kidnapping, is it human trafficking . . . ? You did something so horrible, there isn’t a name for it.”
“You are alive because of what I did!”
“Well, I can’t exactly help that, can I?”
She clenched her fists. “Do you know what my family was like?”
“You never told me.” I knew. I had done my homework.
“I was the youngest of seven children. I was beloved, Catalina. I was the baby with parents who adored me, five older brothers and an older sister, and in the span of three years, all of them were ripped away from me.”
My great-grandmother had had difficulty carrying a child to term. It ran in that side of the family. She’d had one failed pregnancy after another, until her first husband demanded a divorce. She ended up marrying for a second time. Her new husband was a widower with six children, whom she’d loved like they were her own. When she gave birth to baby Victoria, it was a huge and joyous surprise. Victoria was the baby of the family. She was wrapped in love and affection until her family was destroyed.
My grandmother’s voice was raw. “I was twelve years old when I had to kill for the first time. My sister sacrificed herself so I could live. I saw her die in front of me. House warfare took everything away from me. My parents. My siblings. My health. My happiness, my security, everything!”
The circle flashed with rapid pulses of white, reacting to her magic. I took a step back.
“All I ever wanted was to resurrect a little bit of that warmth. I wanted a baby, Catalina! A child I could love and raise. A family! Is that such a horrible thing? Yes, I wanted him to carry on our House name, because it would mean we won, but most of all I wanted him to be happy and safe. I had to sacrifice so much to bring your father into this world, and yes, I committed an atrocity, but I have been punished for it in the worst way possible. My son ran away from me. I loved him so much. I tried to make him strong because he had no magic. He was defenseless and I couldn’t bear to lose him like I lost everyone else. But he hated me for it, and he ran away, just like Linus. I was all alone, always looking for him, always hoping for a tiny crumb of a hint that he was alive somewhere. I never saw him marry. I never got to hold you or your sisters when you were babies. That was the only thing I wanted, and I didn’t get it. I will never get to hug my son again. He died without me by his side, and his daughters hate me. I know what you call me behind my back. You call me Evil Grandmother.”
Tears wet her eyes. Oh, dear God, what do I do now?
“You think Linus is this sweet old man, but the things he has done would make you wake up at night screaming. He’s worse than me! Somehow, he can swim through a lake of sewage and come out smelling like roses, and I ended up as this wretched witch whom everyone despises . . .”
The connecting door swung open, revealing Linus. He was slumped over, holding on to an IV stand to keep himself upright.
“Vicki,” he said. “Baby . . .”
“Don’t you call me that, you horrible shithead!”
My mouth refused to close. Was this even happening? What was happening? What . . .
“We had a deal,” Victoria said, her voice bitter.
“I never meant to hurt you,” he started.
“Spare me your bullshit! You knew what I was doing.”
“I never thought you’d go through with it,” he said.
Somewhere off to the side my brain processed the fact that Linus was awake and dispassionately noted that he was deflecting the responsibility off himself.
“Well, I did,” Victoria snarled. “I spent years trying to atone for it. I took care of her family, I relocated them, I hid them, I supported them, I saved her sister from being kidnapped. I have done everything they’ve asked of me in that contract. None of it wipes the sin off my soul, I know, but I’ve tried. But how did you treat me, Linus? How did you treat your son?”
“Your granddaughters love you,” Linus said. “Look, Catalina has been setting a trap for you for two years and she threw it away just to keep you safe.”
“Don’t patronize me.” Victoria blinked. “Wait. Why are you here?”
“He was attacked and took an overdose of Styxine.”
Victoria glared at him. “Have you lost your damn mind?”
It was my turn to drop a bomb. “Also, he is the Warden of Texas. I am his Deputy. Where else would he be?”
The room went as silent as a tomb.
Linus raised his right hand. “Vicki . . .”
“You bastard! You dirty sonovabitch!”
Oh-oh.
“Let’s be rational about this . . .” Linus started.
“I’ll fucking lobotomize you, you filthy prick. You made her into a Warden! She was mine!”
The door behind me swung open and Arabella stuck her head into the room. “What’s with all the screaming . . .”
I pulled her in and clamped my hand over her mouth.
“You had two others to choose from,” Victoria snarled. “You could have had the older one. She would’ve been perfect. She is just like you. If that didn’t work out, you could have had the youngest one. She would walk across hot coals to get one of those kindly grandfatherly chuckles out of you. She adores you. But no, you took mine!”
“There were circumstances,” Linus said.
“Fuck your circumstances. You can take your circumstances and shove them up your ass.”
The circle pulsed with blinding light. If she had hit us with that much magic, our brains would have leaked out of our ears.
Victoria waved her arms around. “She stole Trevor from me! And I didn’t know! The subtlety required, the planning, can your stupid old brain even imagine it? I taught her, I molded her, I made sure she could lead this family. I made sure to find her the perfect partner. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to maneuver the two of them together? I suggested to the Keeper that he should request that boy to come to her trials. I made her promise that she wouldn’t leave the family for another House. I all but forbade her to love him, because forbidden fruit is the sweetest, and when she came to me, she was so meek and unsure, she would have fainted if he’d looked at her for two seconds. Their children will be invincible. And you ruined everything with your stupid plots and your inane nattering about duty and the greater good. Now she will die in one of your never-ending Warden schemes!”
Wow.
Linus opened his mouth.
“Don’t you dare!” She pointed her finger at him. “I don’t want your excuses. We had a deal. I held up my end of the bargain. I helped you with your idiotic Caesar plot! I became a criminal for you. I let them put me in prison. You promised me complete access to the children. You said I could pick one and you would not interfere!”
The circle pulsed. The floor under us shuddered.
“YOU LIED TO ME, LINUS!”
The chalk lines crackled with white lightning. We all stared at them until it faded.
“Question,” I said.
My grandparents looked at me.
“Actually, I have several questions,” I said, “But this is the most important one. Explain the idiotic Caesar plot.”
Nobody said anything.
“Go ahead,” Victoria said. “Tell your granddaughter about the mess you made.”
“It’s complicated,” Linus said.
“He is Caesar,” Victoria said. “The whole thing was cooked up by the National Assembly to dismantle that idiotic conspiracy, and your grandfather infiltrated it and got himself appointed as head idiot.”
That was too much.
I covered my face with my hands.
“Catalina, are you okay?” Arabella asked.
“Yes. I’m fine. I can’t kill him because he’s my grandfather and I promised Nevada.” I turned to her. “Can you please deal with this. I can’t . . . I just can’t right now.”
“I’ve got this,” she said. “I’ll bring them cookies.”
I turned around and marched out the door.
Chapter 16
I hid in my office. That seemed like the best place.
For a few minutes I stared at my email trying to read it. None of it registered. After twenty minutes I gave up and logged into the Warden Network.
It didn’t take me long to find it. Some files, usually the ones dealing with past matters the Wardens have handled, required a higher clearance. They weren’t available to me when I was a Deputy. But I was the Acting Warden now and the archives of the network were my playground.
Victoria was right. Linus was Caesar.
Two years before Adam Pierce blew up the bank that started our involvement, Linus was pursuing a complex corruption case and stumbled onto the Conspiracy. Two dozen powerful Texas Houses were involved, people with armor-clad reputations, strong connections, and staggering resources. It was too big to take down from the outside. After a consultation with representatives of the National Assembly, Linus made a decision to infiltrate it.
It took him six months. The conspirators needed a face, someone with an unassailable reputation they could use to inspire new recruits and reassure nervous members. Someone to shake their hand and promise with total sincerity that they were doing the right thing, that their cause was noble, and that future generations would celebrate their efforts and their sacrifice. Linus became that somebody. Caesar, a leader without power. An inspiration.
The notes were detailed in some ways yet cursory in others. He was frustrated at being constantly watched and monitored, but he also viewed it as a challenge. If Linus had a choice between direct interference and subtle manipulation, he chose the latter every time. I had seen him maneuver state agencies and prominent Primes like pieces on a chessboard without anyone realizing it.
The Conspiracy hadn’t had a centralized hierarchy. Rather it was a gathering of power clusters, loosely united by a common goal. Sometimes they consulted him before acting, often they didn’t. It must’ve been like trying to wrestle an octopus with each tentacle thinking for itself. Since they tied his hands, he’d needed a cleaver to do the dirty work for him. He decided on Connor.
His assessment of Connor was frank. According to Linus, Connor was stagnating after the war. Kelly Waller, his cousin, was already up to her neck in the Conspiracy, and she had brought her son in. Gavin was bouncing from one Conspiracy member to another, looking for someone to hero-worship and he’d settled on Adam Pierce. Linus expected Adam to spin out of control, and when he did, Gavin’s presence would trigger Connor’s involvement.
Nevada wasn’t even mentioned.
When Adam was stopped and apprehended by Connor and Nevada before he burned the entirety of Houston to the ground, the leaders of the Conspiracy convened, and Linus convinced them that supporting Adam was too much of a risk. They abandoned him, and he won his first victory.
And so it went, a careful dance, a word here, a suggestion there. Little by little, step by step Linus worked to break the Conspiracy apart from within. As the events unfolded, his direction shifted. Knowing what I knew now, it was glaringly obvious. He was still focused on dismantling the Conspiracy, but he had acquired a secondary objective—protecting Nevada.
He’d stopped two assassination orders against my sister and personally killed the Prime who had been en route to attempt the third. He had taken great risks to keep her and us out of harm’s way.
He’d also convinced the heads of the Conspiracy not to kill Cornelius in retaliation for Olivia Charles’ death. He had been incensed by the death of Cornelius’ wife, Nari. He was unaware it had taken place and blamed himself for his failure to anticipate and stop it. He’d thought Howling was devoted to him, but he hadn’t accounted for the pressure Olivia Charles had exerted. The note in the file said, “Had I paid attention sooner, Matilda wouldn’t have lost her mother, and a young woman who was just starting her life would be alive today. My hubris killed her.” There was a whole thing with Sturm’s illegitimate half-brother who was a member of a prominent House that we had known nothing about.
I thought I’d had a grasp on how the Conspiracy had unfolded. I’d barely scratched the surface. There were layers and layers I’d had no idea about. This was how the game was played in the big leagues. I had a long way to go.
Linus had taken so much responsibility and guilt on himself. He once told me that nobody who chose the life of the Warden retired with clean hands. I’d never truly understood it until now. In ten years, if another Conspiracy reared its ugly head, it wouldn’t be Linus playing the spider and writing about his hubris killing innocent people. It would be me. If I learned well and worked very hard.
There was another file in there, locked behind a separate code. It was marked “Personal,” but my code worked. Linus must’ve meant for me to see it at some point or another.
Cornelius had gone to see him after the firestorm from Olivia’s death died down and we had neutralized Sturm, delivering what we thought was the death blow to the Conspiracy. It was just after Connor and Nevada’s wedding. Cornelius told Linus that he came to kill him, but he was willing to listen to an explanation first. They talked. Cornelius left and both he and Linus were still alive.
