“That’s enough, Low.” Kellan’s voice cuts through the detached fog of my mind.
I’ve lost track of time. Of how many times I’ve had them beat each other before I moved on to making them burn and electrify each other with their magic. The room smells like blood and burnt hair and flesh, and my parents are crumpled into their chairs, gasping for air.
“It could never be enough,” I snap. But I know what he means. They are dying, and I need to be the one to deliver the killing blow.
I round the table and lean down to be at my father’s level. “Hi, Dad.”
“I will end you for this, you ungrateful little bitch,” he growls.
I look directly into his violet eyes. “All these years and you still haven’t learned. You’ve never stopped trying to break me. But I do not break. I am the breaker.”
I hold up my hand and summon poison to my fingers. Asher’s Anthem—a poison root that grows in damp, shady areas. It kills quickly, but painfully.
My father watches with shocked realization as I cup his face in my dark purple, poison-laced hands and pour all of my rotten hatred into him.
His eyes grow wider and wider as he feels it hit his system.
I make him meet my gaze as he chokes. “I hope Asher never receives your soul. I hope you cannot cross the veil. I hope you’re forever lost and lonely and have an eternity to live with the pain you have caused so that you could feel important. I’ll make sure you are not a villain in this story. I will make sure you are nothing at all so that you are forgotten.”
When his body spasms, I release him and let him crumble to the floor before approaching my mother. I bend down so that I’m at her level and cup her face in my hands. I swear to the Divine she’s aging before my eyes.
She mumbles for mercy, but she’s so vain that if she could see how she looks right now, she would want to die.
“I’ve not met every mother in Lunameade, but I still am certain you are the worst of them. After today, I will never think of you again, and my life and this city will be better without you in it. I hope that Asher does deliver you beyond the veil so that you have to acknowledge all your deeds and the harm you’ve done and stop being ignorant.”
“What will the Divine think of this?” she rasps as her body begins to spasm.
I give her a pitying look. “Oh, Mother. The Divine have always settled scores. To err is human. To avenge is Divine.”
I toss her to the side harder than I need to. When her body hits the floor, a muffled, pathetic yelp rips up her throat, and then she goes still.
I stare at my parents’ empty bodies. The tunnel key around my father’s neck glints in the candlelight.
“I was so close.” My voice sounds so small—so young. I’m talking to myself more than Kellan. “I was going to get her out. We always talked about escaping to somewhere beyond the mountain. It didn’t even matter where, as long as we had each other. I thought I still had time—that I could earn the key by betraying Henry, grab Aidia, and take the tunnel to freedom.”
I turn my attention back to my brother. “What good is the key without her?”
He doesn’t say anything, so I start toward the dining room door.
“Low,” Kellan says. “I will take care of the bodies. But what are you going to do about Able?”
I turn to face him. “Can we defend the walls with well water?”
He nods. “We could also temporarily seal off four of the gates to focus resources if necessary.”
“Did Able know what Rafe did?”
Kellan sighs. “Yes. He knew because he was heir, and Electra knew because she erased the memories of the guards and servants. Andobviously I knew because I know everything. But the rest of the family doesn’t know what actually happened. They think she jumped. You know how they all were—afraid of our parents and baffled by Aidia’s resistance.” He looks down at the bowl in front of him. “Was mine poisoned too?”
I cock my head. “Did you let it all happen that day, like you let us be beaten for years?”
He stands so fast, his chair crashes to the floor behind him. “Divine dammit, Low! I was only two years older than Aidy. What did you want me to do?”
“You have a blessing from Polm. I wanted you to manipulate him!” I shout.
“My position only stayed as it is—I only stayedalive, Harlow, because he thought I was loyal to him!” Kellan’s voice is shrill. “I had to be strategic and pick my spots. It’s almost impossible for me to use my blessing on any of you without you seeing me do it. When exactly did you want me to risk manipulating him and becoming his next target?” He points at our mother’s bloody body. “Do you know what our mother said to me the day my blessing manifested?” he asks. “She saw my excitement and she said, ‘You better never disagree with your father or he will kill you.’ I have always had to be careful, and I have protected you in the moments I could—or did you think I really didn’t know you were the Poison Vixen?”
I lean my hands against the table, and the tension in my shoulders starts to unravel. “What gave me away?”
