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“I have some matters to attend to, my love. Will you manage without me for a few hours?” He cannot hide the mischievous grin on his face. I am just glad it has returned.

“Maybe. Depends on what you’re up to, Lord Erebus?”

He tilts my chin and plants the softest kiss on my lips. “A man still has to keep some secrets.”

Voices shouting in the foyer jolt our attention. He motions for me to stay behind him as we head toward it.

“It is imperative that I speak to Lady Erebus at once!” My mother’s butler sweats from his brow, his breath heavy.

“What the fuck is going on in here?” Bell demands.

“I’m sorry, Lord Erebus. I told him you aren’t taking guests, but he refused to leave,” Percy cries.

The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. Something is off. “It’s fine, Percy.” I step in front of my mother’s butler. “What is so urgent now?”

He hangs his head. “My lady, I bring word regarding your brother… Lord Silas.”

I feel a chill and a fiery blaze inside my palms at the same time. “Yes, go on. Has he finally come to his senses and taken hold of Nocturnus?”

“No, my lady. I’m afraid to tell you that Lord Silas and Miss Jessamine have both been found dead.”

Did I hear him correctly?

“I don’t understand… What do you mean they are dead? I just saw them a few days ago.” My tongue feels heavy, weighted, like iron.

The butler bows his head. “That is all I know, my lady. It is my duty to inform you that Lord and Lady Graves demand your presence at once.”

A dark shadow flits to my side. Bell. He wraps a cold hand around my bicep. “Arkana and I will come when she’s ready. You may take your leave now.”

The portly man sweats profusely from his brow. “Sir, forgive me, but I am not allowed to return without Lady Erebus.”

I feel Bell’s ire growing beside me, his impatience. “I don’t care if the gods themselves demand it,” he growls. “My wife does not take orders from your mistress anymore.”

The thickness expands to my throat, making it harder to swallow. Making it harder to breathe. Silas and I have only become closer in our adult years, but now I can no longer know him at all. And Jessamine… She was such a sweet girl.

I hiccup a sob, my voice cracking as I cry out. I feel my body twist and convulse as I hunch forward and clasp my hand to my mouth.

Bell holds me upright, his arm around my waist. “Look, you’ve upset my bride. I should have your head,” he snaps.

The butler’s face pales. “Forgive me… I am just the messenger.”

I shake my head. “It’s all right. We shall follow you to Graves Estate.”

Bell spins me toward him. “You don’t have to do anything. I promise you that.”

The look in his eyes is fierce, protective. It sends a chill up my spine. “I must find out what happened to my brother.”

The mood in the drawing room is one of somber mixed with tension. My uncle hovers over Finn in a protective stance. As if he is his own son. The two of them are peas of the same pod, their auras vile and nasty at the core, their bones filled with malicious sinew, yet hidden away behind smooth glistening skin.

My mother purses her lips, her brow furrowed as she appears stoic. But her eyes are reddened and her face pale. Silas looked the most like my father out of her two sons, and he was the most similar in demeanor. She has lost them both and is now stuck with me and Finn, her least favorite children who’ve soured like spoiled milk.

The others who gather in the room are Lucy and her other two husbands, Cage and Vale. They plant themselves close to her as if they are her guards rather than her lovers. Perhaps they are both.

Bell sticks close to me, like my shadow, as he eyes the people who know more about his own existence than he does. These men knew his mother. Lucy and Atreus did too. They also know that he is the son of the devil, and judging by the way my mother regards us, it appears she now knows too. Atreus will do anything to undermine my position in this family.

“I don’t understand. How did they…” I can’t even bring myself to say the word. I can’t believe Silas is gone forever.

“It was a dark ritual. They were playing with ravens and poison,” Atreus offers.