Page 90

"Yes."

There was no accusation in her voice. If anything, there was something dangerously close to admiration.

Vidar sounded less amused. "So, Gunnar was right."

Gunnar shifted beside me. I could practically hear his smugness. "I told you," he said.

"Your wife nearly dismantled three alliances."

"Four," I corrected. "The Volki, too. Well, five if we include my mother. If everything had gone according to plan? Within another year, I think I could've spread the chaos worldwide and…"

The stillness did not sound impressed. So I shut my trap.

No one moved. At least I didn't hear anyone move. I could feel Magnus watching me, even though I couldn't see his face clearly.

"Why?" he asked.

I had a dozen answers. Because the packs were corrupt. Because innocent people suffered while families like ours got rich. Because men committed crimes and called it tradition. Because my mother had taught me that power was the only thing keeping me from becoming someone else's victim.

All of those things were true. But they weren't the whole truth.

"Because I was powerless, and I wanted everyone else to feel that way too. And…" I lifted my chin, arrowing it right at my long-time fiancé. "Because I hated you."

I heard the flare of his nostrils.

"I hated the Blackwoods. Then I started looking at all the other packs and realized you were all the same."

"We're not," Addie said.

"I know that now. I know the Ironwoods stopped bringing in workers. I know Valentino Lupetto ended the death fights. I know the Blackwoods aren't doing half the things everyone says you're doing. I know Elias is trying to fix the Vane pack. I know some of what I believed was outdated information. And I know some of it isn't."

No one contradicted me. The Volki were still trafficking women. The packs still bribed cops. Judges still owed favors. Politicians still took money. Men still disappeared when they crossed the wrong family.

These weren't good people. But they weren't simply bad people either.

"I didn't get Mei Ling arrested. My mother did. She did it because I betrayed her. That, I would do again. I probably will do it again. It might be our love language. "

Still, Mei Ling said nothing.

"I thought I was controlling everything. I wasn't. Sorsha knew what I was doing. Maybe not all of it, but enough. She used me. She still wants to use me."

"Are you going to let her?" asked Magnus.

"No. The only person I'll ever let use me is my husband."

"Ugh, Rosalind," said Astrid.

Vidar made a skeptical sound. "Why should we trust you now?"

Addie slapped his chest. "Because she's in love, dummy. I put a poison pill into the company you blackmailed me into handing over to you. And then I fell for you."

"That's different," Vidar dismissed.

"So you don't trust me?" Addie asked.

Vidar huffed.

Nell picked up where Addie left off, "I destroyed an entire company after Magnus kidnapped me."