Page 51 of Reign

“I do now.”

My statement quiets both of them. After a beat of silence where it’s clear I’m not backing down, Emma unlocks the stall, and we head to the exit.

“Hey,” Emma says before we split off in the hallway. She squeezes my shoulder. “Good luck.”

“You, too,” I say. “And thank you.”

Emma shakes her head. “You don’t have to thank me. I’m finally getting justice, too.”

“And me,” Eden pipes in.

I smile at both of them, but it’s wane and doesn’t stretch into my cheeks. To cover it up, I stick my hand out, palm up. “Off with her head.”

Both catch on and place their palms on top of mine.

“Off with her head,” they echo, before our hands break apart.

18

Chase

“She’s fucking doing the robing ceremony,” I spit, pacing around my room. “Is she fucking out of her mind? Does this chick want to fucking die?”

Tempest shrugs. “I doubt emphasizing ‘fuck’ after every question will get Callie to change her mind.”

I run through all the possible reasons Callie has for continuing to step into a viper’s nest. She’s desperate to solve her mom’s murder. Determined to avenge Ivy. Most of all, she wants to decimate the very thing that destroyed her mom: the Virtues.

But at the cost of her life?

“I did this to her.”

“Quit jerking off to yourself.” Tempest reclines on my bed, propping his hands under his head as he contemplates the ceiling. “Callie’s making her decisions with or without your dick.”

“No, I pushed her too far. She has no one, now. Nothing to lose.”

“What about her detective? Her stepparents? Her stepbaby?”

“She’ll isolate them.” I rub my index finger over my mouth as I contemplate. “Keep them out of it. And Ivy’s dead. Now I’ve left her.”

“Your sister hasn’t. And that quiet one with the kind of hair that’ll come out of an ancient hellhole and strangle you.”

“They can only do so much. They’re not allowed on societal grounds.”

“Okay, then there’s her fath—”

“Don’t.”

Tempest sighs. “It’s not like I know his identity, but circumstances tell me it could be quite the important clue to help her.”

“It won’t.”

“Whatever. So, what are you saying, then?”

I point at him. “You.”

“Me, what?”

“You’re going to figure out why Sabine would allow Callie to be robed in the first place.”