My life is settled.
Jack places his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Play the game, Cooper.”
I look him in the eyes now, studying the brother I thought I knew, but obviously don’t, and realize something. My father wasn’t lying when he told me that I’d be cut off if I walked away at the beginning of summer. I knew Dane would shun me, probably no questions asked. But I didn’t believe Jack would. Not for a minute.
He would.
“How do I play the game, Jack?”
“I already told you. Challenge Cadee. Give her lots of opportunity to rise.”
“And how do I do that?”
“You’re about to find out.” He sets his glass down on a passing tray and starts to walk towards the tomb, but I grab his arm.
“Wait. What about Isabella? How do I play her game?”
Jack smiles at me. “Good instincts, Coop. Two girls, two games. Not everyone gets that. But I already told you. Keep her in line. Keep her happy. And make sure she’s pregnant this time next year. Your first girl child together will be a legacy. Make sure she gives you a legacy or she’s gonna end up like Mrs. Owens.”
And then he really does walk off.
He just leaves me there to imagine Isabella locked up in a room in some mansion. Drugged up and insane like Ax’s mother.
I’m the last one to enter the tomb, and the moment I’m inside the bodyguards back out and close the massive steel doors with a loud bang. And then there is the tell-tale sound of a crossbar being placed in front of them, letting us all know we have been locked in.
No way out but forward now.
Almost everyone is already down in the main lower room.
I walk to the top of the stairs and look down on the room. There are no tables or chairs. It’s just an open space filled with people who crowd together nearly shoulder to shoulder, waiting to get into the next room. But I spy my father and Jack off to the left and slowly walk down to join them.
“There you are,” my father says. “Cooper, go with Jack and he’ll show you where to stand in the initiation room.”
I look at Jack and nod.
There will be no more talking. Not from me. The time for that is over. I’m here, Cadee and Isabella are here. And there is a rite to perform.
We made our choice, and now we have to live with it.
“Excuse us.” Jack begins to force an opening through the crowd. “Make room. Valcourts coming through.”
Some of the ladies laugh at him and then, when I follow, also pushing past them, they smile at me as well.
He’s charming and good-looking. He and I are a lot alike, actually. Same dark hair, same blue eyes, same tall, muscular bodies. Same tattoo on our chests.
But there is one major difference between us.
He has always been invested in Fang and Feather and I haven’t.
Until now.
I used to think Fang and Feather was a stupid, childish name. But it’s no worse than Skull and Bones, Quill and Dagger, or the Cadaver Society. The name is part of the mystery. It’s all very juvenile when you try to describe it out loud. All very teenage boy.
All very… unlikely to be anything of consequence.
But what happens inside the tombs… well, that’s not childish.
It’s all very, very adults-only.
We push our way into the next room, then Jack leads me up to the front and I pause to study the pool of water built in to the floor. It looks a lot like a rectangular reflecting pool—and it is, in a way. But there are stairs leading down at the opposite end. And then more, leading up, on this side.
Jack points to two fighting lions inlaid in gold on the dark gray marble floors.
I step onto one and Jack claims the second. “Now what?”
He looks at me and smiles. “Now we wait.”
Most of the people are in the room with us now. “What’s gonna happen, Jack?”
But in that same moment a large steel door on the opposite side of the room begins to open and his only reply is, “Shhh.”
My father walks to the front of the room just as Cadee, Isabella, and Elizabeth are led into the room by Leela. She points to one of two gold swan inlays on the gray marble floor. Elizabeth steps on the first one, Cadee on the second.
Neither Cadee or Elizabeth are wearing the beautiful gowns they were in just a little while ago. Now they are in short white nightgowns.
Leela takes Isabella’s hand and leads her behind the fountain and over to our side of the room.
I stare at Cadee, trying to get some sense of what she’s feeling. Is she having regrets?
I hope not. Because it’s too late for that.
Isabella is guided over to me. She steps onto the gold lion with me and takes my hand.
Leela does the same with Jack.
“We’re fine.” Isabella whispers this through a clenched-teeth smile and squeezes my hand at the same time.
So I nod and take my attention back to my father. I find him smiling at us. His two remaining sons. The two who look like him. The two who will, he’s probably thinking, run this place one day.
Well, only one person can run it. The rest are just… what? Advisors? Is that what the Judge and the Mayor do? They advise him?
I don’t have time to think about this now, because my father begins to speak.
“Welcome to the two hundredth Fang and Feather Legacy Harvest. We have one exceptional woman joining us tonight.”
I’m going to assume he’s talking about Cadee and not Elizabeth. Since she’s just here as an example of what not to do.
“A lot of you probably don’t even know what a Golden Legacy is. And unless the next generation is exceptionally prolific, you will not see another one in your lifetime.” He pauses to beam at Cadee, who is suddenly looking a little bit confused and pale.
I send her calming thoughts. Suck it up, Cades. Smile. Play the game.
And she does. Her crooked smile straightens with her spine and she lifts her chin up. Like she’s embracing the idea of whatever the fuck a Golden Legacy is.
I don’t want to know. I really don’t.
“So pay very close attention tonight,” my father continues. “This is truly a special event. But first.” He pauses to clasp his hands together in front of him. Then his smile falls. “Some old business to take care of. I’m sure we’re all in agreement that Dane’s unfortunate demise, while sad, was necessary. But the wife is never expected to suffer for the sins of her husband. So tonight, the debt of my daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Valcourt, will be transferred to my oldest son, Jack, and his wife, Leela.”
People clap. Not something loud, just… a charity clap. Soft and halfhearted.
They hate her, I realize. They hate Elizabeth.
And when I look over at her, she knows this. She doesn’t gather herself the way Cadee did, or put on a brave face.
“They have agreed to take on her debt and Elizabeth is very thankful.”
More soft clapping.
He turns to Elizabeth. “Aren’t you, Elizabeth?”
She swallows hard. Even in the dim light of the flaming torches on the walls, I can see this swallow. Then she nods and bows her head.
“You will serve them, won’t you, Elizabeth?”
She nods again. Doesn’t even bother lifting up her eyes this time.
“Good. Please remove your dedication gown and enter the pool.”