The Serpent's Curse by Lisa Maxwell (read an ebook week .TXT) 📕

wouldn’t find out that you had someone on the inside, Viola?” he asked, bored with her continued act. “Did you really think I wasn’t aware you were trying to set your brother and me at odds with each other? You were never actually interested in coming back to the Devil’s Own or pledging any real loyalty to me. I knew that for sure when I discovered that Dolph’s journal had gone missing from my rooms a few weeks ago.”

“You mean Dolph’s rooms,” she told him, confusion turning to anger. “You stole them from him, just as you stole his cane. As you stole his life.”

“It was your brother’s Five Pointers who took Dolph’s life,” James lied. “I simply stepped in to lead the Devil’s Own when no one else would, including you.”

“Lies,” Viola seethed, and James felt a pain course through his chest. “I know what you did. It was you who murdered Dolph, not any Five Pointer. I should kill you now.”

James ignored Werner’s and Mooch’s sudden interest. “Where did you get that information, Viola?” He tilted his head to one side, watching the emotions flicker across her face. “Let me guess. You believed tales whispered to you by Jianyu—though why you would trust him, I can’t imagine. Not after what he did to Tilly.”

“You have no business speaking her name,” Viola snarled.

The tightness in his chest increased, and James couldn’t repress his grimace. Logan was already moving to attack, but even with the pain near his heart, James held a hand up to stay him. Let Viola dig herself a deeper grave.

As the boys in the cart paused, waiting for his order, James clenched the head of the cane and tried to gather his strength. He felt the power beneath it. In the past weeks he’d grown so close to touching the promise of that power, and now he focused all that he was into it. He was gratified to hear Viola suck in a sharp breath, and he glanced up to see the confusion—the fear—in her eyes. He knew what had caused it, because he felt it himself, the echo of power in the mark he wore on his own skin. From the way the others shifted uneasily, he could tell they felt it as well. Which was fine. It would serve as a warning to all—that he was more than he seemed. That he should not be crossed.

“Have a care, Viola,” James said, repeating his warning from a little while before through gritted teeth. “Your friends’ lives still hang in the balance, and Torrio knows exactly how underhanded you can be. If I don’t send the order to stop him, your friends will die.”

He felt the pressure in his chest recede.

“Much better,” he said, adjusting his grip on Dolph’s cane. He held his focus on the marks for a few seconds longer, to show her he could, before he released them. “I only ever agreed to take you back because I knew you could provide additional information about what was inside that building. It seems my premonition was correct. You’ll give me that information, and you’ll give it now.”

“It won’t do you any good,” Viola told him. “If the artifact is already inside, it will be impossible to take it back out.”

Nibsy gave her a pitying look. “Come now, Viola. Nothing’s ever impossible, especially not when your friends’ lives are on the line.” He saw her realization when it struck. She had made a play, and now she understood her loss. “I’m sure you’ll figure out some way to retrieve the artifact. After all, sunset won’t wait. And neither will my ring.”

AN EXPECTED INTERRUPTION

1902—New York

After finishing with Theo Barclay, Jack Grew took the stairs down from the Library of Life room to the chambers below, whistling as he went. It was a strange little tune, and he realized as he reached the sixteenth floor that he couldn’t recall where he’d heard it. Actually, he couldn’t recall having ever heard it, except maybe in dreams, but Jack dismissed that idea at once. It didn’t matter where he’d picked up the song. Things were going his way, and by the time night dropped her veil over the city, the Delphi’s Tear would be his, and Theo Barclay would be no more.

The Order’s ceremony to consecrate the top five floors of the Flatiron Building as their new headquarters was to be held in the more public chambers on the sixteenth floor. Here, a larger portion of the membership could be in attendance, as the upper floors were reserved for the wealthiest and most powerful members.

Like the library above, the more public sanctuary was also located at the front of the building so the members could take in the grandeur of the city. To enter, members were required to navigate a series of antechambers, each fortified with their own protections. Between each, narrow winding turns had been designed to disorient and confuse, so that by the time the member stepped into the space, he would immediately be overtaken by the view. Centered in front of the bank of windows was an angular altar. It had been carved from a single enormous piece of lapis lazuli, and the setting sun illuminated it, turning the altar as brilliant as the summer sky.

Jack entered behind a few of the other members, appreciating the warm glow of the phosphorus lamps that hung from gilded chains around the edges of the room and the ornate designs etched into the walls. With its windows, the entire space was bathed in the ethereal light of the Golden Hour. To the west, the sun had nearly reached the water. It would be only a little while longer now. Until the sun dipped below the horizon, Jack would enjoy the pageantry that was to come. And after… he would make his move.

Before the altar stood five women clad only in silken sarongs. Their bare skin had been painted in gold from head