Page 79 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
Then, once I’d taken her place on stage, I’d also taken her place in his gaze. But when I finally won him, it hadn’t felt the same.
Nothing had.
Because without her, it was all grey.
That was when I’d realised my only cure was revenge.
I plotted and planned. Eric joined me sometimes, throwing in ideas, laughing when I came up with particularly good ones.
That should’ve been my warning.
He’d never taken it seriously. He’d never believed I’d actually go through with it.
That was why he’d betrayed me in the end.
Celestine listened and topped up our glasses, eyes widening at some points, narrowing at others. By the end, tears spilled from them.
“What was done to your sister…” She shook her head and dashed her cheeks. “That was awful. And you…” She pressed her lips together and stared at me a long time before going on. “You did all that work alone and still didn’t get justice for her… or for you.”
I nearly spilt my drink as I jolted at those last words. “For me?” I scoffed, though salt coated my throat. This was the first time I’d told our story and my newly unlocked emotions hadn’t let me get through it without tears of my own.
Her delicate brow furrowed as she canted her head. “You were both wronged. Your childhood—left alone with only each other. The way you had to deal with your wakening magic alone—no one to guide you. And then…” A muscle in her jaw feathered, a softer twin to the one in Sepher’s. “The way the Gilded Suns took advantage of you both.”
“Advantage? I never did anything I didn’t want—”
“Tell me, Zita, what cut did they take from your ‘private performances?’”
“Only a quarter. Though I’m not sure—”
“Only. They sold you off to anyone with enough coin and they took a cut. They knew you were desperate. They knew you had no one after you sister died, and they filled their pockets by putting you on their posters and promising a more intimate experience for those who could afford it. Tell me what part of that is ‘only.’ They used you for their own ends.” Despite her outburst, there was no sign of anger in her face. There was only a softness in her eyes, a downward turn of her mouth, and all the horrible hallmarks of pity.
I hadn’t told her all this for pity. I didn’t want it. Didn’t need it.
It was supposed to be me opening up to someone I thought was becoming a friend—or something close to it. She might know who’d killed Zinnia and this would show her why she should tell me.
“I don’t want… This isn’t about me.” I gritted my teeth in the face of herpity.
“Your life isn’t about you?”
No.
The answer rang in my mind, but I bit my tongue before it could betray me. My lifewasn’tabout me. It was about Zinnia and trying to repay how she’d always looked after me by looking after this one thing for her.
Justice.
Revenge.
Call it what you like, but I needed to get it for her.
“I mean this.This.” I cut the edge of my hand into the arm of the chair. “You’ve been friends with Sepher all this time. You must know about that night. And now you understand why it matters. Who killed her?”
With a sigh, she lowered her head. “I don’t know.”
“Liar,” I breathed, fogging my glass. The outrage of it seared my muscles, making me spring to my feet. “Liar. You must know.” I pointed at her, gift bubbling in my veins.
But she didn’t return my anger in kind. She looked up at me, sorrow gleaming in her eyes as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Zita. I don’t know. And you know I can’t lie about that.”
Of course she couldn’t. She was a fucking fae.
