Page 129 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

Like nails on a chalkboard, the mortal woman’s voice droned in my ear. “Mr. Stuart, we cannot thank you enough for your generous donation. You truly don’t want any credit? We could name the new wing after you⁠—”

“That won’t be necessary,” I said, rubbing slow, tight circles into my temples.

She donated it.

The bitch siphoned our funds and funneled them into four separate organizations.

Mine had—allegedly—gone to a boarding school for troubled and disadvantaged teens. What was I gonna do? Reclaim the money? Tell the school to return a few hundred thousand dollars meant to help kids escape generational addiction?

Calypso’s funds were worse. Experimental treatments for children with cancer. We couldn’t take the money back even if we were heartless enough to try. And legally? There was no way Valora Lamb had pulled this off without cover.

This wasn’t about the money anymore.

This was personal.

“I believe it will be,” the woman chirped. “Oh! We could have you appear at an upcoming gala⁠—”

“The only insult you could offer, Miss King, would be wasting a dime of that money on a party,” I snapped. “Use it for the kids. Equip them. Give them something stable. Not some bullshit soiree for the egos of the upper class.”

Silence stretched on the line. Then, a sheepish, “Oh—of course. No disrespect intended. I just thought⁠—”

“I apologize, but I have a meeting,” I cut in, ending the call before she could backpedal further. I tossed the phone onto my desk and buried my face in my hands.

Game. Set. Match.

And she knew it.

I’d spent the night in the Middle, healing from the Wraith’s ambush, flanked by my two sulking cousins.

Nix had brooded in his chambers, doing his duty in silence until sunrise, when I could safely return to the mortal realm.

The day had offered nothing but headaches since.

Dragging my palms down my face, I pulled out my phone and fired off a text to Calypso.

Cyrus

Can you meet me in my office at La Lune in fifteen?

Calypso

Kinda in the middle of something. How about forty?

Cyrus

Make it fast, Cal.

Calypso

Yeah, yeah.

Be there ASAP. I just gotta wrap up this test.

Cyrus

Thanks. See you soon.

With that established, I sighed, downed the last gulp of my black coffee, and thumbed through the remaining files on Valora Lamb. Once it was clear I’d sucked every ounce of marrow from these drives, I grabbed my phone again.