Page 21 of Cold Heir

I was quiet a moment, staring when a set of blurry images were placed on the table before me.

“A perfect match for body-build,” he began as he laid out another picture, “height, hair color.”

My brow tensed as I stared at them all—four pictures of the infamous Blackbird, cloaked in her signature, all-black attire. Renditions of the mask she wore had been spray painted on the sides of abandoned buildings throughout the Capitol by the rogue humans who idolized her, which was all the more reason she needed to be taken down fast. She fueled their fight, gave them hope.

If we could killher, we’d kill their spirit, their futile, misguided will to resist.

“Believe me, I’ve flipped this thing as many ways as I could,” he shared. “I’ve lost sleep analyzing the details, and I have yet to come up with a better explanation for why an unmarked, unbranded human girl would make her way to the Quincentennial gala,” he concluded. “How many do you know ballsy enough to attempt such a feat, knowing the number of high-powered Ianites who’d be under that roof?”

“And you think … Corina might be Blackbird?” My mind was reeling.

Jon nodded and I turned toward the images again, studying them closer.

“You just said she was unmarked and unbranded,” I recalled. “You mentioned those same details at the press conference as well, but they weren’t public knowledge. Who’s your source?”

He hesitated to answer.

“Dr. Driskel,” he admitted. “I did some digging, discovered that he was the physician assigned to perform Corina’s pre-transactional examination, so … I pressed him for info, anything that may have seemed odd.”

“Pressed?”

Jon nodded once. “Turns out the man has quite a few secrets. Secrets he’d prefer I didn’t share with the public. Or his wife,” he added with a grin as he sipped again. “And since news has broken of something not being quite right with this arrangement, others have reached out on their own.”

My brow quirked. “Like who?”

“None other than the Lydian Dynasty’s most infamous, jilted lover herself—Cecelia McNamara.”

The mention of her name brought my attention back to him. She made it clear she wouldn’t just turn over on this, letting Julian get away with how he publicly humiliated her. From the sound of things, she made good on that promise.

I looked over the images again.

“Even if you’re not fully convinced the two are one in the same—Corina and Blackbird—you at least have to admit the possibility exists,” he insisted.

My head spun as I considered it, but for Julian’s sake, I hoped Jon’s hunch wasn’t right. If he’d stumbled onto something solid, then the three men I loved like brothers had possibly just committed the most heinous crime to ever strike our Dynasty.

“You’re different,” Jon blurted. “Unlike your comrades, I trust you—your word, your judgment. So, because of this, I’m going to make you a unique offer I wouldn’t propose to anyone else.”

Staring, I was still starkly uncertain whether he could be trusted.

If you think I’m completely crazy,” he began, “if you think I’m chasing a ghost, just say the word and I’ll drop the entire story. However, if you look at these images and see the same thing I do, I’ll pursue it for usboth,” he declared. “For our beloved Dynasty.”

We were plunged into silence as I considered the ins and outs of what he proposed.

“Is there any way to maneuver through this, pursue your hunchwithoutthe other princes’ reputations being marred further? Without them coming under fire by the Magistrates?”

Jon’s grave expression was a prelude to a grim response.

“I won’t lie and pretend that shielding them from the fallout has been a priority, but either way, the answer to your question is no. If they’re guilty, if they’ve colluded in this scheme to any degree, they would be at the complete mercy of the law.”

My gaze shifted to the floor when he gave the answer I expected.

“But I’d like you to consider that this is bigger than any of you, bigger thananyof us,” he continued. “If I’m right about her, and things progress as scheduled with this bond, think of how dangerous someone with Blackbird’s motives would be with the power of four monarchs coursing through her veins. Not only would she be more dangerous, she’d be virtually unstoppable.”

My heart thundered once more, just imagining the disaster it would ensue if that were to happen. Giving Jon permission to delve deeper into his investigation with my support would mean that all who’d gotten their hands dirty in this mess would be exposed. Even those I loved. However, he’d made another valid point. I’d been dragged into this against my will, forced to agree to a bond with a human, all to protect one of my brothers. If the tables had been turned, and it wasmewho’d gotten into the mess Julian had, I never would have allowed him to sacrifice his life to save mine.

But Julian had done just that, and what Jon offered would provide me with something I might never be presented with again.

A way out.

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