Page 133 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

Kane let out a furious grunt.

“Someone explain to me what the hell is going on,” I demanded, utterly confused by the scene I was pulled into.

Naomi let out a long breath before she started to explain, “Chadwick lost sight of Kane, so he told Maisie to inform all of us while he searched for Doe, who apparently went outside to get some fresh air—which, by the way, is utterly stupid due to our current situation.” I narrowed my gaze, knowing that I was at fault for her needing to get away. “While we were searching for you, we caught him breaking into Chadwick’s office, and Jesse’s first reaction was to hit him unconscious with that monstrosity of a book. It took all three of us to drag him to that chair and tie him to it with some duct tape we found in one of the desk drawers.”

“So is Doe safe?” It was the only thing I cared about. Our professor tied to a chair after we knocked him out could as well be a problem for later.

Naomi shrugged, “I assume she is. I mean, we got him here,” she said, pointing over her shoulder at Kane with her thumb, who fought against the tape binding him to the wooden chair.

“And I believe Nathaniel is with her. Something his mother said seemed to have upset him,” Mai informed me, looking as if she were going to be sick.

I nodded in her direction. “Are you alright?”

“Mmh, it’s just a lot going through my head tonight.” She meant visions were bothering her but didn’t want to mouth it in front of Kane, but what did it matter now? He obviously knew that we were aware of his intentions.

I took a step forward, taking hold of the tape on his mouth, leaning down to speak right into his face. “How can power be so tempting that you’d kill for it? Cassandra was sixteen years old. She had her whole life ahead of her, as did Amita, but you took everything away from them. You stole them from their families. Why does power hold so much value to you?”

I saw it with my father. Power could change a person, but kill for it?

Kane came from old money himself. He couldn’t possibly want more. Especially because the curse he was trying to break would only give him power over the rituals in the Book of Shadows.

I ripped off the tape.

Kane cursed loudly, “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Archer.”

“Right, I don’t,” I mocked. “It was all in my head, wasn’t it? Everything happened exactly how everyone always told us. All of it is just a trick of our fantasy.”

Kane bared his teeth at me. “I can’t tell you the truth,” he bit out.

I let out a laugh. “We already know. A previous friend of yours told us everything.”

He shook his head, making it look like it took him a terrible lot of effort.

He was a coward for not even admitting his crimes and betrayal while being called out for them. We knew. We knew everything, and he was still pretending.

“I’ve told you something in the graveyard. All that glitters is not gold. There’s someone—He—He—fuck.”

I remember when he had caught Jesse and me spying on him visiting Amita’s grave and randomly quoted Shakespeare. The meaning behind the phrase was well known, but what I couldn’t figure out was what he tried to tell me with it.

“It’s pathetic that you can’t even word your disgusting deeds,” I muttered in utter disgust.

Kane seemed to grow more and more furious with each word I spoke. Good. Have him get frustrated with us. My plan was to poke the bear until he broke and spilled his truth.

I wanted to hear it.

Break him until he confesses to the murder of Cassandra and Amita so he can rot in prison for the rest of his life. May thebloodthirsty spirits in prison eat him alive for making us suffer for so long.

“Archer, you do not understand. Have you noticed how all the spirits’ minds grow blurry as soon as they try to talk about what they saw, what happened fifty years ago? I can’t either,” Kane spoke, taking effort in calming himself while doing so.

I scoffed, “You want us to free you so you can make me take her life for you to gain all of this dense power.”

Kane frowned at me. “What? I—no.” He looked past me to Chadwick’s desk. “All I want from you is to break open the lock on the last drawer. I can’t s—speak or write it down. But this will show you.”

He was good at acting as if trying to speak these words physically hurt him.

Ridiculous.

“I’d prefer not to disturb our friends’ privacy,” Jesse mumbled, still standing beside Kane, his hand on top ofWar and Peacethat lay on a side table.

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