Page 73 of Only Cold Depths
“Yes. Nerezza made sure I knew she was pregnant with Wendell’s child.”
Another bitter laugh tumbled from my lips. “You mean Nerezza tried to blackmail you into letting her into House Zimmer because she was pregnant with me.”
“Yes, but I refused.”
I opened my mouth to snipe back at Beatrice, but she held up her hand. “Please. Let me speak. That’s all I ask.”
Reluctantly, I bit back my snarky words. Beatrice dropped her gaze to her lap. She laced her hands together, then peeled her fingers apart and twisted her jeweled rings back and forth, as if settling them into just the right position.
“Anytime now,” Kyrion growled.
Beatrice arched her eyebrow in a chiding look, which Kyrion returned with an icy glower.
After a few seconds, Beatrice’s hands stilled, and she focused on me again. “I’m sure you’ve done your research on the Zimmer family. Our bloodlines, our psionic abilities, everything. Not many people know this, but seer magic runs through the Zimmer family, although it is an unpredictable ability that often skips a generation or two. My mother was a seer, and I have a touch of that power as well.”
“What does that have to do with Nerezza?”
Beatrice’s spine stiffened a bit more at my harsh tone. “When Nerezza revealed she was pregnant, I had a horrible, horrible vision. Of Nerezza becoming part of House Zimmer and then using her child—you—to destroy us. One by one, I saw her kill me, then Wendell, then Zane, so that she could take control of our House. I couldn’t let that happen, not to my House and especially not to my family. I know you probably won’t believe me, but if Nerezza had become part of House Zimmer, she would have murdered us all.”
Even you, Vesper.Beatrice didn’t say the words, but her thought rasped through my mind, and I had to grind my teeth to keep from flinching.
Even worse, my seer magic stirred to life, and the images Beatrice had described flickered in the open space between us. Nerezza poisoning Beatrice’s tea, then doing the same thing to Wendell, then shoving a young Zane in front of a carriage on the Boulevard. The visions bled into each other, then looped around and repeated, as though Nerezza was here and killing the Zimmers one by one by one in front of me.
I shoved the awful visions away. Zane frowned at me, and his eyes narrowed, as if he too had seen his own childish body splattered across the cobblestones.
“I believe you,” I said in a stiff voice. “What happened next?”
“Nerezza thought having a child with Zimmer blood would be enough to force my hand, but she was wrong,” Beatrice said in a cold, clipped tone. “I started a rumor that her psion power was fading, then paid the headmaster to kick her out of the academy she was attending on Corios. I used every tool at my disposal and every favor I had ever accrued to discredit her.”
She shrugged as though destroying someone’s reputation was of no consequence.
“Once Nerezza realized she couldn’t outmaneuver me, she threatened to go to the gossipcasts with the story unless I paid her off, so I did. I told Nerezza to leave Corios for good.” Beatrice paused. “But I knew it was only a matter of time before Nerezza returned, so I started making preparations.”
“What sort ofpreparations?” I asked in a wary voice.
“First, I hired your cousin Liesl to look after you,” Beatrice said. “I made sure Liesl was by your mother’s side from the moment you were born. I knew Nerezza would bide her time until you were old enough to start showing psionic abilities, and I didn’t want any harm to befall you before then.”
My heart squeezed in on itself. Even though I had always desperately longed for Nerezza’s love, Liesl was the one who had taken care of me.
“When I was seven, the Imperium academy instructors told Nerezza that my seer magic was too weak to bother training me to use it properly. Was that your doing?”
Beatrice shook her head. “No, that wasn’t me. Nerezza knew I had interfered with her schooling, and I couldn’t risk doing the same trick again with yours.”
Sincerity rang through her voice, although her words made my heart sink. In the back of my mind, I’d always thought—hoped—the instructors had been wrong about my magic.
Useless child.Nerezza’s voice hissed through my mind, although it was quickly followed by Esmina’s sneer.Weak link.
“Why are you talking about your schooling?” Wendell asked.
I had to wait for the voices to fade away before I could answer him. “When Nerezza realized I didn’t have enough psion power for her liking, she left me with Liesl. Then, a few weeks later, Liesl took me to a different Imperium academy—a very expensive academy.”
Beatrice nodded. “Thatwas my doing. Liesl contacted me and said that Nerezza had abandoned you, so I sent Liesl enough credits to enroll you in the best academy available. I might not have been able to do it myself, but I always made sure you were taken care of, Vesper.”
Her soft words cracked through the brittle shell I’d erected around my body, and I struggled to keep them from piercing my heart.
“A few months later, Nerezza returned to Corios and married into a small House.” Beatrice’s lips curled back with disgust. “I knew Nerezza still wanted revenge on me, so I paid Liesl to become your mother’s lady-in-waiting. I thought it was the best chance I had of keeping us all safe.”
Kyrion snorted. “You mean it was your best chance of spying on Nerezza and staying ahead of her revenge plot.”
