Death Game: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #3) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,85

entirety of my position known. It will be much easier now.”

He’d freed me.

He hadn’t just protected me by removing the compulsion. He’d given me the tools to protect myself. That meant so much.

I interlocked my fingers. “I’m unsure how much of my grandmother’s plan you were privy to. I assume that due to my presence on the estate, she kept some of the finer details to herself as I have. Now things are coming to a head, I’d like to fill in the gaps.”

Their faces smoothed to a wrinkled replica of what mine was before I blurted the word Vissimo.

No one made a sound. It wasn’t from a sense of devotion like the ex-Indebted. Without knowing they did so—because they’d have stopped if they realised—the six elite studied me like crocodiles about to ambush their prey.

I appreciated that they were looking at me like an equal. “The first thing you need to know is that I freed two thousand and thirty-two enslaved vampires yesterday. They are now in my employ for the duration of one year. They previously belonged to Sundulus and Fyrlia. Currently, they’re continuing the appearance of working for the clans until I make my move.”

Dame Burke’s mouth bobbed.

Opening my document case, I removed six sheets and handed them out. “This was my plan for the next sixty years—for my lifetime. In two years, when the last of the real estate had been purchased, I had plans to expand into other industries. In ten years, I would have doubled the assets my grandmother had attained. In twenty years, I would have been a real player on the board. In thirty years, things would have become ugly as I began pressing in on clan territory to take assets back from them. That battle would have continued until my death. At which point—if I’d dared to have a family—I would no doubt pass the reins onto my children.”

I studied them as they skimmed over the ten-page summary of my Bluff City domination plan.

Mr Dithis whistled low.

Steeling myself, I continued. “If Fyrlia wasn’t a breath away from winning, that might have been my life. I would have played until they killed me or until my death, but,” I said, lifting my chin, “the situation has changed. As much as I tried to keep myself distant from Kyros, my emotions became involved. The mating ritual altered me physically. Fyrlia is days from winning. The plan must therefore change.” I placed my palms on the table and met each of their gazes. “I am not their creature,” I said. “I will never be their creature.”

Lady Treena and Sir Olythieu relaxed.

“Neither am I my grandmother’s creature.” I didn’t give Mrs Syrre’s gasp time to settle in, ploughing forward. “I am not Agatha Le Spyre. If you aren’t aware of that, then you need to be. I’m not a replacement for the woman you lost, however much I respected and idolised her. What I am is someone who infiltrated a clan of vampires to do the right thing by her, by you, and by the people in this city. And, I initially thought, for me.” I curled my fingers to a fist. “I won’t kill people that I care about—Vissimo or other. I will take the path that makes me happy and protects those I love.”

Looking at my ten-page plan, I tore it in two. “This is not the life I wish to lead. My grandmother did, but I don’t.”

“You’re going to abandon this city?” Sir Olythieu asked coolly.

I smiled. “No. The game must end. Ingenium hurts humans and vampires alike. It must be finished, but that can’t be achieved in the way my grandmother envisioned, or how I first intended. There’s a way we can end Ingenium on our terms. Now, I want to pre-empt the next part by acknowledging I’ve lived through three months of terror in comparison to the years you’ve spent under their control. But I have felt terror.”

I pulled back my hair. I always covered the scar with make-up before coming. Things were so messed up after Tommy left, and I wasn’t sure that I could even answer their questions about how I got it.

“I got this while murdering one of my grandmother’s killers,” I told them. “Clan Fyrlia wanted my money and they took Tommy to lure me away from protection. Tommy had no idea she was dating one of the Fyrlia royals. He drugged her, and she barely survived. I walked into their territory to save her—a place