Page 80 of Keeping Secret (Secret McQueen 4)

“Well, I think that’s a brilliant idea,” Juan Carlos said, his new smile equal to Rebecca’s in creepy satisfaction.

I didn’t like it, and I didn’t want to agree. Rebecca had only one reason to suggest I pick Brigit, and it had nothing to do with logic. The council had made a choice that ended in one of her children being dead, and I’d been the one to kill him. Now she’d found a way to put my supposed child’s life in the hands of the council.

Eye for an eye.

Child for a child.

She couldn’t kill Brigit, but she could put her life in danger, and what better way than to attach it to Peyton’s. There was a certain poetry in Brigit tying her life to that of the vampire who had actually created her, but I was having trouble appreciating it. Her vampire death would mean his freedom, just as her human death had led to his imprisonment.

“Brigit, are you sure?”

“Yup.”

“You don’t have to do this. I could ask Holden.” When I said this, I made sure to look at Rebecca instead of Brigit. I wouldn’t put Holden at risk to prove a point to Rebecca, but I wanted to remind her she still had other children, and now the choice and the power were all in my hands. The elder’s face grew ashen, and she took her seat. Favorite or not, she didn’t want to see Holden take Brigit’s place. She wouldn’t push this further than she already had.

“I want to. To thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

The whole room was tense and quiet. Sig and Juan Carlos continued to watch me—I didn’t need to look at them to know it. The weight of their scrutiny was heavy.

“Okay.” My teeth ground together after I said it. “I will choose the warden, Brigit Stewart, as the lifeline lock on Alexandre Peyton.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Sig, Brigit and I stood side by side in front of the small door that kept Peyton at a safe distance from the rest of the world. The hall was so cramped we barely had enough room for three of us to stand.

“So what now?” Brigit asked, rocking on her heels. She was making a valiant effort to appear nonchalant, but I knew her well enough by now to recognize the unease creeping into her voice.

“Now we must open the door.”

My eyes widened. “Why?” I was in no mood to chat with Peyton again, not after our last tête-à-tête. If I went the remainder of my years, however many they might be, without seeing Peyton’s gaunt, creepy face ever again, I’d be all too happy.

; “We need his blood,” Sig said matter-of-factly, ignoring my dismay.

There was no way we were getting out of this without opening the door. Fine. But that didn’t mean I had to set foot anywhere near—

“Secret,” Sig continued, “would you be so kind?”

“I…” I struggled to come up with a viable excuse, but he and I both knew I was perfectly aware of how to open the stupid door, and my blood would do the trick as easily as his would. “Fuck it. Fine.”

This time Sig didn’t need to draw blood for me. My fangs slid out with little coaxing, and I bit my own thumb. Pressing the blood against the door, I followed the steps as Sig had shown me before, and the swimming blue light slipped away as if afraid of my blood. The lock vanished and the door swung open as it had for Sig the first time we’d come down here.

Not that knowing what was coming made it any less fascinating to watch. Somehow it felt more magical now that it was my blood unlocking the seal.

I turned to Sig and held my hand out to the open door. “I’ve seen this show before.”

He didn’t budge. Instead, he held out a thin, sharp blade to me, handle first. “She is your responsibility. And so is he. Traditionally, it would be expected that you would draw his blood in a more…standard way. But I understand you might be too squeamish for that.”

Did Sig just imply I was too chickenshit to bite Peyton?

The knife was now more of a mockery than a tool I’d find good use for. How long was I going to have to fight for the council to take me seriously?

Gently, I pushed his hand away from me.

“I think I can handle one little vampire.” But the hard swallow that nearly caught in my throat made my unease apparent.

Before Sig could offer me the knife again, I ducked under the low doorframe, leaving the Tribunal leader and my ward out in the hall. Once again, I was alone with Peyton. My head was spinning with the scary reality of what I was expected to do.