Hexed (Never After #6)

30. Venesa

THIRTY

VENESA

“You okay?” Athena asks, standing next to me in the back of the ballroom.

“Yeah,” I reply distractedly.

I’m not okay. Not by a long shot, but she doesn’t need to know that.

“Just a lot on my mind.” I look at her, but I don’t think she buys it because she narrows her eyes and then leans in until she’s close enough to whisper dirty words in my ear, and while normally I’m all for the sexual appetite she brings—it’s the only reason I keep her around—I can’t help but notice the difference in the way my body feels when I’m with Athena as opposed to Enzo.

Maybe that’s why I don’t hear what she said. I’m too focused on someone else.

“She’s fine.” Fisher’s voice cuts through the tense moment as he saunters over and knocks back a glass of the overpriced champagne in one gulp. He sets the empty glass down on the bar and then winks at us. “Aren’t you, Short Stack?”

Relief douses me, and my shoulders relax. “There you are. I was thinking you wouldn’t show up.”

He gives me a goofy grin and sways slightly before righting himself.

“You drunk, Gup?” I hide my smile.

He doesn’t drink often, but when he does, he’s either the life of the party or the mood ruiner. I’ve tried to tell him he needs to find better control, but there are demons Fisher’s been dealing with for a long time that we don’t talk about, so instead, I just make sure I’m here to weather the storm with him.

“I am perfect .” He places a hand to his chest.

He’s decked out in a bow tie and suit, and while I appreciate the effort, he still sticks out like a sore thumb.

“You look good, Fisher.” I reach out and straighten his bow tie. “And here you thought you couldn’t pull off dressing formal.”

He grins at me, his eyes swimming with something . “Yeah, well…”

A high-pitched whine from a microphone being too close to a speaker cuts through whatever he replies with, making my ears ache. The people around me wince, but then Uncle T takes the stage with a bright, beaming smile, and the room goes silent, everyone paying rapt attention to the King of the Sea, waiting with bated breath.

Or maybe none of us really care, but we’re all forced to pretend like he’s the most important thing in the room.

My bitterness has clearly started to supersede my love for him.

“Here comes our lord and savior,” Fisher mumbles into his fresh glass of champagne. “Everyone shut up and listen, or else he’ll ruin your life.”

I give him a sarcastic smile and face the front again.

Uncle T drones on for a long time about how much Aria means to him and how long he’s waited for this moment, and I try real hard not to roll my eyes at the sentiment, because we get it .

She’s his sparkling jewel.

A lot of occlusions if you ask me, but maybe I have a keener eye than everyone else.

It isn’t until he calls Aria and Enzo up on the stage that I actually pay attention.

I shift on my feet and notice Fisher doing the same. I give him a weird look, letting his awkwardness distract me from the fact that I’ve done the one thing I promised myself I never would do.

Fall for a man.

How… disappointing .

“You know,” Uncle T continues, “there’s a long-standing tradition in the Kingston family, one that’s been passed down for generations.”

His words make me perk up, my gaze snapping to the front like a magnet.

“My great-great-great-great…and probably a few more greats in there”—he pauses with a sparkling grin, and right on cue, everyone chuckles—“kept a journal. And in that journal, he talked about the long line of royalty that’s in our blood. One he traced back to Atlantis.”

More chuckles filter through the room but not from me. My eyes narrow on him instead.

“Doesn’t even make sense,” Fisher mumbles into Athena’s ear. “How can you find a bloodline in a city that’s been lost?”

“I know it sounds like a child’s tale.” Uncle T waves his hand like he can’t be bothered. “And maybe it is. But it’s become an important tradition. One that means, well…” He runs his hand over his beard. “It means everything to me.”

He nods, and Bastien moves onto the stage, his eyes meeting mine across the room.

I stand up straight as a board, blood whooshing so fast through my body, I can hear it in my ears.

“There’s a family painting that’s been in our family for over a century.” Uncle T pauses, his gaze searing into mine.

An icy chill runs down my spine because I know . I just know he’s doing this to punish me.

I watch with a sinking dread as Bastien presents the painting to Aria.

“Today, friends, is a momentous occasion,” Uncle T declares. “Because today is the day I pass it on to my pride and joy, the only one who’s deserving of such a sentimental and momentous item of our history: Aria.” He calls her over.

She leaves Enzo’s side and walks to her father, and my insides drop to the floor as she gives him a hug and then turns to the crowd, taking the microphone.

“Thank you, Daddy, for all your support in everything.” Her eyes scan the room and don’t stop moving until they find mine. And then she grins, victorious. “I know there are many people who claim to be ‘family’ who have had their eye on something so precious. But they don’t deserve it. It’s tradition , after all.”

She turns to her father and grasps his hand before speaking into the microphone again. “It belongs with a real Kingston. Even if I won’t technically carry the name for long.”

Laughter filters through the crowd, and she continues to speak, but I can’t hear her anymore, because the world has become muffled.

My vision blurs, and I reach out, grasping Athena’s shoulder to steady myself.

Uncle T watches me from the stage, knowingly, and I can feel the moment the last little strings of my loyalty shrivel and wither away until nothing but betrayal and hate sit in their place, heavy and dark.

“V, you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Athena reaches out to rest her hand on my arm, but I can barely feel her touch.

“Oh, shit,” Fisher says, his panicked eyes looking at me and then up at Aria.

I don’t know what to do.

My entire life has been focused on one thing. Making my uncle happy. But that trident painting, as silly as it may be, was my last connection to my momma, and while she may not have been a great one, she was still mine .

If there’s one thing a man will do, it’s disappoint you.

And I shouldn’t have thought my uncle would be the exception.

Enzo excuses himself from being onstage and walks away. I track his movements, my heartbeat pounding in my ears, watching as he leaves the ballroom entirely. And after all these weeks, all these hours of torment holding myself back and trying like hell to be a good person, to not disappoint Uncle T by betraying Aria…I can’t find a single solitary fuck to give now.

So I follow him out of the room.

Because maybe it’s time I truly put myself first and go after the things that I want.

Starting with my cousin’s fiancé.