ok guys here it is, part two of the final chapter! there'll be a short epilogue next but this is it, so hopefully everything is revealed and I didn't forget anything but if there is something you're still confused about at the end, just ask! :-)
hope you guys enjoy and that it's not too shitty of an ending lol
oh also, that little bit at the end may seem kinda unimportant and redundant but it'll be an important theme in vices so ;-) ;-) ;-)
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SHE FINDS HIM in the basement, which had been converted into a training room equipped with every weapon under the sun.
Orion is standing in the middle of the candlelit room, dressed smartly in a charcoal gray suit, looking relaxed and vaguely amused. "To be honest, I never expected you to make it back here."
Maisie just stares back at him. The smile on his face turns sinister when she doesn't respond, made even more eerie by the glow from the candles. The shadows are dancing around him, making him seem exactly like the monster the rumors always made him out to be. The monster who turned countless children into murderers and corrupted their souls for his own personal gain.
She always thought she had him figured out — on the outside he was warm and jovial and the inside was cold and calculating and even cleverer than her. Maisie presumed to know how he worked and that he would never betray her if she played the game right. She was wrong, she was naive and she took his bait and did everything he wanted to.
"Why?" she finally asks, and he knows she's not asking why he thought she wouldn't return to the manor. It's obvious he thought she'd be arrested before she had the opportunity.
"How much do you know?"
Maisie shrugs nonchalantly. "Oh, you know, you're actually my grandpa and I'm Gabriel's bastard child instead of the fucking princess I always thought I was."
Orion just laughs, the chilling sound raising goosebumps on Maisie's arms. "Well if it's any consolation, Selene was a bratty child. You should be glad you're not her, especially since she's six feet under."
"Thanks to you, right?"
Her grandfather's face turns stone cold; he turns away from her, pulling something out of his pocket in the process. He holds up what looks to be a picture next to a candle, running his fingers slightly over the image. "Life for a life."
"You mean my mom?" Her voice breaks at the last word, causing Orion to look back at her, face furious.
"Don't call her that," he snarls, pointing a finger harshly in her direction. "You don't get to call her that, not when you're the reason she's dead."
"Me?" she gasps, mystified. "How is it my fault?"
Orion laughs mockingly and when Maisie gets a glimpse of the deranged look in his eyes, it's the first time she's actually afraid. He may be old but he's still the man who formed Nox Stellata, so skilled in the art of death that he had the entire country fearing for their lives.
"What, did you actually think that the king having a child with someone other than the queen wouldn't have repercussions?" She doesn't answer, shocked into silence. "I had thought it was Gabriel who put the hit on Rigel, you know."
"What —"
"Turned out to be Marissa, that bitch of a queen. Didn't know until years later, though. By that time you had formed such a hatred for the entire royal family that I didn't think it mattered who was really at fault."
A sickening feeling takes over Maisie as the words process. "So Gabriel — he was innocent?"
"Technically, I suppose. Still a cheater."
