Queen (The Blackcoat Rebellion #3)(70)

“Your protective detail made me,” I said, lingering near the door as the guard pushed it shut. It was at least two feet thick and made of impenetrable metal—supposedly strong enough to withstand even a nuclear bomb. “Greyson—he refused to come.”

“He always was smarter than you.” Daxton resumed his pacing. “I should kill you myself. Do you have any idea what you did out there?”

“I didn’t do anything. The crowd was ready to rip you apart the second you tried to make me kill my own mother. That’s twisted even for you, Victor.”

He pushed his bloodstained hair back from his eyes, glowering at me. “It’s Daxton.”

“Who the hell are you kidding down here?” I waved my hand toward the empty room. “It’s just me and you, and we both know exactly who you are.”

“Yes, we do.” He took a step toward me, his shoulders squared. “I am the Prime Minister of the United States of America. I am the most powerful man in this country. And no matter what my name happened to be two years ago, today it is Prime Minister Daxton Hart.”

That was as much of a confession as I would probably get out of him, but I had no doubt it wouldn’t be good enough for Knox. The few supporters Daxton had left could spin it, and we would be left at square one.

“How did she pick you?” I said. “Augusta. Did you two know each other? Did she come to Elsewhere one day and see you there with eyes exactly the same color as her real son’s? I know how you found Kitty, but how did Augusta find you?”

He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling as he stared at me wordlessly. For a moment I wondered if he’d cracked—if he was so deluded into thinking he really was Daxton now that he couldn’t handle any memories of hislife before, believing they would negate his new identity.

But instead a wicked smile twisted across his face, and he took another step toward me. I had nowhere to go in the safe room, which only seemed to grow smaller and smaller as the seconds passed. My fingers tightened around theknife’s handle. Let him try to hurt me. We would see how far that got him.

“Victor Mercer knew the family intimately,” he murmured. “Daxton was a friend of his, you see. He would stay with Victor and his brother while he visited Elsewhere, and they would help Daxton partake in his particular...proclivities. Augusta didn’t visit as frequently, but she did drop by from time to time, and one day, she approached Victor with a proposition. She liked him, you see. He was resourceful, driven, and he took pride in his work—all qualities she needed in a double for her son.”

“And you jumped on the chance to seize power for yourself,” I said.

“Naturally. Victor wasn’t stupid.” He took another step closer to me. He was within arm’s reach now, but he kept his hands at his side, instead towering over me. “Do you want to hear something funny?”

“Bet it won’t make me laugh.”

“Mmm, but it will make you think.” He closed the distance between us, his body inches from mine. I could smell the blood on his clothes, and it made my stomach turn. “Victor Mercer was Masked months before the original Daxton Hart died.”

I stared at him, my heart pounding. “What?”

He grinned and raised his bloodstained fingers, brushing them against my jaw. It took everything I had not to stab him through the gut right then and there. “Perhaps Augusta knew Celia was targeting Daxton, or perhaps her son was misbehaving, and she wanted him out of the way. Perhaps she wanted a puppet she could control. Or perhaps it was simply a coincidence.”

Nothing was a coincidence in the Hart family, and my mind reeled. Daxton, his wife, and his elder son, Jameson, had all been in the car that had exploded, killing them instantly. But it had been Daxton’s car—he was the only one who was supposed to die. I didn’t know for sure who had bombed it, but before that moment, all signs had pointed to Celia. Now I wasn’t so certain.

“Guess Augusta gave you your lucky break,” I said shakily. “Now look what you’ve turned it into. A dictatorship, with you at the top of the pyramid.”

“It is rather beautiful, isn’t it?” He brushed his thumb against my lips, and I nearly gagged. “Just like you.”

“You know what my favorite part was? How you killed Minister Creed and Minister Ferras in cold blood and forced the other Ministers to sign the amendment that gave you absolute power,” I said. “Managing a coup in your own country with only two bullets—it’s actually sort of impressive. But I bet the real Daxton could’ve done it with one. Are the surviving Ministers still being held prisoner in the Stronghold, or have you flayed them alive and butchered them the way you did Minister Bradley?”

“Mmm. I had no idea you had such an admiration for my techniques. It’s a shame—if I’d known sooner, perhaps we could have made the most of it. Though I suppose there’s still time.” He slid his other hand over my hip. “I don’t have to kill you right away.”

“You don’t have to kill me at all,” I said, suppressing a shudder at his touch. “The people will revolt.”

“They already are. I hadn’t wanted to declare war on my own country, but if I must...” He shrugged. “So be it.”

My lips curled in disgust. “You don’t care about the people at all, do you? Just power and what it can do for you.”