“Luckily, Napoleon has never dabbled in any other businesses except for bars, drugs, and the occasional brothel, so he has no easy way to get into the companies tracing ancestries. There’s no corporate connection between his businesses and those, so he can’t simply waltz in and ask for the information. He’d have to infiltrate them, which could take years, and Napoleon could literally spend decades without finding a thing. Eventually, I’d hope, he’d just give up or, God willing, he’d finally meet his maker, and we’d be done with his lunacy once and for all. Obviously, it’s not foolproof, but it gives us quite a bit of time.”

“And the council knows nothing of this?”

“No, not about this subject,” Max said, shaking his head. “If you remember, because you’re a daywalker, I needed their permission to even run your DNA for genealogical purposes since research on daywalkers is forbidden, and I’ve put myself into a slightly gray area by running these additional tests. But, there’s no point in telling them anything. We won’t murder hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, for a cause such as this. It’s not worth it. Therefore, this stays with us.”

There was something in Max’s tone that vexed Bennett, and several seconds passed before she spoke. “Right, well then that leads us back to why you didn’t tell me about this years ago, or were you hoping to become king of the kingdom?”

“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Max said, setting his jaw. He pressed a button on his phone, and Victor came into the study a minute later.

“Yes, sir?”

“Victor, would you be so kind as to show Dr. Prescott around the house a bit? He needs to get his bearings since he’ll now be calling this home.”

“Of course, sir,” Victor said, waving his arm toward the door. “Right this way, Dr. Prescott.”

“Oh, before you go,” Bennett said, pivoting in her chair. “How long were you with Napoleon?”

“Ninety-seven years next month. Why?”

“In all that time, did you ever hear him speak of an army he may be building?”

Landon’s shoulders fell. “I’d have to say we all can agree Napoleon has a lot of issues, and trust is at the top of that list. Other than Ivan, no one in the coven knows all the goings-on. I heard some scuttlebutt over the years about him wanting an army, but they were only rumors as far as I know. I never saw or heard anything that would make me believe otherwise.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Any time.” Landon began to follow Victor, only to turn back around and return to Bennett. “I almost forgot. Does this belong to you?” he said, reaching into his pocket. “I found it while I was prepping to destroy everything. It was stuck to some wood.”