“My number hasn’t changed.”

Cain exchanged a look with Thomas. “How is that possible?”

Thomas sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought the earlier messages in this thread seemed odd.”

“What do you mean?”

“They didn’t sound like they were addressed to a king from his guard.”

Cain looked at the display once more and scrolled back up through the messages, scanning them quickly. Then he looked up. He remembered some of them. “That can’t be.”

“What?” Haven asked, stepping closer.

Cain lifted his head. “The earlier messages are from Abel.”

Several gasps echoed in the room.

Cain looked at Thomas. “How’s that technically possible?”

Thomas reached for the phone and tapped something on it. “Easier than you think.” He held up the phone, now showing the entry for the contact John. “You can change a contact’s name whenever you want to. Let’s say you made a typo when you originally entered it. So you just go back in, and change the name.”

“Shit!” John cursed, drawing all eyes on him. “So that’s how he did it! He got hold of your phone, cracked your password, and changed his contact info to mine so that when he sent you that message to send you into a trap, it would look like it had come from me.”

“Easy to prove, too,” Thomas continued. “The phone number will still identify Abel.” He pointed to the screen. “Is that his number?”

Cain almost bumped heads with John when they both bent down to read it.

“Yes,” Cain confirmed.

John nodded in agreement.

“He probably counted on being the first to get a hold of the phone after your death and would then have erased his message to you and changed the contact info back,” Thomas guessed. “But you didn’t have the phone with you when you walked into that trap.”

“My brother wants me dead.”

Thomas shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time one brother tries to kill another for the throne. The entire English royalty dealt with that kind of thing on an ongoing basis.”

“But this one is not going to succeed,” Cain said with determination.

***

Abel shoved his cell phone back into his pocket.

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath.

The call had come from Cain’s old cell phone, which Abel had always thought had been destroyed. In fact, he’d searched for it after Cain’s supposed demise in order to erase all evidence that could lead back to him. But he’d never found it and had eventually forgotten about it.

But now Cain had it. And it had been Cain who’d made the call. He’d recognized his brother’s voice.

Did this also mean that Cain was on to him? Abel had to find out, because his entire plan depended on his brother remaining in the dark so that John could execute the orders Abel had given him.

Easing the door to his suite shut behind him, Abel stalked across the corridor and into the connecting hallway that led to the other side of the palace’s underground living quarters, where the king’s and the queen’s suites were located. He treaded lightly, not wanting his footsteps to be heard by anybody.

Frustration churned in his stomach. He’d waited for this opportunity for so long, and now that he was so close to his ultimate goal, he couldn’t allow anything to stand in his way.

Silently, Abel opened another door and peered into the dim corridor. Through the sliver between door and frame he saw a guard pass on his way toward the stairs leading to the first floor. Several seconds passed until the guard was outside of earshot, and Abel could enter the hallway without being seen. Quickly he approached the double doors to the king’s suite, ready to dive into the next closet should anybody come. Luckily, several supply closets were lining the hallway.

But he didn’t have to resort to such hide-and-seek measures. The double doors were ajar. When Abel peeked through the slit, he couldn’t see anybody in the luxurious reception area, but he heard voices from the room to his left: the door to the suite of the leader of the king’s guard, which was now occupied by that interloper, Thomas, and his gay lover, stood open.

Abel wanted to snort, but didn’t dare make a sound. What a disgrace to the vampire race to have two vampire males engaging in sodomy! And under his roof! How could Cain allow such a thing? Cain wasn’t fit to be king if he tolerated such disgraceful acts in his palace.

Abel shifted to bring his ear to the gap between the two doors to listen more closely to the conversation, while holding his breath.