“I wouldn’t dare,” he says softly.
“Alright.” I nod. “Then we have work to do.”
When I walk out of the Rec room, Minnie, Stacey, and Sabrina are huddled together. When they see us, they rush at me. “Do you realise what this means?” Minnie asks, nearly jumping out of her pink shorts.
“What?”
“You’re a mob boss, Lia!” I stare into the middle distance above Minnie’s head. “I think the Boneweaver Bitch is a good title,” she cries. “Or maybe the Boneweaver Don.”
“Boneweaver Baddie,” Stacey sighs wistfully. “The slogan options are endless.”
I know my friends are trying to make light of averybad situation. But the way Marduk is looking at me now has me on edge. “What is it?” I ask him.
“I want to suggest,” he says slowly, tilting his head to the side in a way I can tell Minnie finds endearing. “That my good shark-friend felt this decision was a good one. Felt that you would be capable. That he has faith in his regina.” He has no reason to be saying things that make the backs of my eyes burn and my hands tremble. “I have never known a more decisive beast, Lady Boneweaver,” Marduk continues ruthlessly. “Nor a more calculated one.”
“Is that supposed to make her feel better?” Yeti asks contemplatively.
Marduk’s voice is incredulous. “Yes.”
Chapter 4
Ghoul
“Pass the chippies, Addy.” I sit down in the office chair of the surveillance room, gesturing to the good General Black Adder. He silently passes me the bag of potato chips—chicken flavoured, of course. I take the bag and pull one of my gloves off with my teeth, dropping the fine black leather into my lap before delving into the bag. “What part are we up to?”
Ten screens are mounted before us in the surveillance room in the basement of the new Naga mansion. Usually, the screens show various external hidden security cameras and audio feeds, but the one in the very centre now shows a permanent re-run of what’s now being fondly calledThe Battle of Drakos Estate.
“The Boneweaver girl is spitting blue fire.” Adder gestures to my regina, breathing a stream of electric blue flames out of her giant muzzle.
“Have we figured out why it’s that colour?” I ask, leaning forwards, as if I’m confused by this.
Adder sighs. “No, but my thermal senses confirm that it’s hotter than regular dragon fire.” I feel my own power gathering behind my eyes in response to that. Adder’s head snaps towardsme as his thermal organ picks up an anomaly. “Don’t do that shit here, Ghoul.”
I lean back in my chair with a smirk. “Don’t worry, you’re not on my hit list. Or are you?” I cackle.
The radio on the table goes off, Charlotte Naga’s commanding shriek coming through. “Prepare for entry. ETA two minutes. All teams at the ready.”
Adder sighs. “It’s finally time.”
Both of us get up, and I toss my empty packet onto the table, brush crumbs on my pants and put my gloves back on. We traipse up the long steps into the light of the ground floor and round the house until we get out to the hidden corridor built into the laundry room. Outside, serpents are bustling around with last-minute preparations, and it’s at the front entrance that Adder and I go our separate ways. He and the other generals head out with their chosen teams to hide in their allocated positions around the house and grounds.
I’ve never really had a team. Just a few diehard fans who circulate around me, sniffing at the fumes of death I leave behind.
Charlotte Naga awaits with one of them, Natalia, a young captain with dark hair. She’s exchanged her commissioned uniform for a maid’s dress today. In her hands, she holds a tray, nodding at Charlotte’s repeated instructions. The Naga princess sees me and stiffens, her perfectly made-up face smoothing out into a mask almost as cold as my own bone-mask. “General, everyone is getting into place.”
Cobras are naturally bossy. They can’t help themselves, and I can practically see Charlotte’s hood snapping out in the form of her blonde Marilyn curls. I’ve never actually seen her shifted form, but I’m sure it’s as cold and cunning as her human one.
“Want a smoke for the nerves?” I ask lightly, reaching into my pocket and flicking out my black case of hand-rolls.
She wrinkles her nose, but it’s pert and delicate. A lot of males like her face, but in the long years I’ve known her, that face has only ever disgusted me, for more reasons than one. “Put those away before they see it.”
“I’ll be a good little boy,” I coo at her. “Don’t you worry about it.” I turn to Natalia, and the captain straightens unconsciously. One of the hands holding her tray should have a curling black B tattooed on it, but she covers it with makeup every time she’s not in uniform. Didn’t even flinch when I jokingly suggested they tattoo themselves in homage to me. The next day, a bunch of them all walked in to proudly show me their forearms.
Natalia bows over her tray of pink lemonade, little mint leaves poking out from the top. “Good girl,” I say in approval. “Smiles on, voices sweet.” She nods eagerly, keen to please me. Charlotte, on the other hand, presses her lips together. I suppose she is yet to forgive me for old Uncle Ben.
Who was lucky I didn’t kill him more brutally than I did.
The sound of an engine grows louder, and I detect a limo.
