“Dear, sweet, innocent little mouse, has he never told you of the first person he saw me kill?”
“Yes,” she breathed out. “You were 8 years old. He had been chosen by Malachi to go through the program, and he passed. You killed him not long after. He said that you told him that Malachi chose wrong.”
“And he cried wolf,” I hummed. “He doubted my intentions before anything else. He said I killed many Initiates over those years, he was angry about it, but a child has an imagination that can out-create even the most talented of writers.”
“What are you trying to say?” she demanded.
“They had intentions of their own after graduation. The early years of the program were filled with mistakes,” I explained coolly. “Dearest father was only one man trying to run the world, things were bound to slip through the cracks. He chose men who wanted to take that power and hurt others. Not the ones we wanted them to hurt, but use it to fuck, to steal, to perhaps challenge father dearest himself. I always have my reasons, little mouse, I just don’t always voice them.”
Her eyes searched mine, trying to find the lie in my truth, but she never would. I shouldn’t have to explain myself to any of them, yet here I was, angry and irritated, wanting nothing more than to return to my abode and wash away this encounter.
After a moment, she finally gave me a nod and headed after her cub.
The daffodil watched after her, Jacky boy staring at me.
My eyes shifted to his. “Yes?”
He shook his head, that anger still simmering. “Not all of those people you killed were guilty.”
I shrugged. “Enough of them were.”
The daffodil turned back to me, her own expression still just as hard. “When I first met you, you were the only one that I feared. I was angry and resentful, but I knew in my gut that I didn’t like you.”
“And you sucked your prince’s cock in front of me anyway,” I sang.
She didn’t even flinch. “I know you know what Charles did to me, and I know that there is some sort of jagged, untouchable scrap of a venomous heart in that chest of yours. You care,that’s why you’re doing this, but don’t mistake my submission to Olivia’s request for submission to you.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
Her lip curled, but she only straightened. “Are you going to save anyone? The girl you’re using, the children. Will you at least try and protect them?”
I searched her eyes. Perhaps giving her something would ease her advances and give me enough time to keep at this. “Before I enable the tracker on your bikes—”
Jacky boy growled under his breath.
“—you might want to take a stroll down Sunshine Avenue. You’ll find a house there filled to the brim with boys and girls of all ages.”
Her eyes widened, a breath escaping her sparkling red lips. “You saved them.”
She sounded so shocked. “Deary, I’ve been saving people for years, but don’t bow down to your new god yet, even the snake knows when to wait and when to strike.”
The keeper of her collar looked me over in question before turning to the hound and giving her a nod. “Go, we take only the bikes, we’ll rent a van on the way.”
“Don’t forget to tell them who you’re with,” I called after her. “I told them the ace’s only friend was the joker.”
“Thank you, Azrael,” the daffodil said reluctantly, giving me a nod.
“Don’t worry, you’re still my second favorite.”
She gave me a less than amused look before she turned and jogged after the hound.
Jacky boy watched after her for a moment before turning back to me. “Trust is hard to give to someone who has never been truthful with us.”
“Have I never been truthful or have you just not liked what I’ve had to say?” I asked evenly.
He shook his head. “Maybe if you’d just be straight with us, it would be easier to hear you.”
“It’s not about hearing, Jacky boy, it’s about listening to what’s not being said. I have never lied to you. I have never completely omitted the truth either. Sometimes, you must put aside your distrust for things you don’t understand and do what you were trained to do. Your loyalties have faults.”
