“In this wing?” I count aloud on bloodstained fingers. “Seven. Eight if you include the one in the mop cupboard, though he technically died of poor life choices. But in the building? Just about everyone. I lost count. But boy, did I have fun.”
Nightshade exhales like the last thread holding him to sanity has just snapped – and somehow that relaxes him.
He cups my jaw gently.
The contrast is intoxicating.
“Tell me who touched you,” he murmurs.
“Oh sweetheart,” I say. “They’re mulch now. Mulch and soup and all manner of things that they thought were impossible. But they never metdeterminedquite like me.”
Honeymonster makes a small coughing sound. Hatchet outright grins.
Valentine splutters “Mulch?”
I mean, really, what did he expect from me? “Yes!”
“Oh, she’s in a mood,” Bones grins gleefully. “I like it.”
Ghost is the only one who stays quiet. Watching. Processing. Clocking the details.
I lean forward conspiratorially.
“You want to see the soup?”
Nightshade freezes. “…the what?”
“The soup,” I repeat helpfully. “It used to be a guard. Now it’s…protein? Fertiliser? A statement. Very versatile. I wouldn’t recommend tasting it though.”
Snow bends at the waist, laughing too hard to remain upright. Even Ghost’s mouth twitches.
Valentine pinches the bridge of his nose and whispers, “She’s joking, right?”
All six men shake their heads at once.
Nightshade touches my stomach again, slow and reverent. “You’re safe,” he says.
“Oh no,” I correct softly, “I’mdangerous,baby. But thank you.”
He smiles like someone just handed him a loaded weapon engraved with his name.
Ghost cuts in, voice smooth as a blade: “We need to move. Now.”
“Yes,” I say. “The Director is probably having a tantrum. I read his emails. He’s not emotionally resilient.”
“What Director?”
“The asshole keeping me alive here. He wants my baby. My message isno.”
“You hacked the Director?”
“Baby, I flayed the Director’sfirewalls.”
Bones points at me. “You see? This is why she’s terrifying.”
Hatchet does something with his hands over his heart which I’m taking to mean,proud of you. I blow him a kiss. I can’t wait for him to show me how much he’s missed me. Again.
Nightshade still hasn’t let go of my waist. “What did you learn?”
