I brushed my teeth and made my escape, bypassing the stairs and climbing out of the landing window, springing from the roof to land on the picnic table where Nash was enjoying a solitary morning smoke.
Used to me, he didn’t flinch. “We got doors, you know, kid.”
“Kid?”
He grinned. “You were once.”
“So were you.”
“Before your time.”
Lots of things were around here. I’d been a Rebel King for three years. Save Alexei, I was the newest. And I was definitely the youngest and the smallest on the council. “Why’s Cam coming in? He told me he wasn’t until tomorrow.”
“Ask him yourself.”
“You don’t know?”
Nash blew smoke sideways, avoiding my face. “Haven’t spoken to him. Summons came from Saint.”
That made more sense. Saint didn’t say much out loud. Chances were he’d passed on Cam’s orders in three words or less.
I hopped from the table, realising as I hit concrete that I’d neglected to stamp into my boots.
Nash gave my socked feet a droll, pointed stare. “You forgot your slippers, father.”
“Did I?” I stayed a moment to assess Nash, but his honest face was the easiest to read of all the men I called family. He was okay—better than that, he looked content. So I left him to it and made my way to the chapel.
It was empty, bar Alexei sitting in Cam’s seat at the head of the table, lounging in the cheap office chair, tapping away on a laptop.
I took my seat. “Are you liquidating someone’s assets?”
“Not today, chaplain. It seems you have run out of enemies.”
“For now.”
Alexei closed the laptop and regarded me. “That is a cynical response from a brother who likes optimism.”
I didn’tlikeoptimism. I touted it because it was healthier for our band of merry men than drowning in anguish and violence. “It’s not cynicism if it’s likely to be true, is it?”
“What do you think? Mateo tells me you are the educated brother around here.”
“Educated?”
Alexei leaned back in his seat, giving me his full attention, an infrequent occurrence from a man who gave most of himself to Cam and Saint. “That is what he said. Was he lying?”
“Depends what he meant. I didn’t spend much time at school when it mattered.”
“Neither did I, but a lifetime happened to me after that. For both of us, no?”
“Is that your question?”
“If you want it to be.”
Alexei gave me a smile that I returned. I enjoyed the dialogue we shared. It helped me learn without skewering him with questions he didn’t want to answer. And I appreciated that he gave me the same privilege. It made it easier to speak my truth. “I read a lot of books in prison. Got an OU degree to pass the time.”
“How much time?”
“Six years.”
