“I can’t keep you around. My sister’s here. She can’t see—she can’t know what I do,” Mikah stammers, walking away from the barely breathing woman. Her face is swollen beyond recognition. “She can’t know what I’ve done. She has to understand that I saved them. I saved them for her. I killedthem forher.”
Confusion and shock plaster my face, and I’m left momentarily stunned at the piece of information that Mikah just dropped.
He killed them for her.
Was Talia’s survival hinged upon the death of her adoptive family?
“No,” I mutter. “That can’t be the truth.”
At least. A dozen questions try to find answers at the same time in my head.
“They promised… they promised me. I just had to?—”
A branch snaps off in the distance, and both Mikah and I turn in the direction of the noise.
“She’s coming,” he says as he kneels down next to her. “You have to go now. We can’t play anymore. My sister’s almost here, and she’ll be upset if she sees me hurting you.She always is.”
I freeze, comprehending the last three words he uttered.She always is.
Before I can make sense of what Mikah confessed, he plunges a chef’s knife into her chest before yanking it free and stabbing her mercilessly.
“She’s here. Can’t you hear her?” Mikah questions Aubrey’s dead body, hanging from the barbed wire fence. “I finally get to take her home. They won’t touch her—they promised,” he rambles, each word more erratic than the last, filling the night with promises of safety and recompense. “If I kill for them, they won’t harm her—they promised.”
Who the fuck is they?
My mind connects the semblance of pieces, loosely strung together.
Serge had my sister killed.
Serge sends them victims.
Serge… Serge… Serge.
But the tangential lines are too easily linked.They—is somebody or somebodies.
I’ve always known these blockheads were the twisted muscle—lapdogs of whoever is barking commands. But outside of Serge, there’s nothing. Not one shred of evidence points to who’s really in charge.
Wanting to prepare a surprise for my little fox, I jump down from the tree, strolling into the moonlit clearing. “You really should see someone about your delusions, Mikah,” I suggest. “I’m sure they’d help yourealize the pipe dream you can’t seem to let go of.”
Mikah whirls around, looking, but he’s not seeing me. His head tilts and blinks like he’s bringing me into focus. He shakes his head, raising his hands and slapping himself in the face. “No—no… no… no. They can’t find me here. It’s safe—it’s where I can keephersafe.” Then he turns, giving me his back as if he’s dismissed whatever momentary disturbance I’ve caused.
Amused, I lean against the nearest pine tree and watch Mikah spiral. Hopefully, he’ll accidentally spill on who’s the all-powerful Oz.
I must admit that seeing him in this state of paranoia makes me equal parts happy and annoyed. I want him destroyed, but not by his own madness.
How will I face Emi and my ancestors with such a weak-minded kill?
My mood immediately shifts, and the quirk of my lip sinks into a thin line at the thought of his dismissal and its implications.
Clenching my fists at my side, I ignore the itch in the palms of my hands, screaming for me to unsheathe my katanas and gut him, and then stuff him like a turkey. “I’m talking to you,” I snap, but get no acknowledgment.
Mikah is still mumbling the exact words on repeat.“They said she’d be safe.”
Having reached my limit for the grumblings of this fucking loser, I draw my sword and close the distance between us before knocking him unconscious with the tsuka of my sword.
Time is running out.
I need to have him wrapped up by the time Talia arrives.
