“Sounds lovely,” Knox says. “Perhaps, we can take a stroll after dinner. I’d like to see it.”
Mercy glances at me, waiting for permission.
“That’s a great idea,” I say, a tad eagerly. “I’m behind on some work, so I won’t be able to join.”
Mercy looks relieved that I won’t be joining them. She isn’t a big fan of me. It must run in the family.
“Why is your hair blue?” Mercy asks, curiously studying Knox.
“I had a bet with an immature man-child,” he explains. “The results were that we both dyed our hair an unfortunate color.”
“What color is his hair?”
“Black and white.”
“I can’t imagine it,” she says.
People don’t dye their hair much. It isn’t trendy anymore, not like it once was. So, Knox and Spider receive their fair share of looks when we are outside.
“I have a picture if you’d like to see,” Knox says, digging into his pocket for his tablet. It takes him a few seconds to pull it up before he tilts the screen in her direction.
Mercy giggles. “Is that him?”
“The one and only: Spider.”
“It suits him,” she remarks.
Knox hastily folds his tablet and shoves it away.
“I look more handsome than him,” Knox says defensively. “Ender says he looks like a skunk.”
“A cute, little, dimpled skunk,” she adds.
Knox’s brows furrow. He’s really doing a great job pretending to be interested in her. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he wastrulyjealous.
“Yeah, well, Spider is a little shit. Nobody likes him, because he talks before he thinks,” Knox says, folding his arms across his chest. “I, on the other hand, have been described as eloquent and thought-provoking.”
“By who?” Mercy tilts her head. “Your mother.”
Knox’s cheeks turn pink.
“No!” he exclaims. “By Ender, our Commandant and the future Supreme Director.”
He glances at me with a desperate look. One that says ‘please, hype me up before she thinks I am a complete and utter loser’.
“Knox is quite intelligent,” I say.
The words ring true because they are. As much as he goofs around and indulges Spider’s silly tactics, Knox is my second-in-command for a reason. He is keen-eyed and rational. He even saved Orion’s life once, and now the big guy is indebted to him. Knox keeps our team safe and provides them with the emotional support I am incapable of giving.
“I was just teasing,” Mercy says gently.
“Oh,” Knox says. “I knew that.”
“Are you blushing?” Mercy asks, staring interestedly at his cheeks. “I’ve never seen a man blush before.”
There is a child-like curiosity to her words, and I feel a strange tug of guilt that we are using her to uncover her family secrets. I see why Haven is so protective of her, why she shielded her from the brutality of the Forge. I can’t believe Warrick wanted this girl to fight her way through the rough conscripts.
She wouldn’t survive a week at the Forge. Haven did her a favor.
