‘You can’t.’
‘From most things I can.’
Jules looks at Lachlan for what feels like eternity before he says, ‘Some deaths don’t draw blood.’
Lachlan wants so much to grasp his shoulder, to cup his face the way he would with Mimi, but he doesn’t because this boy has endured all manner of unwanted touch for hours now and Lachlan won’t add to it.
‘And I can take more than bullets in your stead,’ he tells Jules.‘If it keeps you safe, don’t intervene next time.’
Something pulls between them.An unspoken understanding of the grim reality they find themselves in.If he could impart any wisdom to this kid in the moment it would be that Lachlan couldn’t care less what he endures, so long as it’s instead of Jules,or God forbid Mimi.
He’s almost certain he could communicate it to the kid if he just said it now, said,I would die any death for you, even if it is one that draws no blood.
But the moment breaks when Jules looks away.
‘I will always intervene,’ he tells Lachlan.‘You’remybodyguard.’
Lachlan would smile wryly if he had more energy.
It’s very typicallyJules.
‘Heard.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The next few parties go more smoothly.
Lachlan has a better understanding now of what the coming weeks will look like, and he adapts quickly.Additional personnel guard high risk corridors while select areas gain secondary authentication.Guests are subtly steered away from restricted areas before they can wander too close, drunk socialites intercepted and rerouted with polished smiles before they ever realise that they’re being managed.Lachlan safeguards where he failed to before, learning fast by the examples these fuckers set.No better way to learn than from your own mistakes.
He and Fenwick form a temporary alliance around guest security, quietly managing the many visitors whose interest in the Estate extends far beyond the ballroom.
It’s an incredible turn of events to have to go to Penhalyx, the pair of them, and explain that the people he’s invited to spend the summer with him are casually trying to data harvest.
Alistair laughs, unbothered.‘I’d be offended if they weren’t.’
Lachlan and Fenwick design a duplicate system they name Gemi-Sys.Decoy architecture.Secure enough to appear legitimate and functional on a surface level, but seeded throughout with duds, dead ends and carefully planted misinformation.Lachlan hires his friend Jolene to build it, pays her well for the work, and trusts her not to do anything catastrophically stupid like trying to map the real system underneath.They deploy it, running tests and supervising initial use but early roll-out seems to work.
The problem is that it’s extra work, work that drags Lachlan away from the kids and disrupts the otherwise ironclad routine he’s built around keeping the Estate secure.
Even so, their combined efforts mean that the next few parties go well and as Mimi’s presence loses its shine, Lachlan is allowed to take her to bed earlier and earlier each time.He’s been teaching her how to be boring, quiet, and dull around these people whose magpie eyes are always greedily scanning for shine, for ashimmer.
It might be her callsign, but around these monsters, she’s little more than furniture and her novelty, thankfully, wears off fast.
‘You’d make a good bodygarden one day,’ he tells her on the first night in weeks he’s able to tuck her into bed after a party while she’s still awake.He sorely misses her old routine, the long easy days spent following whatever strange little thing caught her interest, the times she could simply wander the Estate and be with her big brother whenever she wanted.
‘Would I?’
‘Oh, definitely.’He makes the bed just how she likes it, fluffing the quilt and arranging her pillows just so, the radio underneath just in case she wants to talk to Mari.‘The cool thing about bodygardens is that they can shapeshift.’
Mimi sits up, all tiredness vanished.‘Whass’ashayshift?’
He grins despite himself, loves when she gets that look of fiendish interest.‘Means you’reso goodat pretending to the point where people think you’re something else.Like, I can make people think I’m a wall.’
She giggles.‘Daddy’s not a wall.’
‘No, but people think I am.’
‘How?’
