Page 90
He snorted and coughed before curling into a fetal position. “I don’t know who the fuck that is. I can’t fucking talk.”
“What happened to the villains don’t monologue bullshit?” I clenched my fists as Bitty hovered by like a dark cloud.
“Or I could cut his dick off and flatten it to make a new bookmark.” And the cold way she said it had me fear for my own dick.
“I can’t! If I talk. I—if I talk, I die.” He raised his hands over his head and curled tighter, still wheezing.
Mesmer’s song grew louder as he marched through toward us.
“Penis. Bookmark.” Bitty sneered, and the male whimpered, the trill turning into a hard sob.
“Can you answer yes or no questions?” Jess tapped her foot.
He nodded.
“Pictus?” She stared him down.
Nod.
“One of those new evolution of the internet supremacy groups?” She waited, but he shook his head.
“Contracted?” She twisted her lips and earned a nod.
“From another pictus?”
He shook his head.
“An archivist or adjacent?” She could narrow it down later.
He shook his head.
“Government?” This time Bitty asked, and he seized up, eyes wide.
“Get his shirt off.” Bitty gestured at Jess as she seemed to be thinking the same thing. As they wrestled him down, a clear military tattoo lay in stark relief over a doughy arm. It’d been a while since he’d seen active service, then. That surprised Zeke.
Explains the shitty non-monologuing.
“I got good news and bad news,” Jess said as I turned to walk away. “There’s no spell we know of that can kill someone if they spill beans or break an oath.”
I didn’t need to hear the rest. Because what they weren’t going to tell him was that the spell was a countdown timer.
They thought I was a risk. Rather than convene with the archivists or ask questions, some heavy-handed government wanted to assassinate anything they didn’t understand and make peace later.
It was a long time coming.
As the music died down and I stood before Mesmer, his instrument hummed with the last note before he stowed it into his pen once more.
“Lex?” My voice cracked as I asked.
“He’s fine. Doesn’t look like it’s time just yet. I think he spilled something on himself.” Mesmer waved a hand dismissively. “He needs rest and a bath. His baby is kicking his organs into mush.”
He made eye contact with me as if daring me to challenge his word.
Understood.
Chapter Forty
Lex
