Part 32 (2/2)

I blink, stunned. Papa Roach isn't Fae? What the h.e.l.l is it, then? What a vast, complicated world Ryodan manages!

Then I have a worse thought: Criminy, have all roaches since time immemorial been spies? Or only certain ones, and that's why every now and then you find one in your bathtub that just won't die no matter how much hair spray you coat it with or how hard you try to squish it?

Papa Roach makes a dry, grinding sound deep in its throat that's creepy as h.e.l.l.

”Our needs have increased.”

”You enjoy parasitic relations.h.i.+ps with humans that were never permitted before.”

”We wish it to be required that all humans host one of us.”

I shudder.

Ryodan picks up the dark blade and toys with it. ”We will discuss it at your next contract renewal.”

Papa Roach's round eyes fix on the black blade, and its beak parts, revealing rows of tiny sharp teeth.

I suddenly think I know what the blade does. Kills whatever Papa Roach is.

”As you wish.”

When Papa Roach leaves, Lor walks in.

Dressed.

I decide to stay a little longer and leave with Lor. Who knows what I might learn next?

”Sit,” Ryodan barks.

Lor moves to the desk and drops down into a chair, shoving his blond hair back with a hand, looking wary. I don't blame him. Ryodan is unpredictable as h.e.l.l. They don't call his way of dealing with things the ”gavel effect” for nothing. He's famed for biding his time, gathering information, processing it, then when he makes a decision, the gavel falls and everyone that p.i.s.sed him off or offended him or just breathed wrong dies.

”What's up with Dani?” Lor says.

Ryodan lays the knife on the desk. ”Remember Fade telling us he'd found a kid who could move like us and was blowing through the streets, pretending to be a superhero.”

Lor laughs. ”f.u.c.k, yeah. We all accused each other of breaking covenant and making her. Skinny redhead with b.a.l.l.s the size of mine. I'd go watch her even when it wasn't my turn just to see what she'd do next. Kid's better than Netflix.”

”I didn't give her a second thought until I found a warded house where Rowena did her dirty work. Old woman kept journals. .h.i.tler would've enjoyed. Book after book of notes about the experiments she performed. Dani wasn't her only unwilling subject. She recorded every detail. The drugs, the black arts, the manipulation and coercion, how she caged her, dehumanized her, turned a child into an animal, watchdog, fetch-it girl, a.s.sa.s.sin. Made her grateful for any crumb of kindness. Completely controlled her mother until-” Ryodan breaks off, a muscle twitching in his jaw.

Lor growls, ”Until what?”

”Doesn't matter. Point is, the headmistress was in Dani's life long before she remembers it. There were a dozen volumes, filled cover to cover. When I finished reading them, I went hunting.”

Ryodan-an avenging angel? Knock me over with a feather.

”What happened? Mac killed the old b.i.t.c.h.”

Now that I'm hearing this, I'm sorry I didn't kill her sooner. And make it last longer.

”Not Rowena.” Ryodan says. ”I went hunting Dani. It was the kid I meant to kill. First.”

There goes the feather. This is the man I fight with incessantly.

”That's f.u.c.ked up, boss. That's beyond f.u.c.ked up.”

I nod vigorously, scowling.

”You went hunting Dani instead of Ro? You don't kill the victim. You kill the perp.”

”I thought the kid's life was like that of another child I knew. Grown men can withstand things children can't. For centuries I took care of Barrons's son while he searched for a way to end his torment. For an eternity I shared their f.u.c.king pain. I couldn't put my nephew out of his misery, but I could spare the girl a h.e.l.lish existence.”

I'm slammed by a one-two punch of shocks and my mouth drops open. Nephew? Freaking nephew? Is he serious? Ryodan and Barrons are brothers? I study his face intently, looking for similarities. So, when Ryodan called him ”brother” earlier, he really meant it. I'd thought it was just guy-bro-talk. Brothers in arms or something like that. I narrow my eyes with a scowl. That makes me and Ryodan almost like ... family or something. Ew. The second shock is more palatable: there was something of avenging angel in his actions, after all. Mercy from Ryodan. Who'd have thought.

”Why the f.u.c.k are you telling me this? And why now? Figured you'd be chewing my a.s.s over Jo not telling me s.h.i.+t you never talk about.”

I was wondering the same thing. Ryodan doesn't explain himself. Ever.

”I'm telling you because for some unfathomable f.u.c.king reason Dani likes you. That means you may prove useful in getting her back. The more you know, the more you can help.”

”Getting her back from where?” Lor demands. ”What did the b.i.t.c.h do to her? Where are those journals? I want to see them.”

”It wasn't just Rowena. And I suggest you leave it.”

”I suggest you go f.u.c.k yourself.”

”Once you called me king. Now you lie, f.u.c.k my ex, and tell me to f.u.c.k myself. Tread lightly, Lor. You may have changed. I have not.”

”You're talking about my favorite human. I want names. Details. I'll rip out their hearts. I'll flay their f.u.c.king hides.”

”I already took care of them.”

My hands are fists, nails digging into my palms. I force myself to unclench them so I don't drip blood on the floor. Other people abused Dani? Who? I want to kill them, too.

”Yet you let the old b.i.t.c.h live after you found out. What the f.u.c.k's with that?”

Something inhuman rattles deep in Ryodan's chest. ”The moment Barrons got the Sinsar Dubh, I planned to lock Rowena away in a dark, h.e.l.lish pit. Keep her alive so that if one day Dani remembered, she could exterminate her. Some crimes are so personal, blood-vengeance belongs only to the one who suffered them. It was the only gift I could give her.”

”Dani doesn't remember? How's that possible?”

”She fragmented. Not sure if the old b.i.t.c.h managed to intentionally cause it or if it had already happened to some degree before she came on the scene and she just drove wedges in the door to lodge it open. When I chained Dani up in the dungeon, it wasn't because she'd killed Unseelie in my club. I was trying to discover what she recalled of Ro's experiments. I'd begun to suspect it was little. Skimming her mind was time-consuming and tricky as h.e.l.l. Kid's got more locked doors in that megabrain of hers than a high-security prison. Dani remembers some of it but it seems the worst memories were embedded in her other personality's psyche, or never fully absorbed. It was difficult to read her, even unconscious. There are things she may never remember. If we're lucky. Our super-girl carries her own kryptonite, right there in her head.”

”You gotta be kidding me. My little darlin's a split personality?”

”Not so little anymore. And she calls herself Jada now. She's the survivor, aware of Dani. Jada has ledgers and objectives. Dani has hopes and dreams. Dani doesn't know about Jada. She has what she thinks of as an 'Other' but doesn't realize it's a fully formed persona.”

Lor shakes his head. ”How the f.u.c.k did I miss it?”

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