Page 27 of Mercy & Her Devils

Is that all he has for his meal?

No wonder he’s looking so thin and pale.

My eyes are feeling heavy again, but I struggle not to fall asleep because I want to see.

I want to hold onto this single dad and his daughter for just a little longer and at least pretend that they’re mine.

Because in my heart, they are.

To my surprise, instead of stuffing the bread into his mouth, even though I can see how his hand is shaking with hunger, Lark takes a single bite, before he pats his stomach like he’s full.

“Can you help me by finishing this bread, honey?” He asks.

Millie narrows her eyes. “Why?”

“Always with the why questions.” Lark rolls his eyes. “You know that I’m never hungry in the morning.”

The sudden rumbling of his stomach, which is loud in the silence of the cell, shows how much of a lie that is.

Lark looks caught out, before he tightens his arm around his daughter and whispers, “It’s the belly monster and he’s coming to eat the bread in three, two…”

Millie screeches with laughter and snatches the bread off the plate. She crams the entire slice into her mouth, until her cheeks puff up like a hamster’s.

I fall asleep, lulled by Lark’s rich laughter.

When I awake again, a couple of hours later, I feel refreshed. My headache is now only a dull throb behind my eyes.

My skin feels sticky, I’m desperate for a bath, and my own stomach feels hollowed out with hunger.

But I feel better than I have since…

I can’t think of that night.

Not yet.

Maybe, never.

But when I wake up, I’m thinking of citrus plum cake, waterfalls of black hair, and piercing jade eyes.

“Remember, you must do everything that I do,” Lark’s surprisingly serious voice says. “You know the rules of Follow Your Omega.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

I crack open my eyes and watch as Lark falls to his hands and knees and does a surprisingly good papa bear impression, complete with snarling.

Behind him, Millie with a self-importantly earnest expression, drops to her knees and follows behind like she’s baby bear, copying his every move, as Lark prowls around the cell.

I have to give Lark kudos for inventiveness. I have no idea how he’s kept a three year old entertained all this time inside.

I can’t stop myself.

I laugh.

Lark freezes. Embarrassed, he coughs.

Behind him, Millie copies him, coughing too.

Lark gives a lazy smile, before glancing back at Millie. “We’ll have to finish this game later. You can be the leader next time. How about you go and think up how you’d like to lead?”

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