Page 106 of Shadows in Bloom

“It’s nice, but don’t think it’s worth your life.”

“No,” he shook his head, “that’s not what I mean. After you kill me, take it. It’s not like I’ll need it anymore.”

“Ah,” Ledger angled the knife to tip Nikita’s chin up, forcing him to finally look him in the eye again, “as a way to remember you by?”

Nikita hated the sound of that. “Never mind.”

“That upsets you. Why?”

“I’d rather be forgotten.” That’s what he was used to. But more than that, it’d be better to disappear from existence entirely than be remembered as the fool who broke into Friction. Especially not by Ledger. For whatever reason, the thought of being forever known as the idiot who’d ruined Ledger’s night made him actually want to cry. “Actually, please forget I said anything. Just…Can I ask a favor? Can you…bury me somewhere deep.”

Let his family assume he’d run away.

Let Oran believe it, too. It wouldn’t be as satisfying a revenge as actually doing it, but at least it was something.

“A favor?” Ledger leaned back, moving the knife away in the process. “What makes you think you’re worthy of a favor? You’re a little thief, and a bad one at that.”

“Oh.” Right. It was also stupid of him to think a guy like Ledger would take anything he had to say into consideration. His body would most likely end up in a ditch somewhere to be discovered?—

“Let’s shelve that for a moment,” he interrupted Nikita’s thoughts before they could spiral any further. “You are aware I’m threatening to murder you right now, yeah? You’re crying, sure, but you don’t seem afraid. You just seem…over it.”

He was crying?

Ledger had let go of his right wrist to pull the knife on him, and he dared lift his hand to touch the rise of his cheek. It was wet.

Weird.

He didn’t feel sad.

“I knew there was a chance I’d get caught when I came here,” Nikita replied.

“So what? You’re ready to die?”

He shrugged.

Ledger seemed annoyed by that reaction.

“It’s not like I have anything worth living for.” Saying it out loud made Nikita feel even more pathetic, and he draped his arm over his face to shield himself as he felt his cheeks start to burn. “My family won’t help me. They think it’s my fault. Oran’s convinced them of it.”

“What’s your fault?”

“The debts.”

“Thought you said you were stealing so you could run away?” his tone sounded accusatory.

“I was!” Nikita insisted. “Why should I be responsible for paying off debts that aren’t mine?” His wrist was recaptured and his arm was wrenched away, the tip of the knife back on his chin a second later.

“Why should you die for someone else’s arrogance, either?”

“It’s my only choice.” Now that he’d failed at stealing anything and had gotten caught… “There’s no way out.”

The Devil paused, mulling something over, and then suggested in a breezy voice, “What if I offered you another? Hmm? You wanted a favor? I’ll grant you one, but it’ll be of my choosing. What do you say, Tiger? Willing to take the risk? It’s got to be better than dying outright, especially for someone who sounds like they don’t deserve it. If you’re going to give your life away, might as well give it to someone who can do something with it.”

“You’re talking about me as if I’m a commodity,” he blurted before he could help it.

“You are,” Ledger agreed. “But whether or not you’re a precious one is up to me to decide. If you take my offer, that is. Otherwise, I’ll slit your throat and be done with it. Believe it or not, I’ve got things to do, and handling a thief was not on the night's scheduled program.”

Nikita had just said he didn’t have a choice but…did this one really even count? From the sounds of it, he was still going to die either way. Why bother making things harder for himself if he was going to meet his end tonight no matter what?

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