Page 111 of Devil May Lie

“Good.” She rose from her seat. “If you’ll excuse me then, I’m going to call Kelevra. I want to be there when they make that shithead pay.”

“Of course.”

She paused in front of Berga on her way out. “Hey, you’ll stay with him, right? I don’t think I can trust leaving him with anyone else.”

He should probably tell her they’d been fighting before the attack. That her brother had actually broken up with him and was trying to leave. That all of this, no matter which way they wanted to spin it, was in fact his fault.

But Berga, selfish as he was, said none of that.

He merely nodded, listening to the sounds of her retreating steps as she left.

“This is my fault,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “If I hadn’t gotten involved with Ives back then, he never would have acted out this way. Then Madden…”

“Hey,” Flix pushed him lightly. "Stop that. Weren’t you actually helping him out? Unless something else went down between the two of you, I don’t know about.”

Berga shook his head. “I haven’t spoken to him since we were thirteen.”

“What exactly did you do?” Baikal asked.

“I killed his kurag.”

“Good Light,” Flix rolled his eyes. “Enough with the pity party. You do know not everything is your fault, right?”

“Of course,” Berga stated. “Only the things that are my fault are my fault.”

“You killed…his pet fish?” their Dominus didn’t sound impressed.

“He didn’t kill it,” Flix turned to Baikal, clearly done with Berga. “The vet had been trying to convince Ives and his family to put the poor thing down for over a week. The kurag had cancer and was probably in a lot of pain. Eventually, Ives mother went to Berga and asked if there was anything he had that could humanely help.”

“I gave her some drops to add to the tank,” Berga divulged. “It was painless. His kurag would have fallen asleep first. Ives wasn’t supposed to know. His mother wanted a way to send the creature off behind her stubborn son's back. But he must have discovered it anyway.”

“He decided it was all Berga’s fault,” Flix growled, “and not his enabling mother’s.”

Berga rubbed at his forehead. “This really can’t be about that, can it?”

“Since you claim not to have had any other interactions with him,” Baikal shrugged, “it seems likely. He must have formed a strong attachment to that fish.”

“It was his first pet,” Flix said. “But even still, it’s been years. Isn’t trying to blow Berga up taking things too far?”

“He came after Madden first,” Berga pointed out, staring at the Mad King’s unmoving form before them. “He knew there was something going on between us and chose to attack the thing I cared most about before coming for me directly.”

“Good thing he failed.”

He hummed in agreement.

“You saved his life,” Bay spoke up then. He’d been quiet since they’d started talking about official business but now took a step forward and crouched down in front of Berga. He set a supportive hand on his knee and smiled. “If you hadn’t reacted so quickly, he would have died out there. You got his heart started again and stopped the bleeding as best you could.”

“Sila did all that,” he disagreed morosely. Actually… “Where is your boyfriend, anyway?” As soon as they’d arrived to the hospital, everything was a blur, but Berga couldn’t recall seeing him since then.

“He went with Kelevra to deal with Ives,” Bay explained. “I think he feels a bit guilty about whatever he said to you in my office.”

Berga grunted. “Doubtful.” People like Sila didn’t feel guilt. “He probably just doesn’t want you to be mad at him.”

Bay hummed. “That’s also a possibility. Will you accept my apology in his place then? For whatever he did to you and Madden?”

“It had to come out eventually,” he said. “Secrets never stay buried forever.”

He should have known that’s what it was. That he was keeping a secret. That he’d lied. To Berga, withholding his reasons for going to the boathouse had just seemed logical. He hadn’t thought it mattered because nothing after that night had gone as he’d planned anyway.

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