Page 75 of Devil May Lie

“Sure. Jekyll. Baby,” he rested his elbows on the counter and leaned in, “mine.”

“My sister died.” It wasn’t exactly the best way to put a stop to the other man’s teasing, but the words slipped out of his mouth before he could consider if he wanted to share this or not.

“Yeah,” Madden sobered instantly. “I’m sorry. The two of you must have been close for it to still be affecting you this much so many years later.”

“I can’t really confirm that,” Berga admitted. “I don’t really remember much about what things were like before she was gone. I think we were. Flix says we were, despite the age gap. She was a lot older than me but still a kid when the accident happened.”

“How did it?”

“She fell down the stairs.”

Madden nodded, probably putting two and two together regarding his reaction at the Academy that day.

“Broke her neck. Vitals have stronger bones than most other species in the universe, but in her case, that worked against her. She had to have landed at just the right angle. It snapped and pierced through her throat. I found the coroner's report a few years ago. The doctor thinks she was still alive for a full minute after the fall, but he can’t tell if she was conscious or not.” Hopefully not.

“My parents found us,” he continued. “I was covered in her blood and she was dead.”

“Did they suspect you?” Madden sounded upset at the notion.

“I honestly can’t be sure if they ever voiced as much, and I was too young to fully trust my memory,” he said. “But I think so. If I had to guess, I’d say they still do. I’d never shown any signs of being a danger to anyone—again, from what I’m told by Flix—but maybe they saw something in me that others missed. Either way, I’ll never forget how my father looked at me that night. How he tossed me aside to get to her.”

Things he did recall: His father always been strict about cleanliness with both him and Beryl. The way he’d been scolded for ruining his sister’s dress.

“That’s why? You were covered in blood at the time and your father—”

“Not just him,” he corrected. “My mother, too. After they’d called for help, they couldn’t even look at me. It was weeks before we made eye contact again, and it was accidental. Who could have guessed the fix to my trauma was someone calling me hot when I’m dirty?”

“Don’t make light of it,” Madden told him. “It’s okay to be upset. They had to have realized how much damage their reactions had done. If you were six when this all started, you couldn’t have kept your resulting psychological issues a secret from them. Did they never apologize or try to make amends?”

“The nanny raised me,” Berga said. “No one talks about it, but she did. I moved out once I became of age.”

“That’s why you stopped coming to the events.”

“You noticed?” How…interesting. Berga didn’t want to talk about this anymore, though. “What about you? Are you close with your family?”

“Yes.” Madden glanced down at his multi-slate when the device went off and flinched. “But I won’t be close with Kelevra much longer if I don’t hurry up and do some damage control. One moment. I’ll be right back.”

Berga nodded, watching as Madden slipped out the earbud attachment and disappeared down the hall. What an altogether odd encounter. He’d never imagined anything like this could ever happen to him. Eating food in his kitchen purchased by a lover? Sitting here waiting while they took a call, like it was normal.

Like they really were dating…

Were they?

Did he want them to be?

His eyes trailed back to the partially opened box.

He waited until he’d finished off the porridge, and then he grabbed the box and went after the Mad King.

It was time to get some answers.

Chapter 19:

“You promised not to let your affairs at the Docks get in the way of official business,” Kelevra’s annoyed tone came through the line as Madden made his way back to the Butcher’s bedroom.

“I didn’t,” he replied. “Something else came up.”

“Madden. Do you have any idea—”

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