Page 87 of Grave Curse

“Normal. Civilized. Family shit.”

Ah. I saw where this was going. “Uncle H spent years brainwashing Ginger into believing I was the bad guy. Guess he pulled the same shit with you.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get in a twist about it. It didn’t take. For either of us.”

I supposed I should take that as a win. “Speaking of family, I wanted to let you know I had a lawyer contact the Coroner’s Office to put a hold on Olive’s remains. She was my cousin, and Ginger liked her. She was loved and respected by you, her brother. Our final farewells to her should be done properly, with people who gave a damn she lived. Do you know where she’s from? Where her family is?”

Red Flag’s face was terrible, and not just because of his wounds. “I already got in touch with her mom down in Indianapolis. She didn’t seem to give a shit. Hades saw Olive as a dud. She had no one who cared about her except me.”

Pain shifted in my chest. “We’ll take good care of her, then.”

“You killed her, you know. When you sent that psycho bitch back to the Chicago Gravediggers, you killed her.”

“I know.” I held his gaze when it was the hardest thing I’d ever done. The weight of his accusation mingled with my guilt, nearly buckling me in two. But the very least he deserved wasfor me to not look away from the horror I dealt out when I sent Yoyo back. “Olive was an innocent kid. My cousin. My flesh and blood. Someone who should’ve been protected by me. Loved and cherished by me. And I let her down.”

Red Flag sat back against the pillows, clearly surprised, but I wasn’t finished.

“I’m not going to lie to you, if I had to do it all over again, I’d still do it. Maybe a bit differently, but I’d still do it, because I was trying to end a war. It just fucking sucks that Olive, the gentlest of us all, was left in the line of fire. That’s on me. I will carry her death with me for the rest of my life.”

“Good.” He tried scowling, but it fell apart almost immediately with a rough sigh. “No, goddamn it, that’s not good, you asshole. She was deliberately brought into a warzone without being told about it, and that’s not on you. Hades dragged her to Chicago, because he wanted to use her.”

I frowned. “Use her for what?”

“Some bullshit Hades cooked up. Remember that trouble with Olive’s car? It was all staged so that I could come swooping in to save the day and cross paths with Ginger.”

“To what end?”

“Dumb old geezer wanted to see if I could make you jealous by hitting on Ginger. I know,” he added, throwing his arms out in exasperation when I just stared at him. “He said he wasn’t sure if Ginger could still be exploited as a weakness for you, so that was his grand plan with Olive and me. There you were, making plans to nuke us with Yoyo, while Hades was over there plotting reenactments ofGossip Girl.”

“That might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” I said faintly, sick at heart over all the lives lost. Then I shook my head and tried to stow away all that insane crap my uncle churned up, promising myself I’d deal with it later. “I’ve got some other business to square away with you.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“You should know that officially, no one saw you, Hades, or Pirahna at Ginger’s birthday party. Our surveillance cameras across the street don’t cover the entire strip mall, so whatever happened to you wasn’t caught on tape. We’ve turned all that stuff over to LEO, but they’re not going to see anything of note.”

He started to raise a brow, only to wince in pain. “They’re not going to see the deaths of a pointy-toothed cannibal and a decrepit megalomaniac who took credit for all your success?”

My jaw dropped. “You were conscious enough to hear that?”

“Dude, it was almost enough to make me rise like fucking Lazarus to beat down that two-faced sonofabitch myself. Away from you, my old man would go on and on about how petty and scheming you were because you were oh, so jealous he was the one sitting on a throne that you thought you were entitled to. But to your face, he had to admit what a great leader you are, if only so he could take credit for making you that way.” He shook his head, looking disgusted. “What a fucking piece of work he was.”

“Was, as in past tense. Let’s count our blessings that we don’t have to deal with him anymore.”

He shot a careful glance at the door before leaning forward. “Are you sure about that? What happened to Pirahna and Hades?”

“That’s nothing for you to worry about. Pirahna’s never going to be seen or heard from again, and Hades… well, he’ll turn up soon enough.”

Red Flag frowned. “Why have him turn up at all, Tyr? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’ve got a great big lake just east of here. Lots of things can go missing forever in a lake that big.”

Heh. This guy was growing on me. “Hades needs to be declared legally dead so that his estate can go into probate. He owned a lot of real estate in this city—some of it extremelyvaluable. I’d say in the four to five million range. And that’s just the shit I know about.”

“Of course.” He eye-rolled, then winced again. “The money. It’s all about the Benjamins, isn’t it?”

“Hey, don’t knock it, pal. You’re Hades’s last living heir. That means you’re the one who’s going to inherit.”

That got his attention. “What?”

“I don’t want it. I want nothing to do with anything that Hades had, and neither do my siblings. It’s all yours. It’s your birthright, Thor.”

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