Page 74 of Ruthless Legacy

They share one of their bro looks. I wait. This is their last chance for us to find common ground. To prove they’re not plotting against me.

Holden speaks next. “The League of the Daggered Raven is the overall organization. A lot of league members are from legacy families, but that’s not a requirement. You have to be invited to join. There’s a series of tests, interviews, and challenges to progress through. If you make it through the pre-selection process, then you’re a prospect. We’re called Wrens.”

He looks over at Pax, who’s glaring at me, but continues. “There are many positions within The League. You’ve already heard of the guardian lines, and some of the jobs they do.”

“Yeah. Bullet catcher for spoiled brats.”

“They also do security for the DOD, DOJ, FBI, and high-profile clients or tactical operations. Some serve in the military. It’s not as simple as it seems. Guardians can be accountants, doctors and just about any other profession you can think of, in service to the main league members. Everyone goes through MISTIC for training.”

Joshua left out the part of other jobs in the guardian lines. Did he not know they exist or were professional positions not available to me because of my family drama? “You said you do challenges. Are they the same ones as on campus?”

Pax growls, “We don’t know.”

I cut my eyes at him. He’s lying. “Don’t know, or can’t say?”

Finn chimes in. “Can’t say with certainty, but the recruitment coordinators in The League track the points we earn either way.”

“What are they testing?”

“Nothing.” Pax grinds his molars together. “It’s just stupid initiation stuff.”

With a shake of my head, I chuckle. “I have seen all manners of initiations go down. From getting jumped into a gang, to being told to put a bullet in someone’s dog, or even kissing someone with smelly breath. They all have one thing in common. It’s a test to determine if the person has what it takes to make it in the group. Ultimately, that test becomes that person’s forever job. It becomes the thing they’re known for. They will repeat that initiation test over and over again. Fight, kill, fuck someone they don’t want to.”

Pax flinches when I say the last part. Does he have some sort of hang up about sex? It would explain why he wimps out whenever I have it.

Holden continues, “All organizations have a motto. A vision statement. A purpose. The League’s core edict is to identify and procure hard to find, rare and high value items, then sell them to the highest bidder.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. Papa Pax’s questions about what I’m studying in school, and this invitation to the all boys’ club suddenly makes more sense. “Someone curates this list?”

“Yes. We have the historical committee. They have auditors and actuaries. People who know how to spot a fake. “

“These items. Are they always acquired through legal channels?”

Pax snaps at me. “Yes.”

He should just stop talking at this point. If he was a cartoon, his nose would be growing.

I look over at him and sing, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Then maybe you’ve been lied to. Rare, high-value items usually belong to someone. Or a museum. The owners are not likely to part with them willingly. And if by chance items are discovered in an obscure site, they still belonged to a person, family, or civilization, until someone else got their hands on them. If your precious league doesn’t pay for it, it’s called stealing. Pillaging and plundering, if warmonger terms sit better with you.”

I level each one of them with a glare, so they know to stop trying to bullshit me. “So by procure, you mean steal. And bidder is probably code for black market auction.”

Finn sighs. “That’s what we assume. But Pax wasn’t lying. As Wrens, we’re not allowed to know or question anything that happens within The League, because we haven’t earned our spots yet. All we do know is what they tell us and what we’ve pieced together from conversations we’ve heard over the years. We think the challenges we go through are to prepare us for our real initiation tasks, during our first few years as Ravens.”

I mull that over. “So tell me about these challenges.”

“We procure.” He amends when I arch a brow. “Steal, transport and deliver whatever the challenge item is to the appropriate people or drop off location. The messages we receive tell us when. Sometimes it’s right away, sometimes we have to sit on the items and protect them from being stolen by someone else.”

I flip back to that time in the alley with Finn and Michael. “You took Michael’s challenge item that night in the alley. Is he a Wren too?”

“Nope, just a rival fraternity. We’re battling to be known as the top fraternity on campus. The sororities and a few other organizations do the same thing. But the challenge texts are all sent from anonymous numbers. We don’t know where they’re coming from. It could be campus faculty, or the president of each organization. Or someone from The League. We really don’t know, so we treat them all the same. Plus Mikey’s a dick and I liked swooping in, taking his shit and rescuing beautiful things from his clutches.”

“We’ve gone over this, Finn. You didn’t rescue me from him. I had it handled.”

He walks over and pecks me on the cheek. “Of course you did, Pet.”

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