Page 81 of Capitol Matters

“I told Grimm nothing then, and I wouldn’t now,” he replied. “I was as surprised as you were to see him there.”

I shook my head. “But you said—”

“Isaid nothing. You assumed,” he stabbed a finger at me, “and I didn’t correct you.”

Thinking back to Grimm’s arrival at Lock n’ Roll brought more confusion, and I frowned. “Why not?”

“People pleasing is a young man’s game. And I am old.”

It sounded strange coming from an apparent teenager, which prompted me to question, “How old?”

Even Holland implied Ripley’s powers predated us. I’d certainly never seen anything like them.

He waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t keep track of those things.”

“Who was president when you were born?”

“No presidents, mate.” His white eye narrowed as it peeked through his shaggy bangs. “Kings.”

My grunt of acknowledgment was meant to downplay my surprise, but I wasn’t sure it worked.

“So, you didn’t come about a body, and I’m not fond of idle chatter. What then?” he asked. “Why are you here?”

“You know that stuff you put in the champagne fountain at the gala?” Or regurgitated like a mother bird feeding her fledglings?

“Plague,” he said flatly. “What of it?”

“You have the cure, right?”

“Iamthe cure.”

My mouth twisted into a frown. It might have been too much to hope I could package Ripley’s power. And what would that look like? A Ziploc bag filled with his breath that I could pop in Tobin’s face?

Maybe I could take the cure directly to the dying investigator. In disguise. Somehow.

“I can… work with that,” I began, though I doubted it already. “If you’re willing to come to the quarantine center and—”

He scoffed, turning away. “You truly are shameless to be asking me for favors. You’re the reason I’m here,and you’ve been nothing but a bloody bellend since I arrived.”

“A what?”

“A dick, Farrow.” He glanced over. “For weeks, you’ve been an obnoxious little shit, and you owe me an apology.”

I laughed. “I’m not apologizing for a damn thing. Definitely not to a Capitol-informing rat.” Even if I believed his claims about the storage facility, he couldn’t deny his original sin.

“How do you not see that we’re on the same side of this?” His voice turned suddenly severe. “Yes, I betrayed the Hex. For you. And your brother. My allegiance has never changed. It’s with you, you barmy prat.”

I shook my head at the gibberish. “I don’t know what that means—”

Ripley threw up his hands. “Christ’s sake, it isn’t kind. Surely you can infer that much.”

“If you’ve always been on my side, then why’d you try to kill me in prison?” I asked.

“YouassumedI was trying to kill you.” He echoed his earlier statement. “And I didn’t correct you.”

He looked so smug that I wanted to punch him. I rolled my eyes and stood from the bed.

Peering into the bathroom found more signs of Maggie. Hair supplies and makeup littered the sink counter, but more interesting than that was the bold, red doodles adorning the mirror. X’s and hearts interspersed with illegible handwriting. It looked to be written in lipstick.

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