Page 31 of Brother's Keeper

Maximus’s shackles clattered as he shifted. “Do you fault me for doubting?” he asked.

I looked away, spotting a spare barstool in the corner. I stretched my hand toward it and called it to skitter across the packed earth to me. Climbing onto it, I sat with my elbows on my knees and the cigarette burning down between my fingers.

“I wouldn’t lie to you, Max,” I said. “And I think you’re smart enough—and aware enough of your current situation—not to lie to me, either.”

I took another slow drag then blew it out, cloudingthe musty air.

Maximus’s lip curled with disdain. “Is there a question behind all this pretense and posturing?”

Briggs’s comments added fuel to a fire of inquiries I’d had for over a decade. Now that the opportunity was before me, I was afraid I wouldn’t like the answers.

“You seemed pretty casual asking me to kill for you,” I began. “Not your first time hiring a hitman, I’m guessing?”

Stepping back, Maximus returned to his seat on the ratty mattress. He clasped his hands in his lap. “Over the past hundred years, I have done anything and everything necessary to ensure the wellbeing of our society—”

My whistle stopped him mid-sentence. “So, it’s a hell of a body count, then.” I leaned forward, enticed by the idea. “Don’t be shy. How many are we talking? Two? Three hundred people?”

Maximus’s scornful expression persisted. “I won’t be answering that.”

“More?” I rocked the stool back onto two legs, then forward again, hitting the packed dirt with a thud. “Shit, Max. I’m pretty sure that qualifies as genocide.”

Thinning an already endangered population seemed the furthest thing from the Capitol’s agenda. They spread a message of protection, provision, and the eventual reintegration of our species into the modern world. The city had been built as a safe haven, a preserve where witches could not be hunted to extinction. It was hard to imagine the leader of our government greasing the wheels of progress with the blood of his own people. Hard, but not impossible.

“Who came before me?” I asked Maximus. “What kind of sinister shoes was I supposed to fill?”

“Why are you asking about this?” the older man asked. “What sparked your sudden interest in the distant past?”

I stood and walked forward, closing the gap to where Maximus remained seated. Looming over him, I flicked ash into his lap. “Because my parents were some of those hundreds of people, and I wanna know why.”

“The Bloody Hex killed your parents, Fitch.” He spoke through a sigh. “It was a great tragedy, but nothing I ordered or wished for. In fact, that loss made things immeasurably worse for our society because of its profound effect on you.”

The accusation got my hackles up. I pinned the cigarette between my lips and spoke around it. “Giving me an awful lot of credit, don’t you think? I’m a bad guy but not like… villain of the year.”

Smoke filtered into the space between us.

“Those in the Investigative Department may feel differently,” Maximus mused. “Innocent men and women taken out in the line of duty for the sake of your hurt feelings.”

My rage redoubled, flooding me with prickly heat. I plucked the cigarette from my mouth and flung it down.

“Hurt feelings? Fuck you.” I stabbed my finger into his chest, but he didn’t sway back. Didn’t budge. “You abandoned me,” I said, seething. “You all did. Any shit I’ve done can be laid right at your door.”

Maximus’s eyes were weary. He looked haggard and pale after weeks trapped underground. “You killed thepeople who tried to save you, Fitch,” he replied. “I couldn’t keep sending investigators to their deaths. Your life was worth no more than theirs.”

His words stole the breath from me, and I gasped to shout back at him.

“I was a kid! The gang manipulated me! Tormented me! For years!” Anger took a detour into bitter humor, and my ensuing laugh sounded deranged. “Do you realize how fucking broken I am?”

I wished for a moment I had his power so I could make him feel this. Know what it was like to be gutted by emotional wounds that never fully healed. Instead, they seeped with poison that ruined everything I touched.

“I could’ve been happy.” My voice cracked along with my resolve. “Even without my parents. I just needed someone, anyone, to help.”

I stepped back and scrubbed my fingers down the shaved sides of my head. For twelve years I’d stewed, and wondered, and waited for the chance to demand an explanation or an apology. But it was clear now that neither of those things would change the past, and I would feel no better having them.

“This was a waste of time,” I said.

When I met Maximus’s gaze, his eyes glimmered with fear. “Are you going to kill me?” he asked.

I sniffed. “Not today. And I’m booked solid tomorrow, so… get comfortable. I’ll be in touch.” Turning, I gave a trite wave and started toward the steps.

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