Page 52 of Drop His Mask

Nightingale heaved a sigh, ascending to her feet and walking towards him. Her heels clicked along the marble ground in the opulent space until she stood before him. With her borrowed height, they were practically eye level, and The Game Warden hated it.

He focused over her shoulder instead, taking in the golden accents, the luxurious furniture, the ornate décor.

How can I trust anything she says when she lives like this? She is practically royalty here.

“Julian, you’re still the idiot I remember.” The back of her hand came up to stroke his cheek.

He slapped it away in disgust, but she just laughed.

“I was hoping you would stop thinking with your heart and figure out the big picture. Raven is still alive after all, don’t you want to return to her? Show her the lengths you went to, to keep her precious daughter alive? That’s all you men want to do, rescue my poorsweetsister.” Nightingale’s eyes darkened, her entire countenance changing.

The mention of Raven had The Game Warden’s heart squeezing into a vice. He still missed and loved her more than he would admit, especially not to Nightingale.

He didn’t take the bait, Nightingale wouldn’t tell him anything about Raven. Instead, he took a step back, he never knew what to expect when Nightingale transformed like this, but it was never good.

Nightingale sneered, “I’ll give you a hint. We are just one country in a whole wide world. Do you really think they would hold the games on this remote island if we were the only ones participating? Do you really think it only took a month to build this before our first game began? Think about it, Julian. I know you were hit in the face one too many times back in our Facility days, but surely you can understand what I’m saying.” Her tone was harsh,biting.

“They held games before ours?” The words tumbled out precariously. He wasn’t quite sure what he was saying.

“Ding! Ding! Ding!” Nightingale smiled, turning around and clacking to her bed. “There you go.” She shooed him away.

He glanced towards the sleeping Sparrow, everyday she looked more and more like her mother, it was uncanny. His eyes drifted up, to a picture that hung on the wall there.

His heart broke just a little bit each time he saw it.

“Why do you have that?” The Game Warden asked.

“A picture of Raven? Because a girl needs to know who her mother is,” Nightingale answered as if that made any sense at all.

“But you hate Raven. You tried to kill Sparrow.”

“Oh, you sweet summer child. I thought you might be starting to use that brain of yours. But I guess you don’t have enough information yet and this part you don’t need to know quite yet. But I’ll give you one piece of advice. Look into how our country came to be. How Violencia formed. You might find it helpful.”

The Game Warden wanted to argue to shake some reason out of her, but then Sparrow stirred.

“Leave before she wakes, you aren’t ready to be her uncle today, you reek of decay. I’ll tell The Host to keep you from the waste area.” Nightingale stroked Sparrow’s face.

To a stranger it might almost seem as if the woman cared for the child.

“What happened to you Anadil?” he murmured.

Nightingale paused, her fingers flexing outwards. “Unimaginable things, Julian. A life I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, not even on my sister. Leave.Now,” she growled.

A million questions skittered across his skin, bouncing around the room, but The Game Warden knew better than to press his luck. He offered a curt nod before fleeing the room.

Every time he went there, Nightingale would answer one of his questions only to supply him with three more.

Information. The Game Warden needed it more than anything else. It was the only way he would continue to survive. But even still, as a game warden he had already witnessed more monstrosities than when he was a contestant, and each day, his hope waned just a bit further. Anxiety swam in his veins as the thought that he would be trapped here endlessly intensified. Forced to live his life as his title. Never to return to who he truly was.

Patience. I just need to have patience.

Chapter 27

They’re His Pets

Raven

Present Day

---