Page 37 of Trial of Deceit

She dragged herself out of the bed.Her knees buckled, and she grabbed onto the nightstand.She heaved a big breath before letting go, her steps wobbly and her vision hazy as she approached the door.

She laid a hand on the door, then exited.Blinding sunlight greeted her, and she raised a hand to her face to block it.From the corner of her eyes, she saw the two guards who’d been there since the first night she came.

Ashari took slow steps toward the window, her eyes gradually adjusting to the light.She held onto the window sill and looked down at the gathering in the backyard.

Bryony pounded her fists against Jediah’s chest while he stood rigid.“You said you’d love her!”

“I never said that,” Jediah replied.He kept his hands in his pockets as he looked toward the window, causing Ashari’s breath to hitch.A tiny smirk crawled on his face, but it faded quickly as he looked away.

Ashari watched as a man placed a stylish pink vase on a pillar.Her eyes narrowed.“A pastor?”she asked, her throat stinging.“Oh, my God… It’s an urn.”

Bile raised up in Ashari’s throat as she quickly stepped back.She almost lost her balance, but she managed to remain standing.Her back pressed against the wall beside the bedroom’s door.Her chest heaved, and she closed her eyes.

“Jediah…” she muttered, her tone laced with venom.She moved a hand off the wall, balling it into a tight fist.She unclenched her jaw and looked toward the guards.She pushed herself off the wall and took steady steps toward them, ignoring the sting in her knees.“I’d like two bowls of strawberries topped with coconut flakes and a coloring book.”

One of them nodded and moved away.Ashari studied the face of the woman guard who remained, then she returned to the room.She sat on the desk chair, thoughts swirling in her mind until the door opened minutes later.

It didn’t close, so she looked over her shoulder.Her eyes widened at Jediah.“What are you doing here?”Ashari hissed.

“No bad Patois anymore?”Jediah asked.

“Answer.Me,” Ashari gritted out.

“This is my home,” Jediah replied, placing the bowls on the nightstand.He tucked a box of crayons beneath his arm before flipping through the pages of the coloring book.“Wa yu wan’ this fa?”

She shook her head in disbelief.“That’s all you have to say?”

He stopped flipping through the pages to look at her.“Wa yu wan’ mi seh?You’ve been offered food, clothing, and a safe place to sleep.You refuse to eat, and you smell awful.”

Her shoulders slumped a little, and she pushed away a bad feeling surging up her throat.She slowly got up, her steps unsteady as she approached the bed.She lowered herself onto it, picked up a bowl, and reached for a strawberry.She bit into it, her eyes closing while she almost moaned at the sweet burst of flavor filling her mouth.

“Ashari, zero,” Jediah’s voice came from beside her, and she stiffened.When did he sit?

She moved the strawberry from her mouth.She licked the stickiness from her fingers while Jediah watched, his lips parting slightly.His amusement baffled her.“This is a game to you, isn’t it?”

Jediah swallowed.Then, his eyes darted from her fingers to her eyes as he grinned.“Yes.And I always win.”

“You won’t this time.”

“What will you do, Ashari?”

“I told you already.Kill you.”

Heclickedhis tongue on the top of his mouth as he laid the coloring book and crayons between them.“That’s not very nice of you, agent.Killing civilians don’ go against your oath?”

“Stop taunting me,” she hissed, and he smirked.She sneered before taking another bite of the strawberry, finishing it in big bites.

Jediah quietly observed her.She realized he wasn’t going to leave, so she didn’t say anything.She grabbed the coloring book and a crayon from the box.She found a page of a popular cartoon from her childhood, and began tracing the outline with a black crayon.

“Yu naa go ask whofa funeral mi did deh?”

“Your fiancée,” Ashari answered after biting into the last strawberry.“I heard how many times you two left in the past weeks and came back, laughing late at night.”She stopped coloring to look at him.“Why’d you kill her?”

He tilted his head to the side.“Why would I kill my fiancée?”

“No one can come close to you unless you allow them to.”

His eyes narrowed.“And you’d know, huh?”

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