Page 110 of Taking Jenny
Justice narrowed his gaze. “It was not the god of luck who shone on you, Malice.” His tone sharpened. “You were wise to bet on her. Even if you did try to help her cheat by warning her about the trees. And don’t try to deny it. Had I been in your position, I might have done the same thing. Sheisenchanting.”
Tomorrow, stay out of the trees. They’ll look like safety. They’re not. The trees will get you killed.
Those were the words I’d spoken to her right before the guards had burst out onto the balcony the night before Illiapol and dragged me away. I tipped my head in concession, relievedthat Justice didn’t know how much deeper my involvement truly went.
“She isveryenchanting,” I agreed.
“Do you thinkshemade a sacrifice to Kable?”
I hesitated. “How do you mean?”
“She made it all the way to the finish line. A human…” Justice shook his head. “I cannot sort it out.”
“I would imagine not. Who would have thought a human would win Illiapol?” I said, pandering to Justice’s thoughts. “I only bet on her because the odds were so high against her. Easy payout, if she happened to win—”
“That’s just it. I don’t know that shedidwin it. At least not on her own.”
The chill that slid down my spine had nothing to do with the night air. I kept my voice even and tried to look intrigued instead of guilty. “How do you mean?”
“How did that little bitch manage to get the best of the entire council?Shekilled six of the best hunters I have ever known?Her? She looks like she couldn’t strangle a cina, much less butcher half a dozen strong Ladrian men. So the question becomes, how?”
This is what’s bothering him? The how? Shit. We’re the how.
I shrugged. “I don’t—”
“What has me vexed is that if she was able to flipyouinto helping her by warning her about the trees, then who else did she seduce into helping her cheat?”
“Justice, I don’t think it would be that much of a boon—”
“And as I said, I understand your urge to help her,” he went on, interrupting me. “I did not take great offense to what you did. So why are you still defending yourself?”
I half-laughed. “Youdidn’ttake great offense to my helping her by telling her about the trees? You had me thrown into a shit-filled prison cell.”
“So imagine what I would have done, if Ihadtaken greatoffense to it, Malice.”
My stomach clenched. I did not want to imagine it, and yet I couldn’t help myself from doing just that. I shook my head to clear the mental image. “On that, why didn’t you have me arrested again, after I broke out?”
He laughed. “I expected nothing less of you, my boy. I only had you arrested to get you out of your own way for a bit. Had I not locked you away, what other perilously stupid shit would you have done for that girl?”
I sighed and leaned against the balcony railing. “Probably something worse.”
“Precisely.” He patted my back. “Malice, you are the son I wish I had. Sometimes, that means reining you in. But don’t make me do it again. For both our sakes.”
The praise twisted in my gut, and I redirected our conversation back to what was important, and what Justice suspected. “So you think she cheated?”
His lips pursed. “When I asked her to account for each death of my council, she started to cry. Said she was too shaken by it all to speak on the matter, but perhaps once she gets some distance from the trauma, she may be able to give a full account. Which is bullshit.”
“She’s just a human,” I said as an excuse. “Maybe—”
“If she is strong enough to do what she did to those men, then she is strong enough to own it,” he hissed angrily between his teeth.
I considered my next response. “Maybe she’s just…lucky.”
“Luck,” he growled furiously, “does not explain how Arrow and Lawson died of hand cannon wounds, when all Jenny had with her was a staff and a leather bag.”
Fuck me. He’s trying to trick me into admitting I know better.I forced myself to suck in a shocked breath instead of looking responsible. “You’re serious?”
He nodded solemnly. “I have not told anyone else. But since you are the last of the council, I thought you should know, in case they target you next. Someone helped her out there on the hunting ground, and I mean to find out who.”
