Page 69 of Taking Jenny
Thyme begged, “I never told Summer anything private, sire!”
Justice made a tsking sound. “Lies from such a pretty mouth.” Then, he dropped his hands and straightened. “Take him to the royal prison. Sew his lips shut. After three days, give him water—but don’t remove the stitches. I want to see what happens.”
“No! Please, sire!” Thyme pleaded.
The guards dragged him out. His screams echoed, fading as the doors slammed shut behind them. I felt sick to my stomach.
Justice turned back to me. “Sure you don’t want to tell me the real reason you were asking about my family?”
I stood, beyond livid and not caring what happened next. “If you’ve already decided I’m lying, then nothing I say will matter. So go ahead. Lop off my tail. Toss me in the fields. Sew my damn mouth shut. But I’m done listening to you and your classed shits congratulate yourselves for your cruelty. So just bloody get on with it.”
Justice blinked. Then he laughed so hard he had to steady himself on the table. “Gods, Orne,” he wheezed, “you donotkeep your ferocity in the bedroom. Now that we’ve settled that, you and Mal may take your leave. I’m sure you have other things to do than entertain us.”
Mal crossed the room fast and grabbed my arm, playing the part of my jailer. He hauled me toward the exit with just the right amount of force to look believable.
“One more thing,” Justice called out after us.
We stopped and Mal turned. “Yes?”
“Use your dullest blades on that one.”
“With pleasure,” Mal sneered.
He shoved me through the door and kept up the ruse until we were inside his onworlder with the doors locked tight behind us.
“I am so sorry,” he said quietly once we were on our way back to his palace. “For all of it.”
I shook my head. “I think I’m going to be sick. Summer’s tail—”
“I have a plan for him,” Mal said, voice grim. “Thyme…I’m not sure I can save.”
I stared at him. His eyes were on the road and his grip was white knuckled on the controls. “How could you possibly help Summer?”
“I’ve got a guy,” was all he said, before he glanced sideways at me. “How come you haven’t come up with a better lie yet?”
“Huh?”
“Justice knows you’re hiding something. So why haven’t you told a better lie about why you were asking about him and his family?”
I tried to keep my stomach from revolting. “When I was younger, my cousin Kapok punched his way into trouble faster than anyone I’ve ever known. I talked fast to keep up. What I learned is this—if you lie, you never change the story. Not evenwhen your back’s against the wall. Don’t crack. Don’t hesitate. If I’d shifted even one detail, Justice would’ve known I was hiding something. Right now, all he has is a gut feeling. That’s not enough to kill me—not yet.”
Mal stared ahead, quiet for a long beat.
Then, very quietly, said, “So, the story you and Jenny told everyone…that’s a lie, isn’t it?”
I almost smiled, but I turned and looked out the window instead.
CHAPTER 21
Mal
Iam not the only one with secrets.
I spent the entire day pacing my room, torn between demanding the truth from Tiger and letting him recover from Justice’s confrontation. After what he endured this morning and knowing he was partially responsible for Summer losing part of his tail, I couldn’t push him. Not yet.
But the way he’d stood before Justice—unflinching, defiant, gloriously reckless—it had been maddening. And arousing.
But that didn’t change the fact that he was lying to me.
