Page 127 of Chaos
“Actually, yeah,” Sin said, giving Grim a cursory once-over. “Definitely doesn’t seem like he’s got anywhere else to be.”
I turned my attention to Malice, who was nodding along with Sin. “Pretty much the definition of patience.”
“Fuck all of you.” A pulse of power ran through me, causing the ground beneath our feet to quake.
“Chaos, are you quite finished with your little temper tantrum?” Grim rumbled as he inspected his fingernails.
It was all I could do not to throw something at him. “We think Merri needs to know the truth.”
Grim arched a brow. “The truth?”
“Yes.”
“And who is . . . we?”
“Jerry and Todd,” I deadpanned before rolling my eyes. “Who the hell do you think I’m talking about?”
“So I’m to assume this is a decision the three of you have come to together?” Grim asked.
“Don’t lump me into it. I’m still on the fence,” Malice said.
The three of us turned to Sin, who stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “It doesn’t feel right keeping it from her anymore. It was one thing before we knew her and cared about her.” He sort of mumbled that last bit, almost like he was embarrassed by the admission. “Now it just sort of feels shady. I don’t like lying to her.”
“You’re not lying to her. You’re just not telling her the whole truth,” Malice offered.
“I’m far from the morality police, but I’m pretty sure that’s lying.”
“A lie of omission is still a lie,” I said.
“That’s a stretch. We are keeping something from her for a very specific reason.” Grim finally pushed off the doorframe and entered the room, leaving the door open.
“Shoe on the other foot, would you feel the same if it was Merri keeping something from us?” I asked. “What if she was using us to try and get knocked up? Would you be okay with that?”
Malice couldn’t control his reaction to that, his lip curling in disgust and his eyes flashing with rage.
I knew exactly what I’d done with that one. Malice had intimate knowledge of what that exact scenario felt like. He’d be much more sympathetic to our request if I could make him see the similarities. Surely a three-to-one vote would go in our favor.
“But she’s not,” Grim said simply, as if that magically canceled out the point I’d just made.
“Grimsby, you cannot possibly imagine this ending well if she finds out we’ve been scheming behind her back this entire time.”
Grim’s expression remained stoic, his eyes meeting mine briefly before he shrugged. “Then she hates us. It doesn’t matter at that point, does it?”
“I’ve been working so hard to get her to like me. I don’t want Merri hating me when she finds out. None of you can say you don’t care if she hates your guts. You all like her just as much as I do.”
I shifted uncomfortably where I stood, finding myself in the uncommon position of agreeing with Sin. Now that I’d gotten a taste of what it could be like to have Merri, I didn’t have any intention of letting her go. He was right. I did like her.
Malice looked uncertain, which didn’t surprise me, but Grim’s reaction did. It was so rare to see any tangible emotion on his face, and right now, he was pissed.
“And this is the exact reason we cannot tell her. Why are you incapable of seeing that?”
As he finished speaking, his face flickered, revealing something I hadn’t seen in centuries. His true face. Sin blinked, taking an unconscious step away from the angry horseman. I didn’t blame him. No one wanted to be present when Grim let that side of himself out to play.
“What do you mean?” Sin asked.
“We cannot afford for Merri to be upset with us and thereby isolate herself. We must accomplish our goal. Don’t you get it? The feelings of one do not outweigh the lives of millions. We have to succeed. We have to impregnate her. If we don’t, we may as well just hand her over to Lucifer right now because what the fuck are we doing here if we aren’t serious about putting a stop to this?” Grim’s shadows spread across the floor, betraying his irritation. “We can’t risk her falling in love with any of us either.”
“Why not?” I asked before I could stop myself.
