Page 36 of Once a Villain
Joan sat up straighter, exchanging a look with Nick.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nick’s counterpart said.
Aaron’s counterpart snapped his fingers. A guard handed him a thick black glove that seemed heavier than it should have been. Aaron’s counterpart pulled it carefully over his elegant fingers, covering the rings. Then he swung hard, catching Nick’s counterpart painfully in the gut, and making him retch and try to curl away. The bindings didn’t allow him to move much, but his twisting revealed a small black tattoo on his side. A wolf.
“That glove is weighted,” Ruth whispered, sounding sick. “Powdered lead, I think.”
“You have a way to get to her.”Aaron’s counterpart soundedtotally composed—as if he hadn’t exercised himself at all. He examined the glove. “How?”
A spark of life—of anger—in Nick’s eyes; Joan was glad to see it. “Shouldn’t you know if there’s going to be an attack? You’re a time traveler. You’re supposed to know everything that happens, in all of history. Shouldn’t the Queen know? Or is her power more limited than it seems?”
Aaron struck him again, aiming for his broken ribs. Joan flinched away, but she heard the sound of it—the weighted glove against flesh. Then Nick’s choking breaths.
“If you genuinely thought I could tell you more,” Nick gasped, “you’d bring in the Griffiths again.”
“My own methods have some efficacy too.”
Nick huffed a pained laugh. “Ohplease—we both know why you dragged me in here, Aaron. You enjoy inflicting pain. You’re sicker than your father ever was.”
Aaron’s beautiful face chilled into cold cruelty. He turned to the guard. “Give me the other glove.”
The interrogation—the torture—continued for what felt like hours, but probably wasn’t anywhere near as long.
More than once, Joan closed her eyes, unable to bear what was happening. But she forced herself to open them again; she felt like she owed it to Nick’s counterpart to bear witness.
At the end of it, Nick said: “Please.I told your Griffith friends everything. There’s nothing more to tell.”
“You know what? I believe you,” Aaron said almost gently. He looked down at Nick, mouth downturned with disgust. “The humans see you as a savior. But I know the truth. You’re just apiece of meat, like all your kind.” He bent down. Nick had enough warning to look relieved; and then Aaron touched his bare neck and Nick slumped, the light in his eyes spent. He was dead.
Joan pressed her forehead to the top of Frankie’s warm back; she smelled comfortingly familiar. Joan took a deep breath; her stomach was rolling. She couldn’t get a grasp on her emotions. She’d just seen Aaron kill Nick. Different versions of them, maybe, but she’d seen it—and she’d never unsee it.
Nick’s counterpart must have been very much like the Nick she’dfirst known. A monster slayer, a hero. Only... Joan saw him again, his neck under Aaron’s hand. In this timeline, he’d died.
Nick broke the silence first. “Well... that wasn’t a screwball comedy.” His voice was dry, but he’d balled his hands into fists. He wasn’t nearly as composed as he sounded.
“It happened in the basement downstairs,” Aaron said, subdued. “I know those stone walls.”
Nick’s breath stuttered. Joan wanted to reach for him—to pull him close—but she wasn’t sure she was allowed to do that anymore. She put Frankie into his lap, and Nick stroked his thumb over Frankie’s ear. “Thanks,” he said softly.
“I wonder if the rest of us have evil twins here,” Ruth said.
Joan thought that Aaron might protest the wordevil, but his head was down.That wasn’t you, Joan wanted to tell him.You aren’t like that.
“I thinkyouhave a counterpart here,” Ruth said to Joan. “Those wanted posters...”
Joan nodded slowly. “Not Jamie, though.” Jamie had flickered in and out of existence when Eleanor had begun to change the timeline. Joan had protected him by throwing a shield around him. It seemed likely now that Jamie had never been born here... and that made sense. His father had been married to a member of the Grave family in the original timeline. With the Graves back, maybe Ying had married her again.
“No,” Jamie said. His gaze had turned distant. Joan had a feeling he was thinking of Tom. But surely Tom would still be himself. Surely he hadn’t been twisted by this world like Aaron’s counterpart had been.
Except that an hour ago, Joan would have said she knew Aaron to the core. She’d have sworn that there were no circumstances where any version of him would have tortured and killed someone. If she hadn’t seen it, she’d never have believed it.
“You said you spoke to Gran?” Ruth said.
“She told us that we should look for the wolves,” Joan said. “The human resistance movement here, I guess. She said we’d need their help to stop Eleanor.” Aaron’s counterpart had implied that Nick had figured out a way to get to Eleanor. If he was right, then the rest of the wolves had to know something. “Wehaveto find them.”
“How?” Jamie said. “Ronan foundyou, but he’s dead.”
Joan bit her lip. The head of the wolves was dead too. But they still had one more lead. “We know where at least some of them will be tomorrow.”I understand you capturedanothercell of the wolves this week, Eleanor had said to Aaron.
