Page 39 of Seducing Jenny
“I owe you nothing!” I bellowed furiously. “Get the fuck out of my room.Now!”
Petal tried to come at me once more, and I sidestepped her. She clumsily fell over her own feet and collided with the floor in a graceless thud. I was shocked. She moved nothing like the day I met her.
For a second, she lay there. Then, she wept, “Heartless, cruel boy!”
I hesitated, a pang of sympathy diluting my anger. “Petal, do you…is there a medication you need—”
“Oh, of course,” she said, glaring up at me from where she was sprawled on the floor, her voice dripping venom. “If a woman has a problem, she must need a drug.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said, forcing calm into my tone. “You’re not being yourself. Forgive me for thinking something is wrong—”
Her eyes brimmed with tears and her voice dropped, soft and pitiful. “If you don’t do it, she’ll kill me.” She buried her face in her hands, then smacked her own cheek hard enough to leave a handprint.
“What the fuck?” I breathed.
Petal stood up, still wobbling. “Nothing, forget it. You obviously don’t know a good thing when you see it.” She tied the string on her little outfit with shaking hands. “You’ll rue the day you turned me down, Malice Ripper.”
She sashayed out of my room.
I am not the only one going mad.
CHAPTER 12
Tiger
Night had fallen by the time we broke atmo. The moons waned above to slivers, so it was darker than usual. Luck was on our side.
“That’sCredo’s island?” Jade asked beside me, still in her Ladrian body, just in case things went sideways. “It’s so small. Even compared to my father’s prison island.”
I steeredCheesecakein that direction. “From what I know of Credo’s condition, he doesn’t move. So, how much land could he need?”
She tilted her head, frowning thoughtfully. “I guess. It’s still weird to think Credo is my grandfather. Do you know anything about his wife? I mean, his consort?”
“No. As I understand it, Copper Bateen died shortly after her last child was born.”
“Too bad.” She sighed and rested her hand on my knee. “It would have been nice to have a new mee-maw.”
“A what?”
Her smile curved, wistful and soft. “Grandmother. It’s a southern term, I guess. What do you call your grandmother?”
I shrugged. “I never met mine. But we had the clan elder women. They were kind of like mee-maws for us. If we got sick, they cared for us. If we got out of line, they swatted us. One time, my cousin Kapok fell and skinned his knee. Refused to admit it hurt, but the skin was just hanging open—”
She quickly held up her hand. “No more details, please.”
I chuckled. “Anyway, Elder Pious coaxed him into her hut and took care of him away from the other boys, so he wouldn’t look weak. She even gave him sweets to make him feel better.”
“Well, I’m jealous,” she teased. “Because it sounds like you had lots of mee-maws.”
“I did.” I tried not to think of what happened to them during the war, when Justice had them executed, and prepared for arrival on the island.
“We can submerge the ship next to where the house is on stilts,” I said to her. “No one will notice us there with the stealth mode on. Ready to try the submarine feature?”
“We could park in those mangroves—”
“The trees?” I shook my head. “Uneven ground and too much of a chance to be seen. The water will be better.”
Her breath hitched in her throat. “But it’s…”
