Page 87 of Seducing Jenny
I glared at the air. “So, why haven’t you done it, then?”
She huffed sulkily, and there was a breeze on my face. “Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe I find you all terribly dull.”
“Maybe you’re out of power and can’t manage it.”
“If I take your body, the first thing I’ll do is make you bite your tongue off.”
I scoffed. “How would you enjoy my body without a tongue?”
Suddenly, my hands went cold. “Feel that, boy?”
I immediately yanked my hands from her invisible grip. It didn’t take much strength to do it. “You have no power here, Grass. Go to the mountain behind the palace. There are plenty of ghosts there for you to play with.” I hoped Illiamor, likely being older than Grass, would be able to tame her baser instincts.
“Youdoknow that Justice is going to kill you all, don’t you?” Her words had an edge of madness, or maybe it was lust, to them. Like she wanted him to kill us all.
“He won’t get the chance.”
“Is that why you’re praying to Kable?” she taunted. “For luck to defeat the Ruler of all of Orhon? You’ll need more than luck for that, boy. You’ll need a fucking army and even that won’t be enough.”
“What makes you such an expert on Justice Bateen?”
“I used to fuck his sister.”
My blood turned to ice. “Which one?”
“Thunder. The only one that matters.”
I wanted to know more, but I didn’t want to piss her off too badly, in case she found her strength. “What can you tell me about her?”
“Everything, down to how she tasted.” Her voice dripped with obscene glee. “But that’s not really what you want to know. What you want to know is why I believe Justice will kill you all, and that is because Malice Ripper is a traitor. Justice always executes traitors. When I go to the palace, I’ll be sure to tell the ruler what his favorite ward has been up to.” She made a soft, purring sound. “It will be so good to see the man who took my head lose his.”
“Malkilled you?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Executed me, yes, after Justice found out I was also sleeping with Rex Terian.”
I reeled at the news. “You…wait…why didn’t he have Rex executed too?”
Her giggle was eerie. “Why do you think Rex was sent into the field with a nervous, half-trained boy? Justice knew if he sent Rex out with Deacon Ladrang, there was a significant chance he would not come back.” Then, she laughed heartily. “The only thing that didn’t go according to plan that day was that Justice couldn’t take credit for his plan without pissing off every military leader. They all loved Rex, so if Justice had admitted to sending him out to die—”
"He would have lost his army…” I breathed in shock. So much death could have been avoided, had Justice owned up to his own conniving scheme. It made a twisted kind of sense. The kind that made your stomach turn.
“And that’s why he couldn’t execute him, isn’t it?” I muttered.
“Now you’re getting it. See, that’s the thing about Justice. Even if you’re not beneath the headman’s axe, you’re still a target. Every cursed person on Orhon and Halla have a fucking target on their backs. It’s only a matter of time before he takes a shot at you. So yes, boy, he will kill you all.”
I squinted into the darkness, wishing I could see her face. “My prayers to Kable worked.”
She paused, then, “What? How?”
“You’re here. I wouldn’t have known any of this had you not presented yourself,” I said, and grinned. “Thank you for your cooperation, Grass. You may go.”
“You think I’m going to leave because you tell me to?” she spat angrily.
“I think you’re going to leave because you’ll be bored here,” I said simply. “It’s like I said. The ghosts on the mountain behind the palace will be more entertaining for you than any of us will be, and who knows? Maybe you’ll find a way to cause some mischief at the palace.”
“Hmm,” she sighed, considering what I just said. “Thatisa good point. I wouldn’t mind fucking up Justice for a while. Your advice is sound. Thank you, boy. And in return, I have some advice for you, too.”
“What’s that?”
