Page 48 of Choosing Jenny
His expression shifted, a sadness lining his features. “And you are mine, which is precisely why I must do this. I will not let Ladrille fall to Deacon’s plan, and I will not let anyone else make this sacrifice, because all of you have someone you love and someone who loves you.”
My throat tightened. “You haveme, you piece of shit.”
He laughed, the sound fond. “Then I can go to my grave, knowing that I had a real brother…not those monsters with whom I share a bloodline.”
My hands balled into fists, as if beating the shit out of him would make him forget his plan.
He continued, his voice low and resolute. “The idea to capture Justice’s ghost is the right one, but only to keep him captured forever. If his ghost was ever released I fear that bastard would find a way to be re-bodied, even without Noc’s help. Justice Bateen is the most determined man I have ever known, and that determination has made him the most powerful and dangerous man I have ever known. He does not deserve that power, he only abuses it. His cruelty is a blight on two worlds. Until he can be given to oblivion, the only path forward is to kill him and capture his ghost.”
“Rex will sense what you are doing,” I told him, another obstacle in this plan. “He’s a brilliant strategist. You know how he is.”
“Yes, but he doesn’t know whatI’vebecome.”
“And what is that?”
He smiled grimly. “Duplicitous.”
I sighed, shoulders sagging. We kept walking, but I already knew what had to be done. There was only one way to stop Longshot. And I hated it.
Time to call on an old friend. Or, well, acquaintance. Enemy? No, he didn’t try to kill me last time we saw each other. The time before, though…that was a particularly bad day.
But if I was going to make contact without raising suspicion, I had to act like a man about to lose his brother. I let the emotion of that thought enter my voice, making it heavy and hoarse. “If I’m going to lose you, then there’s something about me you should know.”
That caught his attention. “Have you been keeping secrets, Malice?”
“Just one,” I lied. “In the short time you have left, you must swear never to speak of it to anyone. Not Discord, not Surge. I worry they would think I had never told them because I don’t trust them, they would take it personally—”
“And theyshouldn’t, even though you didn’t tell them?” he said, his tone wry. “Even though you call them your family, too?”
I swallowed against the knot in my throat. “It’s deeper than that. You know how I always tell you and the rest about how I don’t remember anything from before my head injury when I was twelve?”
He stopped walking, frowning at me. “Yes.”
“That’s not entirely true.”
I told him the truth about my father, and the memory I had shared with Jenny and Tiger. While I thought it would cheapen the memory to share it as a part of my cover story to Longshot, the truth was that it felt good to tell him. Because he truly was my brother.
“…don’t stop in a storm. That’s what my father said and that’s where we are right now, Longshot. If you get yourself killed, you’re just jumping off the ship in the middle of the storm. That’s giving up. Please don’t do this,” I implored him.
He held my shoulder and met my gaze unflinchingly. “If I can save the ship by jumping off of it, then I would be proud to do so. Can you understand that?”
I sighed, as though my heart was heavy and I wasn’t scheming behind his back. “I thought if I told you the truth, I might change your mind. My father’s wisdom has gotten me through some of the hardest times of my life.”
“The truth is always welcome, Malice. Thank you for telling me. Even if it was in an effort to manipulate me.” His eyes gleamed in the sunslight.
I chuckled and let him think exactly that. “Let’s go into the city, so you can see where you’ll get to enjoy your future deathstyle. Maybe they’ll have dancing ghost girls for you to enjoy. Or grave tours, so you can see what sort of real estate to buy once you’re dead. But the guy who assassinates Justice Bateen will likely have a target on his back, don’t you think? So maybe Sorellamore will not be the best place for your afterlife. Ooh, you could be a hermit…”
His smile cocked to the side. “One more manipulation, eh?”
“Whatever it takes.”
CHAPTER 15
Tiger
“What can you tell me about the Vulavi?” I asked as I made Gram’s adjustments to the directions he’d given me.
He’d had a little trouble recalling precisely where the Vulavi island was, so we had taken theveryscenic route there. My gauntlet driver flickered with another notification, but I set it to ignore. I knew who it was, and I wasn’t ready to reply to whatever Mal had sent.
