Page 81 of Choosing Jenny
I would have been unnerved had anyone else asked me the question. But Pierce was a man of too many talents, and I did not want to know how he knew where I would be.
Yes.
If this job is as big as you say it is…
It’s bigger.
I will be around, Malice Ripper. Contact me when you are ready.
One problem taken care of, and one to go. For now.
Longshot finally joined me, sans Rhonda. He still looked pale after his ordeal, but the sedation and ensuing rest had given him the ability to accompany me to the palace. Where his right hand should have been was now bandaged, and I knew the torment in Longshot’s eyes had nothing to do with pain, and everything to do with the loss of his limb.
“Are you ready?” he asked me, his entire demeanor subdued.
“Just waiting on you,” I said, trying to remain upbeat, but my tone was inadequately cheerful. Being jovial was Surge’s gift, not mine.
“I recognize this is terrible timing,” he said, his tone quiet as we walked out together and toward my onworlder.
“This is perfect timing, to be honest,” I refuted, despite the fact that Tiger and Jenny were both off on dangerous missions and I had no idea how either were doing. We had agreed not to message one another, as we did not trust our messages not to be intercepted. “But I’m not going to lie. Seeing Noc Prisberd is what has my ghost all twisted.”
Longshot nodded in understanding.
We drove in silence for the first couple of minutes. It was dark by the time we hit the road, which meant Tiger and Jenny’s missions were underway. Without me. The only help I could offer was to be a distraction from what they were trying to accomplish in and around the palace, as well as giving Longshot all the support I could in hopes of him getting his hand back.
“If you do not slow your speed, the city guards will pull you over.”
I slowed the vehicle and loosed my grip on the controls. “I just want this night to be over with. I suppose speed seemed the way to do that.”
Silence descended between us again, before Longshot spoke. “Do you really believe Noc will be able to regrow my hand?”
“I have heard of all sorts of tricks he has accomplished,” I said, being as encouraging as possible. “I don’t know why your hand would be any different. Though, I do not know much about magic.”
“There are rules, but the better someone is at it, the more than can do.” He shrugged, his eyes fixed out the front window. “No matter what magicians and conduits like to claim, magic is merely a tool, like anything else.”
“Well, it’s a tool I don’t know much about,” I said, and sent him a sidelong glance. “Haveyouthought of trying to—”
He let out a dry laugh that intercepted my question. “For a magician to regrow a hand, they must have studied from the time they were born. It takes great skill and strength to be able to do it.Ican barely cast wards.”
“Your talents lie elsewhere, Longshot.”
His lips thinned into a grim line. “Not until I get my hand back.”
His voice was too flat. Too final. And it cut deeper than I wanted to admit.
We pulled up to the palace, where my onworlder was waved through the security checkpoint with barely a glance. Perks of being me.
If Noc couldn’t regrow Longshot’s hand, I feared my friend would truly do the only thing he believed he could do to be useful—kill Justice. It hurt that he would throw his life away over a hand.
No. It hurts that he would throw our brotherhood away over a hand.
Perhaps it was selfish of me to think our bond should have been more valuable to him than his own hand, but I couldn’t help it. I would have sacrificed any limb,allmy limbs to keep our brotherhood. But I supposed that was easy to say when I was not in his position.
I was not the one who had grown up in a closet, being taunted and abused by my family. As a child, Longshot had honed the only thing he owned. His body and mind. Withoutallof those parts, he no longer felt like himself. I understood it in my head, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt in my heart when I knew he would choose death by palace guard over a one-handed life with me and his other friends who cared about him.
As I valeted my onworlder, I told Longshot, “Don’t get your hopes up about this. Noc is powerful, but he is not omnipotent. I did not like how quickly he responded to my message, either. It was as though he was waiting for me to contact him. Like he knew what had happened. You can’t trust him.”
He arched a brow at me. “Perhaps he knew because Sam sent a message to the palace unbeknownst to us.”
