Page 37 of Choosing Jenny
They both laughed, and Deacon explained. “As a boy, Zavi would have rather picked flowers than shoot a hand cannon.”
“He’s huge!” I said, stunned to hear that. “Are you telling me he’s wasting all that muscle on metaphorical flowers?”
Jacaranda grinned. “Oh, it gets better.”
Deacon took over. “There was a day near the end of training with live-fire hand cannons. It was a big deal for a bunch of eight-year-old boys, and everyone was a little on edge. The instructor found Zavi hanging back in line, so he could pickliteralflowers instead of taking his turn shooting. He was to be whipped for his insubordination. The instructor wanted to make an example of him for shirking his duties to the army. He told Zavi he could avoid the punishment if he could hit a single target. It was cruel to dangle salvation in front of a child like that.”
My stomach twisted. Whipping a traitor in interrogation was fun. Doing it to a child as punishment was sick. “How bad was the whipping?”
The corner of Deacon’s mouth twitched upward. “Zavi took the gun the instructor held out to him, and as he kept picking flowers, he hit every target without looking. One by one. Perfectly. Right through the dreck’s eye, every single shot.”
I stared at him in confusion. “But you said none of you had ever handled a live-fire hand cannon.”
“We hadn’t,” Deacon confirmed. “Zavarion Saltino is a natural with weapons, and it’s a gift he hates. He would rather enjoy a libertine lifestyle, not a combative one. It’s not who he is, so I cannot figure out why he would willingly join the council.”
“Maybe it wasn’t so willing,” Jacaranda said thoughtfully.
I wasn’t sure either way. “Zavi seemed happy to be there. He said he had been ruling Vaux before coming here—”
“Vaux?” Jacaranda asked. “You weren’t kidding when you said libertine, Deacon.”
He smiled and nodded. “That sounds a lot more like him. I’m sure he had the Xystyrs eating out of the palm of his hand, those happy little perverts.”
“Well, he rounds out the council,” I said. “I thought you should know before the official announcement is made. But that is the last of Justice’s pertinent secrets, as far as any of this goes. That, and he promised Rex your heads.”
Jacaranda shrugged, completely unfazed. “I’d expect nothing less.”
“Does he know Silence is alive?” Deacon asked.
“He hasn’t confirmed anything, but it seems likely, since the fake body you left behind couldn’t hold up under scrutiny,” I told them. “But as far as the council is concerned, no one else knows she’s alive.”
Deacon exhaled a deep breath, and when his gaze met mine, there was less hatred there. “Thank you for this, Malice.”
Figuring they were done with me, I stood to leave, but Jacaranda’s voice stopped me.
“Hold up,” he said, his gaze narrowing on me. “You told us this is the last of thepertinentsecrets.”
“Yes?”
He arched a brow. “And you get to decide what is or is not pertinent to our war effort?”
I sighed, the weight of too many days without proper rest starting to wear on me. “What else would you like to know?”
“Everything,” he challenged.
So, I sat back down and told them everything I could recall from the past few years. Anything that seemed relevant and things that weren’t when it came to Justice and his world. Personality quirks, his favorite meals, books he read, his habits. Anything they wanted to know. They were tenacious and curious and I answered their questions until I was hoarse and I started yawning like a drunk.
At the end of it all, I was spent.
Finally, Deacon cut me loose. “I think that’s enough for now.”
“Thank the gods,” I muttered. I stood, ready to crash into a bed.Shit, I still have to find Tiger.
“One more thing,” Deacon added.
I met his gaze, trying not to roll my eyes at him. “Yes?”
“Even if you’re lying to us and all of this is just cina waste, if you truly are what we thought you are, that is to say a lying, duplicitous spy, we will handlethaton the battlefield,” he said, his tone sharp and direct. “But if you hurt Jenny or Tiger in any real way, I will show you excruciating tortuous ways to die not even you could devise.”
