He grimaced. “Now I have to take more from those foolish enough not to listen.”
“Hey.” She jabbed him in the side. “I’m not a fool.”
“Sorry.” He chuckled. “I’m glad you chose the way you did, for what it’s worth. Even if I didn’t need you to survive, you are a wonderful part of the Family.”
“Thanks. I think.”
“Anyone who can give Simon a measure of solace is a gem.”
“Too bad I’m breaking him slowly. Whatever I’m doing to him, it’s going to destroy him.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. He’s certainly convinced of that fact. But…we shall see. Unfortunately, I think we’re going to find out someday soon.” He patted her knee. “He’s falling in love with you. And no matter how hard he digs his heels in to keep from pitching over that cliff, he’s strapped to the front end of a train. He has no say in the matter.”
“That’s not exactly a comforting metaphor.”
“Man-eating murder-circus. I’m doing my best.”
She laughed again. “I didn’t mean for that to become ‘a thing.’”
“Too late, I’m afraid.”
“I’m not sure I disagree with Turk’s decision to make it a choice for people. Stealing from them is wrong.”
“Maybe.” He cracked his back and sighed. “If what I used to take from everyone was a penny, then now what I take is a hundred-dollar bill. I took your favorite color from you. Instead, it could have been the memory of that time you stubbed your toe on your desk in Mrs. Robby’s class in the third grade. Which would you have preferred?”
She had forgotten about that moment entirely until he brought it up. He was right. She never would have missed it when it was gone. But not having a favorite color? That felt…weirdly empty, even though it didn’t really matter. Looking off toward the lake, she sighed. “I hate that you make sense.”
“I’ll try not to take that personally.” He chuckled.
“So…okay. Ringmaster is killing you slowly. You’re dying, and you need me to save you. How, exactly, am I supposed to do that?”
“Ah, yes. The million-dollar question.” Swiveling to face her, he turned her shoulders until she did the same. He picked up her hands in his. There was so much earnest intensity in his eyes, she instantly went tense. Whatever he was going to say was going to be big.
“I’m not going to like this, am I?”
He smiled sadly. “No. You aren’t. Are you ready?”
After a pause, she nodded.
“I need you to kill Ringmaster.”
9
The joke was getting old.
Simon told them as much.
But it didn’t stop the whip from landing. He grunted in pain and hissed a breath through his teeth as he felt a new searing line streak across his bare back. Warmth came a second later—blood oozing down over the myriad of other crisscrossing wounds. Some were already healing. It didn’t matter. They’d just be reopened in a few more minutes.
He couldn’t defend himself. He was tied to a post in Ringmaster’s office. His hands were lashed so that he was hugging the wooden thing, unable to fall to his knees. Unable to twist out of the way of each blow as the whip came down again, and again, and again.
They had taken off his clothes. Mostly so that the whip could fall wherever it wanted, but also to embarrass him. Whatever. Let them stare at his bare ass while they tortured him. Cora seemed to like it fine enough. They could enjoy the view.
He hissed again and snarled as the whip came down on his shoulders, perpendicular to another wound that had begun to seal. It ripped it back open and doubled the pain. It made him woozy. But he wouldn’t scream. He wouldn’t beg for them to stop. And he certainly would not pass out.
But he did laugh.
He knew it didn’t help matters. He knew that insulting the man who was causing him pain was not the brightest idea in the world. But it was the only thing he had to wield, so he was going to use it.
He laughed. And he made fun of the watching crowd.
Ringmaster wasn’t alone. Jack, Aaron, and Amanda were there to witness his humiliation as well, along with Donna and her husband Rick. They seemed to be the ones most offended by his little outburst.
And the ones most invested in making sure he suffered.
Really, they took themselves too seriously. What good was the gift of being unable to die if you didn’t use it from time to time?
He had mentioned that to them as well. Nobody agreed with