Page 105 of Remnants: Disruption
“You aren’t even here one week, and you’ve pissed off a third of the council and therefore at least a third of the court. Loki and Beowulf are not well-liked, but they are respectable generals.”
If I was feeling rather masochistic I’d also note that Mary’s cheeks pink a little as I turn to face her.
“Sounds like you should be cleaning house again, then. Bast said you’re pretty good at that.”
“That is what I was doing when I killed Revenant and Fyre,” she grits out, sounding almost feral.
“Rather exceptional that you didn’t include two of your council members,” I laugh, leaning against the sink. “Now, doyou need something? I’m sure there are plenty of other more attractive men or women you can go creep on. I’d like to go back to my room or maybe find a bar and drown myself until I get back to training tomorrow.”
I’d feel bad about the “just slapped” look on Mary’s face if I wasn’t so furious by the intrusion and implication of wrongdoing.
“You’re going to get yourself killed,” she say each word like an oath.
“Fine,” I say, shrugging and almost losing the towel. That’d show her. “The fucker deserved to die for what he said about Alice.”
“Who?” Mary asks, genuine confusion replacing the fury.
I cringe internally at the slip.
“The girl they killed,” I say, waving a hand at the general direction of the Cradle. “The last one in the video.”
Dawning lights in her eyes as she nods slowly. “That was the cafe you frequented, yes?”
“Oh,” I nod sardonically, “back to the formalities, eh? Yes that was the fucking cafe. She was innocent.”
“You knew her?” Mary asks, ignoring my slight.
“Yes,” I say, getting annoyed and cold by the second.
“Intimately?” she asks, and I almost laugh in her face.
“No, she was a fucking kid. Probably barely twenty-one and not a Remnant. Though I probably put the fucking crosshairs on her back.”
“How?” Mary asks, taking a step forward.
“Because Triggerman showed up there to kidnap me thinking I’d tell him about the murders. Turns out he was working for Titan and, by extension, Darkrend. Alice had seen me after I’d chopped off his hand and probably reported it back to their—”
I growl in frustration at it all.
“It doesn’t fucking matter. She’s dead and that asshole you keep as a confidante is one word from losing his head. Damn the consequences. You could put me down, though. So, choose which wild animal you’ll bet on. Figure Loki will come for me one of these days, right?”
Mary works her jaw for a moment before nodding.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to go now,” I say, nodding at the door. “Good to know you can teleport or whatever.”
She doesn’t exactly move as I make my way to the door. Maybe she doesn’t feel like I’ve earned it yet, or maybe she just wanted to make me uncomfortable. Either way, my toweled body does contact hers as I slide past and, annoyingly, I feel a tightness in my abdomen.
“Youareattractive,” I hear her say as I move to where my clothes hang by the storage area.
I turn to glare, but she’s already gone.
“Bitch,” I grumble as I reach for my clothes.
Chapter 42
Normalcy
November 5th, 1030 A.D., Morning
