Chapter 42 #3
I settle in on the stool next to her. “I wasn’t going to kill Alteo like that.
I don’t have any interest in making people think prophecies come true.
People believe enough bullshit as it is.
My only goal was to make him suffer. But then he told me something when we were out there.
He said that I’m not a real Zogaj, that my mother had had an affair, and that’s why I was sent away.
He said my father had paid one of the crones in the old country to invent the prophecy about me putting out his eyes so that he’d have an excuse for sending me away. ”
“So he isn’t your real father?”
“Who knows? The idea that I’m not a real Zogaj is the kind of thing my brother would invent.
But it also makes sense in explaining why my father hated me.
Ultimately, I don’t care. I wanted my brother to suffer and die for ordering her killing, I wanted the names of who else did the killing, and I wanted to make them sorry, too. ”
She nods, rapt.
“Of course, my brother knew he was a dead man out on that boat, and he refused to tell who he’d hired to do the job on Sara.
He meant to go to his death in silence, thereby ensuring I’d never learn the truth.
Some people, you can inflict maximum pain on them, and they’ll pass out before they tell you anything.
My brother, that’s how he would have been.
Not out of bravery so much as spite. He’d always had so much spite toward me. ”
I can see the wheels in her mind turning. Still not understanding. Of course, she’s an outsider .
“Here’s the thing you need to know about the Ghost Hound Clan or really any Albanian clan,” I say.
“It’s a very secretive organization. When you’re outside of it, you’re nothing.
But when you’re inside, you’re in the club.
His talking about the prophecy gave me an idea.
What if I were to kill him in a way that would align with the prophecy? ”
“You blind him and become the promised king.”
“Exactly. They’ll obey their promised king because they believed in the lore.”
“So you forced yourself to put out his eyes,” she says. “To fulfill that prophecy and mark yourself as king.”
“ The son will blind the kyre and ascend the throne . I pressed my hands to the sides of his face and gouged out his eyes with my thumbs—slowly—so that he knew what was happening. And then I broke his neck and threw his body near the shore so that everyone could see what had happened.”
“Was it...”
“Difficult?” I supply, searching her green eyes. “He was my brother, cruel as he was, so yes, it was difficult.” I never told anybody that, but I need Edie to know. I’m done playing monster to her. I need her to know my heart.
“And the people of the clan seem like they’ve accepted you as their new leader. They really have.”
“You saw the situation with the cookies. Most of these people take the lore very seriously. They accepted me instantly.”
“You seem good at it.”
“It’s the lore shit. Even Orton—he’s the kind of guy who needs his king to have royal blood. I could be the worst king, and he’d follow me.”
“Oh my God, that’s why they want your hair,” she says.
“Exactly. Truth or fiction, it’s gotten around that I might not be a Zogaj. Why a cop would be interested in that angle... let’s just say it’s odd. ”
“What would happen to you if it turned out you weren’t a real Zogaj?”
“Putting myself up as a false king? Perpetrating that kind of fraud on a dangerous clan? Somebody would have to kill me. Orton might kill me first, just for the sake of his own honor.”
“No!”
“Don’t worry. Nobody’s killing me.”
She twists up her lips, eyes squinted. “Orton loves you. I don’t see him killing you.”
“He can love me and still be able to kill me.”
“Luka,” she gasps, and I kiss her. She grabs my hair and kisses me back.
“Well, we can’t give Bender your hair,” she declares. “He’d use it to hurt you if it turned out that what your brother said is true.”
“Even if he got my hair, I’d deal with it.”
“But obviously, he’d try and test it and find out if you’re in the bloodline.”
“Don’t worry,” I say as she plops back into her seat. “A DNA test is just some asshole in a lab. A lab is not Fort Knox. I’m the fucking kyre until I say I’m not.”
She smiles and dips a cracker in a spicy berry dip. She likes that. I like that she likes it.
This woman is different. She’s different from everyone I’ve ever known. And suddenly I need to clear the air on something.
“Remember that morning in the hotel after I got in that brawl? With the concussion and all of that, and I told you about the school in Tucumayo?”
“Yes.”
“You were so upset. I promised you that the kids were long gone, but it was about more than the other kids for you. You were up in arms because it happened to me. It seemed like you wanted to personally go and firebomb that place.”
“I did.”
“You had a personal stake in it because it was a shitty thing that happened to me, and you wanted to go after those people.”
“Yeah,” she says. “And then you acted like an asshole and took my phone away.”
“Yeah, I was a total asshole. I couldn’t think of what the fuck to do with this fierce, sexy woman who got it in her head to fight for me. What the hell is that, right? It was a good feeling that I didn’t trust. I didn’t have a category for it. So I ejected you.”
She studies my face. Pale green eyes serious. “You hurt my feelings.”
“I know. And I’m sorry for that.”
She blinks. “Thanks for saying that.”
“It meant a lot to me that you wanted to do that. I’m used to being the one to avenge somebody else.”
She reaches out and takes my hand.
“So... you hungry?”
She grins. “Is that your limit of caring and sharing?”
“Maybe.”
“Well... I’d eat.” She looks around. “Don’t tell me you cook, too.”
“Not at all, but one of the best sushi restaurants in the city is a few blocks up.”
She gets a sly grin. “Is your oven an empty cardboard box, too?”
“Are you gonna stop giving me shit about my books anytime soon?”
“No. But yes to the sushi. I love sushi.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Takeout menus on your bulletin board. Come on.”