Treat (Terraway Book 5)

by Mary E. Twomey

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “That’s not how it is really. I need to talk to Banak, and I can’t stand here while your mother’s in there. It’s killing you, and I won’t sit here and do nothing when I could help.”

  Finn’s gaze softened. “You love me,” he marveled.

  “Please let me do this for you. I’ll only be talking politics with him while you get your mother out of there.”

  He kissed my lips once, eliciting a low growl from Mason. “Thank you, sinta.”

  My bare feet stumbled along as we walked past light green floating tapestries on gold floors. When we stopped at the door, I took my pack from Finn, casting up a reassuring smile as I stroked his bicep, putting just enough pressure there for him not to notice me sliding out his knife from his belt. Then I gently shoved him toward the door, tucking the knife into my pack without him seeing it.

  Mason saw it, though. He glanced curiously from me to the pack, silently asking why I’d pickpocketed Finn for a knife, of all things. I winked at him and nodded, hoping he understood the universal “be cool”.

  Finn marched through the door, which I realized was part one of two barriers that kept Banak from being disturbed. The second set of doors was flanked by two guards, who looked surprised to see their Captain accompanied by a girl and her wolf.

  “Step aside,” Finn ordered. “It’s an emergency.” I saw in the way the men bowed their heads that though Banak wore the crown, Finn was the man in charge. “This is the new Omen. Whatever she wants, see to it she gets it.”

  “Yes, Captain,” they answered in unison, opening the door for us.

  I knew I should’ve been prepared for the scene I walked in on, but I shrieked when I saw the mangled green and scaly legs of the midfifties-aged nude Mermaid sprawled out on the lavish bed.

  I’m sure there were far better ways for me to meet Finn’s mom for the first time, but there she was, unconscious and naked on the bed. There were bruises peppering her neck and body, and one eye completely swollen shut with a purple shiner. I could see a slight resemblance – the dark blonde hair, the fuller lips, and other small genetic traits that drew a clear line from mother to son.

  I cringed when the king roared his frustration at being interrupted. “I’m not to be disturbed in here, Finn!”

  Finn’s voice was tight. “The new Omen insisted she speak with you. It’s an emergency, your highness.”

  “Very well,” Banak grumbled. “Call in the guards. I tired of this one hours ago.” He motioned to Finn’s mom’s limp body as Finn turned away. Finn called to the guards in a pinched tone that belied only a fraction of the horror that was no doubt ripping him up inside.

  The two soldiers came in, trying unsuccessfully to rouse the woman. The taller soldier pressed two fingers to her neck. “She’s dead, your majesty.” There was no note of accusation in his tone, only a resigned sigh that something like this had happened again.

  Finn let out a choked cry I wanted to hold him through, but knew I couldn’t without forfeiting my window of opportunity. “Go with him,” I urged Mason, hoping he could at least give him a solid pull until I was finished with Banak.

  Mason didn’t listen, but planted himself at my feet, knowing I was up to something. I gripped my bag and gently moved Finn out of the room. “Go say your goodbyes. I’ll be there in a minute to help you bury her.”

  Finn’s hand trembled as he gripped my arm, swallowing as the shock rippled through him in waves. “K-keep Mason with you.”

  “He’ll be right outside the door. Just a quick conversation about empire logistics, and I’ll be back by your side.”

  Finn looked a mixture of nauseous, shocked and defeated. The defeat part left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Finn wasn’t meant for a white flag. He was strong, fierce, and had more power than he realized. He had me. He had me in his arms, on his side and by his side. He was ever the professional as he walked away, his head bent as the soldiers tried to be respectful. They carried his mother’s body wrapped in the comforter down the hall toward the outside sunshine.

  Forty-Eight.

  Bait

  I’d known quite a few sociopaths in my day, and the one thing they all had in common was the fact that they didn’t like being seen as sociopaths until after they revealed their true nature. They wanted to feel sneaky, to take in their prey and go for the kill when their victim started to feel safe. There was a certain glory to the “I fooled you” surprise that they reveled in.

  I knelt down and hugged my wolf, leaning in to whisper, “Stay right here outside the door. If I scream, come in and get me.”

  He whined, and I knew he was wishing he could talk me out of whatever it was I was up to, but ultimately, he obeyed.

  Banak pulled a robe on over his enormous belly that was covered in oil and sweat, though I’d already seen him completely naked by this point. He had black cropped Julius Caesar hair that was unflattering on pretty much everyone except old Caesar himself. He had gills, like Finn, but there was a greenish tinge to his, making them look dirty, like he hadn’t showered in days. The room stank of sex and excrement, though I tried not to notice. His pig nose and round face were sweaty, his eyes leering as he took in the scope of me, noting with pleasure that we were alone. “Excuse the mess. Have a seat, milady.” He made a sweeping gesture toward a gold chair in the corner.

  Ollie’s voice wafted in my psyche, though I’m positive his brotherly advice hadn’t been meant for situations like this one. Keep your chin up, take it slow.

  I swallowed down my flaring germ phobia as I sat down. My imagination didn’t have to work too hard to conjure up what kind of filth made my butt feel like it stuck a little to the chair. “Thank you, your majesty. You’ve got a lovely palace.”

  I let Banak lock the door, his creepy smile telling me how sneaky he thought he was being, separating me from my wolf, who I could hear growling on the other side. Getting me alone in his sex room, away from Finn and the guards who were occupied burying his last conquest was a feat I could tell he was proud of himself for executing. “I assume you’ve come here to observe more than just my palace. What can I do for you?”

  I gulped, knowing it was now or never. My nickname Bait had never been more true than it was about to be. I warned myself to breathe evenly as I undid a button on my blue silk blouse, giving Banak my best you-know-what-I’m-really-here-for eyes. I felt like a complete kid trying to seduce an old man who’d seen and had just about everything.

  Everything except for legs, and I had those in spades.

  “Captain Finn told me I needed to come up with a way to thank you for letting me use your healing waters before I left your land. I hope you don’t mind me getting creative.” I lifted my leg, extending it between us as I rubbed a muscle on my calf. “My toes are wet. Dry them for me?”

  Banak’s eyes widened, looking like he’d just won the lottery. It would’ve been flattering if the whole thing didn’t wreak of ick. I was part of the ick in this scenario. I’d just sat in it, and was about to create a whole lot more cringe-worthy nonsense for what I hoped would be the greater good.

  This wasn’t about the kingdom anymore. This was for Finn. For Finn’s mother. Whatever hesitation I’d been harboring, I knew this was my chance to stop the torture of hundreds of women and even some men who’d submitted to degradation no one should have to endure.

  Banak knelt down before me. His smile showed me that though he knew he was a sociopath, he had no idea that I was perhaps a bigger one. I was the danger. I don’t know how long the psycho in me had lain dormant, waiting for the right trigger, but Banak had tipped my sanity to the breaking point. I tripped straight into his web, letting him think I was a dainty fly, when really I was the scorpion.

  He slowly rubbed my toes, his eyes taking their time undressing me in preparation for the real show. I tried to keep my scream in my throat as Banak started licking my toes, sucking on each one as I put on the fakest smile of my life.

  “Perfect.” He strok
ed my calf, giving me the creeps. “Young and soft.” He traced the inside of my knee, and I knew I was just about out of time. “We’re going to have some fun, child. What a tasty treat you are.”

  “Let me slip into something more comfortable. I have a feeling I’ll be extra grateful to you for a good long time in here.” My backpack was at my feet, and I opened my knees as I slid it onto my lap, inviting him in, but not as close as he wanted to be. I cast him a coy smile, hating myself and him. Every heartbeat that banged in my chest screamed that it was now or never. I reached into my pack as he moved between my legs, his breath stinking like he hadn’t bothered with hygiene for days.

  He expected me to pull out a sexy outfit to entertain him with.

  The widening of his eyes before his choked cry told me he hadn’t been expecting the knife that slashed across his throat before he could register what it was.

  I counted on Finn to keep his knives sharp, but I’d not done a ton of throat-slitting (some, but not a ton), much less to someone with gills as an alternative breathing apparatus. Banak’s arms flung out, trying to get at me, but his hands were without direction. I tipped the chair over and ran to the other side of the room, gripping the knife and breathing through my fear of him and myself.

  I didn’t wait for Banak to see if he could right himself after he fell forward onto his face. He gurgled and tried to cry out for his guards, who were nowhere near, thanks to his appetite for things that didn’t belong to him.

  I pressed my lips together to muffle my noises of distress as I rolled him over and stabbed him through the chest, which is harder than it sounds. The first few times I hit bone, the knife not piercing its mark.

  Banak’s arms flailed to grab at my throat, but I shushed him. “Are we having fun yet?” I whispered. A cold note I didn’t recognize from my psyche crept into my voice. Finally, Finn’s knife found its new home. I felt the pop of a balloon, and Banak’s arms slowly began to descend, though his mouth moved as he cursed me to the ever-loving place we don’t mention in good company. “I know. I’m the bad guy,” I admitted without regret. “I don’t know how you got this way, but I won’t let you hurt these people anymore. You let your son take Von!” I whispered, my voice shaking with rage I didn’t often like to admit I was capable of. “Von could hurt a lot of people with the damage your family did to him, but he doesn’t. He chose to rise above it, to let the damage stop with him. You didn’t care who you hurt.” I plunged the knife into his enormous gelatinous belly and slid it along the hemisphere for good measure. “Finn did everything you asked of him, and you murdered Dyesebel and his mother!” I shook my head, tears falling down my face. “How could you?”

  I covered Banak with a blanket from his bed once his eyes glazed over with that awful look I’d seen after many a prison fight gone south. I clenched my fists and wished that, of all my shortcomings, I wasn’t so very good at this.

  Forty-Nine.

  Wounds and Wounded Pride

  I lost all sense of time until Mason whined at the door however long later. I wiped off my face and tried to calm my silent sobbing as I stood, cracking the door open and kneeling to whisper to my wolf. “Banak’s dead now. Go get Finn in secret so you two can move the body to stage it for the big finale. I’ll lock myself inside, so knock twice when you get back.”

  Mason looked from me to a space behind me where I knew he saw the sheet with one giant dead guy underneath. He let out a low growl that let me know he was medium pissed, but then rested his head on my shoulder for a brief moment of solidarity. He licked my face, trying to pull from me. “No,” I ruled, backing away and closing the door. I pressed my hand to the surface and said to him through the gold-plated wood, “I deserve to feel this. Go quick, now.”

  Mason took my order to heart and returned not four minutes later with Finn, who scowled at me through his tears, fresh from burying his mother. “I see you did what you felt like without consulting us, as usual.”

  “Be as mad as you want later. Just get Banak out of here and help me clean the blood up.” I caught Finn’s arm. “And call Ezra. Tell him to bring Mariang down here right now. And I mean, right now.”

  “For what?”

  “We have a small window where she can use the healing waters. I need her healthy, Finn. I can’t let her die.” I looked up into his glassy green eyes, unable to hide my sadness that read like exhaustion and felt like fear etched too deep to be real. “I can’t do it all alone. I need help, and she deserves a full life that Terraway doesn’t suck out of her.”

  Finn nodded as Mason trotted in, upright and clothed in black soldier’s pants and a t-shirt. I didn’t ask how he came into them; I was just grateful for the help. “I can do that. Thanks for finally cluing me in on a plan of yours. That’s a good plan. This one?” He motioned to the sheet covering Banak on the floor. “This one was borderline suicide. We’re going to have words about this after it’s all over.”

  “Hopefully they’re pretty words with plenty of prose, thanking me for doing the dirty work so you didn’t have to. Just get your guys to move him. Mason? Come here.”

  Mason obeyed without question, for which I was grateful. I led him through the back door, giving Finn a nod to let him know we’d be back. Mason scratched a spot on his elbow. “What are we doing? Finn might need me.”

  “You need this more. Finn has his two guys to help move Banak.” I held Mason’s hand, our fingers slipping together like knots as I led him through the dark corridor. “Finger lights?” I requested, appreciative when he turned his on. We all but ran until we reached the door at the end, pushing through to the utopia of the small pool that was surrounded by beautiful rocks and jewels. “It’s the healing waters. Banak’s been hiding them the entire time. It’s how I’m upright.” I held myself through a shiver, though the room was warm and cozy. “You gave up your life for me. This is the most I can do to make up for that.”

  Mason’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”

  “We don’t have much time. You have to get in now. And let me tell you, it hurts like your bones are being broken, and you have to keep quiet. Not a sound, Mason. Quick as you can.” I turned away as he ripped his shirt and pants off. “Go all the way under. Drink some of the water, too.” I bent down and scooped a handful of the water, drinking it down for good measure. I didn’t know how deep the healing powers went, but if they could make me not so prone to homicide, I figured that would be a good thing for all involved.

  I wasn’t expecting the searing pain in my abdomen, but I gripped the edge of the pool as something hot rocketed through me. I closed my lips through my muted scream, not sure what could possibly have been damaged since the last time I’d dipped. Mason knelt beside me, holding me tight once again with no clothes on. He cupped my mouth as I grunted and howled into his hand, coming down slowly, and probably looking like a feral animal.

  When the pain passed, I kissed his cheek, sweaty and worn out from just that one swallow. “Your turn. I’m going to go get Von. Just make sure you don’t make too much noise.” I glanced down when his stomach rumbled, blushing that he was naked again.

  “Okay.” He squeezed me before releasing me, his eyes on the pool. “I thought this was a myth. Thank you, hani. This? I’ll never be able to repay you for this.” Though he was naked, I didn’t shirk away when he pressed a closed-mouth kiss to my lips.

  “You’re worth much more than this, but it’s the best I can do right now.”

  “I love you, October.”

  “I love you, too, sweetie.”

  * * * *

  I didn’t imagine Banak’s son was more violent than Banak, but when Finn made me turn around when he brought a limping Von into the secret room with the healing waters, I knew it had to be bad. “He doesn’t want you to see him like this,” Finn said quietly to me. “Let him keep a little of his dignity.”

  Finn’s two trusted men moved Banak to the throne room where the dead version of Prince Julius was waiting for him. The weapons were sta
ged to convince the country their family feud had turned fatal. Von had been waiting out the death of Banak with one dead Julius, patiently bleeding while Banak had taken his sweet time with Finn’s mom.

  Finn had marched Von the long way through the palace, taking circuitous routes so no one would see him walking around when he normally would’ve been escorted back to the harem and locked in with the other concubines.

  I turned to peek as a naked Von was lowered slowly into the healing waters, his body oiled and his pride irreparably wounded. Mason dunked him under, holding him there while Von got out the brunt of his howling as the waters rebuilt him piece by piece. My heart broke for him while a raging fire of vengeance roiled inside of me, daring anyone to ever hurt him again.

  When Mason finally let him up, Von was panting, revived and very much confused. He pulled on his t-shirt, boxer briefs and jeans that I’m guessing had been taken from him at some point upon his induction back into the harem. I waited until he was clothed and then ran to him, my body crashing into his. “I did it,” he breathed. “I killed that snake. It’s done. He’ll not rape anyone now.”

  My arms couldn’t wrap tight enough to hold him together as I knew he needed. “I’m so sorry you had to ever see his face again.”

  “It was worth it. Now no one else… It’s over.”

  “Promise me that’s true. That the worst of it’s over.”

  Von cuddled me to his chest, and I could feel his love for me trumping his fear over all he’d confronted that day. “Oh, Peach. It’s all smooth sailing from here.”

  Doubtful, I looked down at my feet at the edge of the pool, my eye catching on one of the rubies on the ledge that was completely broken off. My curious gaze was met by Mason, who was positively beaming.

  Fifty.

  The Brady Bunch Incarnate

  I didn’t want to be there for Mariang’s screams when she dipped into the waters with Danny a couple hours later. The guards posted outside the throne room where the royal bodies were rotting still hadn’t discovered the carnage inside, so we had a bit of time to make ourselves scarce.