Page 15 of The Devil's Mercy

Yes.

Good Light. Yes. He’d been so disappointed when the minor cut had started to heal. Had liked that tiny hint of a claim left on his skin.

“I thought you were normal then,” Calix said, and Aodhan smirked at him.

“Got you again. You just told a lie.”

He frowned, but before he could deny it, the doctor hushed him.

“You get defensive when you’re lying, for starters,” Aodhan brought the sharp tip of the scalpel close to Cal’s eye and tapped the tender under area carefully. “And this muscle twitches ever so slightly.”

“That’s…” He’d never noticed or felt that happening before.

“Blame your left eye, not me. But it really is incredibly subtle. I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t spent all of this time with you searching for a tell in the first place.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m a liar too, which means I don’t trust anyone else not to be.”

“Smart.”

“Thanks, baby.”

“Aodhan?” Calix waited until the doctor lifted a brow, silently urging him on. “Drop the baby crap. And if you don’tintend to blind me, get that fucking thing out of my face before you slip and do something we both permanently regret.”

He laughed but moved the scalpel away. “Get it out of your system, the cussing? Mercy really doesn’t like it. I wasn’t joking before.”

“I don’t give a shit what he does or doesn’t like.”

“Liar,” Aodhan said in a sing-song voice, chuckling before he tapped the blade against Calix’s left nipple, grinning when Cal tensed. “Where would you like me to cut you? Here? Or,” he dragged the flat side of the scalpel down the center of Cal’s chest all the way to his navel, “lower?”

“Aodhan.”

“Don’t give me that look.” Some of his good mood soured and he scowled. “Don’t act like I’m going to disembowel you or something. Good Light, Cal, I’m still me.”

“I don’t know you,” he said. “I never did.”

“Wrong. You’ve known exactly who I am this entire time. Or are you really going to sit here and pretend you’re too dumb to have suspicions after I brought you to that party? Good people don’t just watch as another being is sawed in half. Not for any reason.”

“I’ve never claimed to be good.”

“Me neither. That’s sort of the point. You’ve always had a glimpse beneath the surface when it came to me. You’ve always known I wasn’t a sweet, vanilla lover, come to whisk you away in some grand fashion.”

“I at least thought you had class,” Calix stated. “I’m seeing now I was wrong.”

“Nah, I’m still classy, the issue is now that you’ve met Mercy, you’ve seen what I have to contend with. I grew up wealthy, but him? He grew up like an Imperial. Connects are worlds apart from us. I bet you my entire fortune that none of this was even necessary. If he’d gone straight to your captainat the I.P.F. and told him he was taking you as our Third, you would have been handed over with a pretty bow wrapped around this gorgeous neck of yours.”

Aodhan’s other hand slipped around Cal’s throat, squeezing lightly once before relaxing and just settling there.

“The I.P.F. didn’t own me. They wouldn’t have the authority to—” Calix hissed when the tip of the scalpel knicked the skin just about his navel.

“Whoopsie.”

Cal glared, but didn’t bother trying to pick up his sentence again.

“Want to make a deal?” Aodhan offered. “If you tell me the truth, I’ll let you wrap your hands around your dick and stroke yourself to completion while I cut you the way you like.”

“Truth about what?”

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