Page 41 of Quiver of Cobras
Mendax smiled. ‘Then when you bring it to me, I will know for certain that you are not in his pocket.’ He sighed happily. ‘Once the exchange has occurred, perhaps we can build on our mutual trust and re-engage in negotiations over the sphere.’
‘We don’t have the sphere,’ Morgan said.
‘Sure.’ Mendax nodded, his expression almost as sarcastic as his voice. ‘You don’t have itnow. But perhaps you can be persuaded to get hold of it so that I can destroy it.’
Finn bristled. ‘It seems that we are putting ourselves at greater risk than you are to achieve this trust-exchange bullshit. All you have to do is open a safe. We have to risk our lives.’
I snorted. If we agreed to this, it was obviously me who’d be doing all the risking.
Mendax shrugged. ‘Do you really think that I would enjoy the fallout if the truce were destroyed? The faeries were sensible to establish it in the first place. You can’t go anywhere in this city without feeling their frustration at being trapped here. Frustration leads to conflict – and that’s the sort of conflict I would prefer not to happen in my own home.’ He looked at Finn. ‘You’re a Redcap. You must understand that as well as I do. Although,’ he added, ‘as far as you’re concerned, if you lose the truce, you’ll gain the Fey back-up you require to avenge your brother’s death.’
Finn’s face turned a bright shade of red, caused by fury at the mention of Jinn’s demise rather than embarrassment. Sooner or later he’d take a swing at Rubus whether he had support from faeries like Morgan and myself or not. He’d never win and, much as I hated to admit it, I didn’t want to see the Redcap die needlessly.
Morgan got to his feet. ‘How do we contact you?’
‘Are you agreeing to my proposal?’ Mendax enquired, without moving from his own chair.
‘We will consider it. That’s as far as I am prepared to go for now.’
Mendax pursed his lips. ‘Then that will do. For now.’ He thought for a moment then pulled a small card from his pocket and passed it over. ‘I have a PO box that I use for deliveries. My lair, unlike Chen’s, is sacrosanct. I don’t permit anyone to visit it, so the PO box comes in handy. Leave a message there with a time, date and,’ he paused, ‘a neutral meeting place and I’ll endeavour to see you there. If you obtain Rubus’s ring, tell me and I will bring the oath breaker when I meet you. If you decide not to go ahead with this exchange then our business is concluded.’ His face tightened. ‘And know that if youdohave the sphere, despite your denials, I shall do everything in my power to take it from you. It was not meant for your kind.’
‘You and whose army?’ Finn sneered. ‘Try anything and I’ll rip your intestines out of your throat, wrap them round my dick and have sexual relations with your skull.’
Nobody said a word. Well, that was one way to kill a conversation dead. I wasn’t sure I could even look at Finn after that. And I was the villainous murdering bitch amongst us.
‘Well,’ Mendax murmured. ‘Whatever floats your boat.’ He got to his feet in a surprisingly lithe movement for such an old man. ‘I’ll leave first. Don’t do anything foolish like try and follow me.’
He headed for the door then turned to look at us. ‘Make sure you wipe the video evidence of this little chat this time,’ he smirked at me.
A moment later we were alone again.
Chapter Ten
A considerable amount of time went by before anyone spoke. I drank more water. Finn drummed his fingers against the leather arm of his chair. Morgan didn’t move a muscle. It wasn’t until I’d had so much to drink that my bladder was on the point of exploding that I finally tossed the cup into the nearby bin and stalked to the middle of the floor.
‘I’m a killer,’ I said loudly. Too loudly. My voice echoed around the empty clubhouse, my words reverberating back at me just in case I still wasn’t sure. ‘But I think we need to look upon my unveiling as a good thing.’
Morgan still didn’t move. Finn quirked a bushy eyebrow; given his misshapen head, the overall effect was rather startling, like a lumpy hunk of clay with random hair added. I didn’t have the time to comment, however.
‘How so?’ he enquired.
‘I have the stomach for getting the job done,’ I answered simply. ‘Whatever that job may be. Probably not pulling out someone’s guts through their throat and wrapping them round my cock because firstly I don’t have a cock and secondly even I’m not that muchofa cock. But,’ I continued, in a more sombre vein, ‘I can do what needs to be done, whether that’s getting rid of Mendax because he’s an untrustworthy arsebadger who’s planning to slit all our throats the first chance he gets, or getting rid of Rubus if this oath-breaker thing actually works.’
Finn looked me up and down critically. ‘Without wanting to disparage you, Madhatter, I’m not sure you’d have the bodily strength to succeed over either of them.’
I ignored the slight to my muscles; I’d insulted them enough myself already. ‘There’s more than one way to flay a feline. I have faery magic. I’ve only used it to deliberately harm someone once before, when I took out that sniper who was after Julie. But the ability is certainly there.’ My voice was quiet. I’d never discovered if what I’d done that day had killed the sniper that had been targeting her; I’d always assumed I’d just winded him or something. Now, of course, I was no longer so sure.
I was expecting Finn to make some sort of snide remark about my black-hearted willingness to end another life. He’d probably include his brother Winn in it as I could certainly be held at least partially – if not wholly responsible – for his death, accidental or otherwise. Instead he surprised me. ‘It’s good that you’re in this with us then,’ he said.
I blinked at him and waited for him to finish the sentence with a cutting insult but he didn’t seem to have anything else to say. Then a thought occurred to me. I tilted my head and I put my hands on my hips. ‘Hang on one dastardly second,’ I said. ‘Do you feel sorry for me? Is this pity because I’ve finally been forced to confront the truth about myself?’ I glared at him. ‘Don’t you dare feel that for me!’
Finn’s mouth twitched. ‘You know,’ he drawled, ‘the best way to kill a cat isn’t to skin it. It’s to choke it with cream.’
I saw what he was doing. I’d tried to manipulate him in a similar fashion only a few hours ago. I glowered at him accusingly. ‘You think you can kill me with kindness? Because I wouldn’t kill a cat like that. I’d take it by its tail and—’
‘Quiet,’ Morgan said. ‘I really don’t think this is an appropriate conversation topic.’ He looked faintly green.
‘Are you a cat lady, Morgan?’ I asked. ‘Are you sickened by our discussion of how to murder a moggy?’
