I nod and face the door. “It’s fine. Daddy wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
River snorts. “Yeah. Okay.”
Asch puts a hand on the small of my back. “We’ve got this,” he says, asserting more confidence than I think he actually has.
We make our way downstairs. Daddy and Uncle Slayer are both sitting on the couch, although “sitting” might be generous for how Uncle Slayer is hovering at the edge.
No sign of Papa, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
I go to sit next to Daddy and lay my head against his shoulder. “Hi, Daddy. You really didn’t have to come all the way here. I had it covered.”
“Had it covered?” Uncle Slayer repeats, his voice thick with disbelief. “That was not ‘having it covered,’ Pandora.”
The fact that he’s calling me Pandora instead ofPandadoes not bode well.
I sit up straighter and pout at him. “What? I’m alive, everyone important is alive, my enemies are rotting under six feet of debris… I’m not sure how much more covered I could have it.”
That’s right.
Don’t make excuses.
Own your experiences.
I didn’t fuck up. Imeantto do all this.
“Did I or did I not tell you that your fucking family is there for you no matter what?” Uncle Slayer demands. “Or did River not deliver that particular message?”
River holds his hands out in front of him. “I told her,” he says. “I promise.”
“He did,” I verify. “I chose to ignore him, because I kind ofwanted to take care of my own problems. Y’know, visceral revenge doesn’t mean much if I’m not the one doing the eviscerating.”
Daddy sighs and holds up his hand before Uncle Slayer argues back. “It’s done. But you understand that this could have gone extremely badly?”
I scoot away from Daddy and shoot him a glare. “Do you lecture Papa every time he does something that could goextremely badly?”
“He does,” Uncle Slayer mutters. “And your Papa listens about as well.”
Daddy nods. “I do.” He turns to look at River and Asch. “Thank you for… Well, you didn’t keep her out of trouble. But Mel told us that you helped get her out.”
I knew Mel was a snitch.
But I suppose it’s okay if it makes River and Asch look good in their eyes.
“We did everything we could to help,” Asch says, but his voice is subdued. “We didn’t think it would go off the rails the way it did. Ezio…” His voice catches again. “Well, the Romanos are all gone now.”
I didn’t even see Ezio at all. I hope his death was painful and gory.
“For what it’s worth,” I say, “I didn’t plan the explosions. That wasn’t my fault. Sometimes, explosions happen, though.”
Daddy and Uncle Slayer share a look.
“Explosions happen,” Uncle Slayer repeats. “Sometimes.”
I nod. “Come on. You know it’s true. You must’ve been in plenty of buildings that had a sudden leak or an old hand grenade or a really unfortunate combination of fire and natural gas…”
“No. No, I’ve never been in an explosion,” Uncle Slayer says. “And I don’t want you to ever be in one again!”
I turn to Daddy for support, but there’s a miniscule frown on his face.
