Page 58 of Accomplice to the Villain

Blade

Meanwhile, back at the manor…

Blade Gushiken had very few rules in life. Likely because he’d had so many growing up with his politician father and socialite mother, so when he left home, all those things he hadn’t done before became his favorite things to do. A new way of life.

He tallied the few and only rules he had left.

1. Bring as many strange or unique animals into the house as you please.

2. Leave mud on the floor anytime it’s possible.

3. Be best friends with a dragon.

4. Be best friends with some humans, too.

5. Wear colors so loud that your father can feel the defiance all the way in the capital.

6. Never shy away from telling someone how you feel.

“My brother is here.” Rebecka Erring…or Fortis, or…well, whatever name she was going by these days appeared at his side in a pale-yellow frock. She looked like a daisy. A perfect, angry little daisy. “He’s here, and he’s looking at the thorn hedge.” She began pacing the courtyard, and Blade tried to make sense of her concern.

“Is that not…what you wanted?”

Her normally tight bun rested on her neck, and Blade’s hand itched to tug on the pin to watch it fall all the way down her back. But he didn’t. Yes, he was a jovial fellow, but he still quite valued his life.

“I could hardly tell the boss no, and better Roland than Raphael. At least Roland is less judgmental.”

Blade frowned. He didn’t like that she had agreed to something she was not comfortable with. Though he cared deeply for his boss, that didn’t mean the man didn’t scare the life out of him. Still, Rebecka mattered more than petty intimidation. “Do you want me to tell the boss to kick rocks?”

Becky raised a brow, biting her lip to keep from smiling. She’d been doing that around him a lot lately. As good a sign as any. “That would be intolerably disrespectful, and he would murder you on the spot. Or worse, fire you.”

“You think he ever fires people with actual fire?” Blade mock whispered.

A startled giggle that sounded a little like off-key bells sang through her rose-colored lips. A blink of an eye, and then it was over. Blade made a note to blink significantly less in the future.

Coughing into her hand, Rebecka stiffened when Roland Fortis, the middle child of the Fortis siblings, walked out to the courtyard from the side door. He looked much like Rebecka but also not. His high cheekbones were just like hers, as was the shining light-brown of his skin and hair, and the same shape of glasses sat atop his nose, which had a lighter scar running across it.

“Bex.” Roland smiled, his energy warm as he wrapped his arms around his little sister. Rebecka stiffened against the touch, and Blade’s fist twitched at his side. “You left so quickly we hardly had a proper greeting. Rudy wanted me to tell you he beat Reid in a spar and that he lost a tooth.”

Rebecka frowned. “What? I thought Rudy had already lost all his baby teeth.”

“He has.” Roland winced. “Hence the dentist visit that followed quickly after. Mother was furious, of course.” He chuckled and then stopped when he saw Rebecka’s dark expression. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought her up.”

Rebecka seemed to be struggling for something to say, which was fine. Blade never had that problem. He stood, adjusting his orange vest with blue flowers. “Hello, Roland. And how are we this fine day?”

Rebecka looked to Blade, her brown eyes gleaming. It was an innocent expression of thanks, Blade knew, but his heart stuttered like she’d just kissed him right on the mouth. If he everdidconvince her to kiss him, he feared it would hospitalize him.

Roland sized Blade up, a friendly grin on his lips but a guarded rigidness to his shoulders. “Bladen.”

Fluffy appeared at Blade’s side, his head tilting down, and Roland leaped back, adjusting his crooked glasses. “Dear gods. I forgot about you. Hello… Fluffy, yes?”

Fluffy nudged his head into Rebecka’s arm, and she looked at Blade’s companion with a tender-eyed affection that made Blade feel a little like someone was strangling him.

“Well, Roland?” Rebecka asked, bringing them all back to the reason Fortis was here in the first place. “Did you find any inconsistencies in the thorny grove?”

Roland’s composure wavered underneath Rebecka’s stare, and Blade found himself sympathetic to the man’s plight. “No. I scanned the entire grove, which I’d like to point out isillegalto have grown in the first place.”

Rebecka rolled her eyes, a loose hair falling against her cheek, and Blade watched it with an embarrassing amount of attention. “We work for The Villain. It’s not exactly a law-abiding business.”