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“Yer Mattia’s men?” I asked once I was standing before them, my nose wrinkling at the pungent smell of their fear.
And wet dog.
Always the nasty fecking dogs with these lot.
One of them nodded, casting a wary glance at the other.
After a prolonged moment of silence, I tucked my hands into my trouser pockets. “Well, get on wit’ it t’en.”
The first man’s gulp was audible, voice shaking as he spoke. “Capo FamigliaLa Rosa demands the safe return of his daughter, Ottavia.” He swallowed again, his eyes shifting warily to Declan, over to the guards, and back to me. “He—he said that he demands her safe return or he will be forced to retaliate.”
I laughed.
A loud, cruel, obnoxious sound that made both messengers and the guards fidget uncomfortably. Declan chuckled beside me, only causing their unease to grow.
“Tell me, boy.” I paused, my hands pulling from my trousers to cross over my chest. “Wha’ exactly does Mattia ’ave planned should I na return her?”
The man hesitated, his mouth opening and closing for a moment before he finally gave a tentative shrug. “I—I don’t know. We’re just the messengers, they don’t tell us anything.”
“Hmmm,” I hummed with a nod. “Ye know nothin’ but yet I’m supposed ta believe ye?”
Both of the men nodded, their hearts banging behind their ribs.
My eyes met Declan’s, his smirk hidden behind his palm. “Interestin’.”
“Do you, um, have a message you’d like us to bring back toCapo Famiglia?” a shaky voice asked, bringing my attention back to the two men quaking before me.
“Ah, yes. I do.” My shoes crunched on the gravel drive as I moved closer, watching as the men fought their instincts to turn and run for the hills. Without pause, I grabbed onto the man in front of me by his hair in one hand, my other falling to his shoulder. With a hard yank, his neck tore, ripping from his body in a wet, squelching tear that sprayed warm, thick blood across my chest and jaw.
With the head dangling from my fingers, I started after the other man, who had turned to sprint down the drive. Some of my guards were already in pursuit and I called them back, walking deftly down the gravel drive, a trail of blood dripping from the decapitated head in my wake.
“Come na, boy, ye think ye can outrun me?” I taunted, flashing a toothy grin when his sweaty face turned to look over his shoulder as he ran.
He stumbled on the small rocks, falling to his knee before he scuffled back up with a terrified sob. I toyed with him, keeping myself a good ten feet back as he scrambled and cried. I could smell his blood dripping from the scrapes on his hands and knees, taste the fear that roiled from him in waves. His heart thumped a million miles a minute as I trailed him, goading him along the way.
“Ah, jus’ a wee bit farther lad, yer almost ta the road.” I chuckled when he fell again, the head at my side no longer dripping blood.
This time I didn’t wait for him to get up, instead, I met him, gripping the back of his shirt and yanking him up. He screamed, a loud, high-pitched sound that echoed in the trees lining the road. I spun him around so that he faced me, his wide eyes clashing with mine.
“Ye will take t’is head back ta Mattia an ye’ll tell the gobshite ta go feck himself.” I grabbed his hand, curling his fingers around the hair of the decapitated head before letting it go. “Nago.”
He turned, wordlessly doing as I had compelled him to, the head dangling from his fingers as he walked calmly down the driveway. I spun on my heel, running back to the house where Declan and the men waited in a flash.
My foot kicked the limp body on the ground. “Get rid o’ this body. Throw it ta tha ghouls.”
The guards moved on command, scuffling to do as I instructed, and I tucked my hands back into my pockets and walked up the stone steps to meet Declan.
“Yer missin’ a head,” he commented, his lips ticking at the corner.
“Aye. I sent tha messenger home wit’ it.”
He chuckled. “I’m sure tha’ will go ov’r well.”
I shrugged, making my way back into the house. “Does it matt’r?” My eyes found his. “Wha’ can Mattia do that’ll make tha’ much o’ a difference? Nothin’. He’s a nuisance a’ most. A flea ridin’ tha back o’ his mangy mutts.”
“Yer fergettin’ that tha last time we fought either o’ ’em, they were separate.” He paused at the stairs, making me stop with him. “This time o’ round we wouldn’t jus’ be fightin’ one army, it’d be two.”
“I’m aware o’ ’ow t’ings work, Declan,” I bit out, the conversation sparking annoyance to race along my skin. “Yes, there ’re two armies, ba we beat them both befer, we can beat them ’gain.”
