Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2)(104)

“You heard me.”

When Ro?n speaks, my hand flies to my heart. He sits on a ledge behind them, exhaustion curving his body toward the ground.

The sight of him releases a pressure I didn’t realize I still held in my chest. His cheeks are sunken and his voice is weak. But he’s alive.

He’s here.

“That’s not going to work,” Harun snarls, revealing his yellowed teeth. “Payment’s already been sent. You can’t stop what you’ve started.”

Though the other mercenaries close in, Ro?n doesn’t acknowledge them. He takes a flint from Harun’s pocket, struggling to light it with his left hand. His metal arm hangs limp, the stillness only broken by the occasional finger twitch.

“You seem to have forgotten that I don’t like to repeat myself,” Ro?n says. “I don’t care what’s in motion. Put an end to it. Now.” Ro?n reaches over to pull a cigarette from another mercenary’s pocket. He sticks it between his teeth, but before he can strike the match, Harun smacks the cigarette to the ground.

“Did she neuter you before or after she cut off your arm?”

His words make my skin hot, but Ro?n only blinks. His muscles stay taut, like a puppet’s whose strings have been pulled too tight.

“Serves you right.” Harun shakes his head. “I shouldn’t have to feed you lies for you to get the job done.”

Ro?n blinks, a wave of understanding washing over his face. “You knew Nehanda was lying?” He lowers his voice. “You fed me wrong information on purpose?”

“You’ve gone soft,” Harun says. “You’re not fit to run this crew.” He lights a cigar and sticks it in Ro?n’s mouth. “Consider this a parting gift. You’re out.”

Harun tenses when Ro?n raises his hand, but Ro?n doesn’t strike. He takes a long drag of the cigar, eyes falling closed as he exhales. After a long silence, he gives Harun a nod. Victory shines behind his enforcer’s yellowed smile.

Then Ro?n strikes.

He moves like the wind, a viper snapping its prey. In one swift motion, Harun is facedown on the ground, Ro?n’s metal hand pressed to his neck.

“Get off me!”

As Harun squirms, Ro?n smiles, taking another puff of his cigar. Then he removes it from his lips.

I flinch when he presses the burning tip to Harun’s neck.

Harun thrashes like a fish washed ashore, but the more he flails, the harder Ro?n pushes. The other mercenaries stand frozen, unsure of what to do. In an instant, I understand the leader Ro?n’s always been. The reason it took this long for his crew to attempt a rebellion.

“You’ve grown confident in my absence, Harun.” He smiles over his enforcer’s screams. “I like it. A few more years and I might even buy it.”

He removes the cigar and takes another long puff, tipping his head back to savor the smoke. Harun’s body falls limp with relief.

Then Ro?n presses the lit end to Harun’s skin again.

“Now, I’m not asking you, because I never ask,” Ro?n speaks through his teeth. “I said stand down. You hear me?”

“Yes!” Harun gasps between his screams.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that.”

“We’ll stand down!” Harun writhes. “We’ll stand down!”

Ro?n flicks the cigar to the ground and rises back to his feet. Harun rolls on the mountain stone. Smoke rises from his neck.

“Take the crew,” Ro?n spits. “I’m done rotting away in that cave. But if I catch so much as a whiff of you going against my orders, I’ll hang you by your own intestines.”

The ice in his voice makes my stomach clench. There’s no bluff in his stormy eyes. No sign of the tender man connected to my heart.

The mercenaries drag their wounded leader down the mountain path. As they retreat, Ro?n clenches his teeth in pain. His mask of power falls and he doubles over, grabbing his wounded shoulder.

“You don’t have to hide,” he calls out.

“How did you know?” I ask as I step out.

He puts two fingers to his heart and taps. “It always beat faster when you came near. Now it beats harder, too.”

I know the pull he speaks of. This close to him, it’s like a caged hummingbird beats within my chest.

He sits back on his ledge and all I want to do is embrace him. But the cigar still smokes on the ground. The scent of burning flesh stains the air.

“What was that about?” I ask.

“Nothing.” Ro?n removes the cigar from the ground and inhales. “Nothing now.”

“You’re really going to give up your crew?”

“I couldn’t run it even if I wanted to.” His eyes close when he exhales. “Compromised myself and my men the moment I fell in love with you.”

He speaks the words as if it were a simple fact. As ordinary as the mountains around us.

“Don’t worry,” he says. “I don’t expect you to feel the same after that display.”

“I know you’re a mercenary,” I whisper.

“But you’ve never had to see what that means.”

I step closer to him, considering what he says. On the warship, we stayed on his boat. During the ritual, it was an all-out war. In everything he’s done to help me, I’ve been shielded from the truth we both know. There’s no more hiding now.