The Book Eaters(24)
“You’d have to join the Ravenscar household.”
Devon sat back in her chair. “I’m guessing that’s a little more complicated than you’re making it sound.”
“Not at all. Joining, in this case, means living beneath Killock’s rule, accepting him as leader, taking his orders, and being reasonably loyal to him.” Hester kept rubbing the tips of her fingers against her thumb with nervous energy. “These were the conditions that he agreed with us, his other siblings. As a member of his household, the same rules would apply to you.”
In other words, Devon thought, Killock had won his coup and given his siblings a choice between death or obedience. For all they’d run away and supposedly escaped Family culture, the apple hadn’t fallen very far from the proverbial tree.
Which rather begged the question, why had the Ravenscar household imploded at all? If Killock had simply wanted a change of leadership, there were ways to do that. He wouldn’t have been the first ambitious youth to reach for patriarch.
No, trying to leave the other Families entirely implied a fresh start, yet Devon could see no evidence of anything fresh. She was missing something. Probably a lot of somethings. Currents and eddies of a complicated interfamily feud, all swirling at her ankles, and she was stepping in blind.
Aloud, Devon said, “That doesn’t work for me. I already walked away from the book eater patriarchs and Family life once before. I won’t live under that system ever again.”
Hester’s restless hands paused. “He’s nothing like the old patriarchs. It’s a very different kind of rule.”
Devon burst into laughter, almost doubled over.
“Dev?” Cai was on his feet in an instant, looking at her through the narrow kitchenette archway. On the screen behind him, Clint Eastwood stalked purposefully through a building.
“I’m fine.” She waved him away. “Just—a funny joke. Watch your film, love.”
“Hmph.” He lingered for a few seconds before drifting back over to the couch, still shooting her suspicious looks. Sad that he’d heard her laughter so rarely as to find it alarming.
Hester pressed her lips into a line. “I was being serious!”
“Still a joke, though, innit?” Devon took a wheezy breath to calm herself, and got up. “Christ. I need a drink.”
“Pour me one, if you would.” Hester moved to sit at the table, legs crossed and one foot jigging.
Devon glowered, but politely dug out the vodka that she’d bought earlier and poked around for a couple of tumblers. Never a simple solution in sight, she thought sourly. Everyone always wanted something you didn’t expect.
The smell of cheap alcohol clogged up the space between them, adding a thick layer of sourness to the semipermanent stench of car grease from the tire shop below.
“I want life-changing drugs for my son, and I’m willing to pay for them.” Devon slid across a vodka-filled tumbler. “I don’t want to come and live with another lot of people who are essentially the Family all over again, much less stick my foot in where it’s not wanted with your pseudo-patriarch.”
“Then I guess we both go away empty-handed.” Hester scraped something undesirable off the side of her cup and sipped carefully. “Personally, I don’t see the problem. Is it such a bad offer?”
From the living area, Cai was still watching them. No doubt he was inhaling every word, as always.
“Is Family life such a bad life?” Devon shot back, pleased to see the other woman wince. “Wealth, privilege, posh houses. What’s not to love, eh?”
“It won’t be like that.” Her expression was complex and unreadable. “It will never be like what it was.” A statement as vague as her intentions.
“If you say so.” Devon coughed on vodka fumes. “Why would he want me in his household, anyway? Some risky runaway with a load of baggage and a lot of knightly enemies?”
“He respects you. What you’ve done, what you’ve been through. Your commitment to survival,” Hester said, and Devon wondered how much of that statement was true, and how much was the other woman’s own invention. “Listen, you don’t have to make decisions straightaway. I am simply inviting you to come with me to meet my brother. If you don’t like it, you do not have to agree to anything.”
“That so? What happens if we wander up there, decide we don’t like it, and try to leave again? Surely your brother would think us a risk? What’s to stop me running back to the Families someday and spilling everything?”
Cai said, from his seat on the sofa, “We don’t have any other options, and Killock must know that. He’s the only person in this country who can give me Redemption, so we have to deal with him, and on his terms. Or I’ll starve out here.”
Both women looked over.
“Let’s not get pessimistic,” Devon said. All too conscious of the other woman listening and watching. “We don’t have to think about that yet—”
“We do have to think about it now.” Cai draped his elbows over the back of the couch. “One a day keeps the eating away. That’s what they used to say when I took Redemption at the old house. If I don’t have another dose tomorrow, I’ll need someone to feed on very soon. And the knights are closing in. That’s what you told me earlier.”