Page 37

G etting my period in front of Ollie should have been the most mortifying thing that happened to me, but this was worse. There used to be a time that if I was going to tell any of my friends my secret, I probably would have told Neco first, but he ruined that and I still wasn’t totally sure why.

“What happens next?” I asked.

Because I honestly still didn’t know. And I was really frazzled, so I wasn’t exactly thinking on the fly like I usually would.

“You’re going to go knock on that door and ask the family to come outside.”

“Neco, it’s storming, I’ve got a black eye, your shirt doesn’t fit, and I’m bleeding through it. Are you insane? Don’t answer that.”

“Well, I can’t knock on the door because I gave you my shirt.”

“Arsehole, people lose their mind over my nipples, but yours are perfectly acceptable in public.”

He just sighed.

“Someone has to stay in case he wakes up again and I’d prefer that not be you, okay?”

That made sense, but I was a mess and so was the weather. They were nice and dry inside. I wouldn’t come out, either. But then my brain started working again. I didn’t need Neco to tell me how to do this. I marched to the front door and just started banging.

A man threw open the door and glared at me like I was trash.

“We don’t have money for you and I’m not letting you in my house,” he sneered.

“Don’t want any of that. Ever heard of the Ghoul? He was planning on murdering your entire family tonight, but my partner and I stopped him. If you want him to actually pay for targeting your family, Elsbeth, and the other families, I need you to come outside. Are you getting what I’m saying?”

“Fuck. Does my family have to come out?”

“Depends. Are they kind of violent and want justice?”

“I’d rather keep them away from all of that, but I do. If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, I’m not sure how you intend to pull this off.”

I shrugged. Neco was a man of few words. I knew he was expounding on my plan, but not where he was going from here.

“Just trust us.”

“Looks like he got you pretty good, girl.”

Shit. Even with Neco’s shirt being huge, he could still tell I had tits. I wasn’t going to Baron lands until I had my bandage. I just lifted my chin.

“I got him better.”

We stepped out into the pelting rain. Lightning lit up the sky again. Neco was illuminated standing over the Ghoul in the street. He must have dragged him out of the alley and thumped him again.

“Neco Argent. We need to get him to the wedding in this town.”

“Goran White. Why do we want him where people are?”

I grinned. I got where Neco was going with it.

“Street justice. He’s got Black Paranoia. I’ve already been exposed, but I can’t carry him.”

“Well, I’m not offering my cart. I’d have to burn it after and I can’t afford to replace it. One of my horses is nursing her filly, and the other gets stubborn about leaving her.”

“Then, you’ll help me carry him and swing by Guttertown for the cure to Black Paranoia,” Neco growled.

Yeah, Neco wasn’t giving him the option to say no. At least, Goran would have to be pretty fucking stupid. No one knew Neco was the Blight, but I wouldn’t fuck with a giant, scarred man with that look on his face.

“She’s already been exposed,” Goran whined.

“She was the one who got sliced up stopping the Ghoul from breaking into your house and killing your whole family. I got here after she knocked him out. You owe her. Nut up and help me lift him.”

I’d never say anything in this exact moment, but I was grateful.

The cut on my chest burned like fire and I couldn’t check it to see if it needed to be stitched up.

I could tell it was still bleeding. It would have been much worse if not for my bandages.

I wasn’t going to be able to take care of it until we were finished.

Goran tried to help, but he was completely useless. Neco was getting annoyed. I got it. Black Paranoia was terrible, but I also knew it didn’t have to be if you got over your pride and went to Guttertown.

“Are you serious right now?” Neco growled.

“Just swing by Guttertown and get the cure. You won’t have to deal with all the nastiness if you take it right after you know you’ve been exposed.

Look at his clothes. If I leave him here to wake up and tell the Barons, they are going to give him their cure.

They aren’t really going to give a shit if he comes back to kill your whole family on his way to Guttertown.

Use your brain. What’s worse? That or crossing the town line to Guttertown? ”

“His clothes are expensive, but they don’t fit and they are dirty. Are we sure he’s a Baron?”

“They don’t even breathe the same air we do,” I said.

“They don’t do hand-me-downs and if their clothes get holes, they don’t sew them up until the garment itself falls apart.

They also never wonder where their next meal is coming from.

If they lose or gain weight, it’s because they wanted to or they are waiting for a remedy their healer gave them to kick in. ”

“How does Guttertown have a cure for Black Paranoia if the Barons clearly don’t? They wouldn’t let one of their own get like this.”

“I own the Whispering Raven. I grew up next door to the brothel. The Madame is a friend of the family and she’s not a liar.

She also takes care of the girls and she says there is a working cure.

Help Neco and then swing by Guttertown for the cure and something to drink at the Whispering Raven.

The rest of Nestran is trying to copy my new drink and I’m telling you they never will. ”

Goran sighed, but he finally started pulling his weight. Getting the Ghoul to the wedding in a huge storm without him waking up again was only one problem. The plan had been altered, so the rest of it was going to be up to me.

I wasn’t big on public speaking. They didn’t exactly teach that in Guttertown schools. I grew up in a tavern. I was really good at de escalating a situation.

We were about to find out how good I was at escalating one.