Page 24

“How unfortunate,” Titus said, tearing Cal out of his thoughts and back to the present.

He was sweating, and his palms stung from where he’d been unintentionally digging his nails into his hands. Calix forced them to flex, but it took him another few seconds to get hold of himself enough to speak. “What?”

“Mr. Edwarz has a unique palate,” Titus said. “He’s got a real taste for things he shouldn’t.”

“You can’t mean…”

“He’s going to eat it.”

“If he wins,” Aodhan chimed in, listening to them despite how quiet they’d been.

There were other bidders, but no one ever bid more than a couple hundred coin above the elderly man in the front row, almost as though they were backing out gracefully.

Calix had never heard of the name before, but then, it was probably an alias, meant to protect his real identity just like the masks they all wore.

The images returned of himself at eight years old, dragging the body through the debris of the forest…

A trail of blood left in his wake…The lashing Sister Grace gave him when he’d cried and pleaded for help…

The bundle of cooling white flesh and fur tossed carelessly into the trash bin on the side of the road.

Like garbage instead of something that had once been a life.

Calix clutched onto Titus’s sleeve without realizing, his eyes still locked onto the hissing creature in the gilded cage.

The tiny, pale pink collar with the golden bell helped create the illusion this was a regular pet auction, and nothing nefarious was going on.

But he’d just been told otherwise and, honestly, he’d known as much even without the verbal confirmation.

Was he really going to repeat history? Was he going to sit here and watch and do nothing?

That event had been the start of the end for him in Sister Grace’s eyes. From that day on, he could do nothing right. She’d punish him for little things and watch him like a hawk, as though waiting for him to make a mistake. For him to hurt something or someone else.

His distorted recollection of the day the police came for him after Nero’s accident returned as well, correcting itself.

When she’d cried out to Light for mercy, she hadn’t been pleading on Calix’s behalf.

Because to her, Calix had always been a monster.

“Please,” it passed his lips, and once it had, his resolve shattered. “Mercy. Please, stop this.”

“I can’t stop the entire auction,” he replied, but all Cal really heard was no, and he couldn’t accept that.

“Bid on it.”

“I don’t need a pet.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, little monster, you can’t even take care of yourself.”

Calix forced his gaze away from the creature and onto Titus, searching his expression for any hints. Not that he really needed them. He’d known all along what the older man wanted him to say.

“I did it.” It was easy enough not to think of that day when the one from when he was much younger was still so fresh on his mind. When there was a way for redemption caged right in front of him, ripe for the taking.

Calix could part with one truth to protect another, especially when he’d known from the beginning that Titus had never been fooled by him.

“I was angry. Nero had spread a rumor about me and Sister Grace, took photos of the bruises she’d left in the locker room when we were changing in gym.

So, yeah. I did it. That idiot stepped in front of my car without even glancing my way, and that was the last straw.

How dare he shove me into the limelight and not even have the decency to look at me?

I hit the gas. On purpose. And,” he leaned in, pressing his trembling lips against the warm curve of Titus’s left ear, “I got hard the second I felt his body crash against the hood.”

“Would you do it again?”

“Yeah.” He should say no. That would be the smart thing to say.

But it wouldn’t be honest.

Up until sleeping with Aodhan, hitting Nero with his car had been the second biggest mistake of his life. Of course he should want a redo. Go back in time and make a different choice and save himself the grief.

Titus would see right through him if he tried to fib, though.

Just like how he’d seen right through everything else.

“Did you know?” he dared ask, pulling back enough that he could look at Titus’s face, all while his hand reached down to grab onto his wrist. “Is that why we’re really here?”

Calix lifted the director’s hand into the air, the paddle going up just in time to add their bid to the running. His hold tightened, refusing to allow Titus to lower it, even though the director hadn’t fought him yet.

It didn’t matter if it was a trick though. Didn’t matter if they’d brought him here to dangle a part of his past before him like a carrot on a stick.

Letting that creature die when he’d been eight had been the biggest mistake he’d ever made. Had turned into his biggest regret and set off a lifetime of pain and suffering, at both the hands of his caretaker and himself.

He couldn’t let it happen again.

No matter the cost.

“Yes,” Titus replied, before shouting out a number that had the rest of the room gasping and then clapping when he won. He never looked ahead, however, keeping his eyes locked on Calix right up until they started the bidding on the next creature. “Consider this my proposal gift, little monster.”

“You tricked me.”

“Is it really a trick when the other party is so aware of what’s really going on?”

“How did you…” Calix frowned. “You’ve read Sister Grace’s files?”

“Each and every one of them.” Titus cradled the back of Cal’s skull and kissed his forehead before standing. “Wait here. I’m going to go have your new pet put somewhere safe until it’s time to leave.”

Damn it. What had he done?

“For the record,” Aodhan said, drawing his attention back his way. “I think you did good, Be’urn. I would have hit that prick with my car too.”

Calix wasn’t sure what it said about him that he was actually comforted by that.

…No. That was another lie.

He knew exactly what it said about him.

“Be prepared to pay us back for the gift.” Aodhan’s smug grin stayed with him the rest of the auction, causing a mixture of dread and anticipation to collect in Cal’s gut.