The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 40: A Friend in Dark Times

I hadn't been so annoyed to see Joshua poking his head into my and Nemia's business since before I'd left the capital. We both glared at him as soon as we noticed his presence.

He gave us a suspicious look from the doorway, taking in how we sat on the floor in our hushed discussion. "You're plotting."

"No," Nemia said at the same time that I said, "Obviously."

She laughed and elbowed me. "I thought we were being low key?" she whispered.

"Eh, it's low key enough for him."

Joshua could clearly still hear us, but all he said was, "Can I have a word with Morane alone?"

"Just one word? Do I get to choose which?"

"Your talent for wordplay is as tasteless as it is enthusiastic," he said crisply. "Nemia?"

She stood up despite me trying to hang on to her hand. "I guess you guys probably should work things out. I'll come back in five minutes to make sure no one's committed murder."

"Work what out?" I called after her, but there was no answer from the hall. I stood up to be level with Joshua, a little grumpy at being abandoned. "Fine then. Out your irritating demands, come on."

"What?"

I groaned impatiently. "I know you think I should be sitting the rest of the fight out. Get on with telling me so."

He frowned. "When did I say that?"

"You didn't have to say it. You've barely spoken to me since Iso had me dumped outside the Hall. You're being all snotty and aloof like when you were pretending to be the Captain."

"I was the Captain—"

"Don't care, shut up." I knew I was regressing back into the way we'd treated each other before I understood who he really was, but I couldn't help it. He'd started it. "Look, you can ignore me all you want. But don't you dare try to keep out of the action. You guys may think I'm useless but you have no idea—"

"God, Laerhart, that's not why I've been quiet!"

"You call that being quiet? You've been murderous."

"I— I just—" He flung his hands up, then spun around and dropped his head onto the doorjamb. He spoke to the wall instead of to me. "I thought you'd be angry at me."

"You're the one angry at me."

He scoffed. "If you're going to be an idiot, just say so out loud and stop clinging to idiocy."

"Hey," I warned, "You're veering dangerously into my territory of insults."

"I'm not angry at you, I'm guilty!"

I was at a loss. "For...?"

He braced his arms behind his head and sighed deeply. "Great. So we both made assumptions but I'm the only one who comes out looking like an ass. Sounds about right."

"Just explain, Blaisze. I mean, Coal. Whatever your last name is."

He snorted. Some tension drained from his shoulders. "I thought... well." He turned to face me, but only looked at the floor. "If I had killed Iso when I should have, this never would have happened to you."

I was too surprised to have a response. He seemed to take my silence as an agreement.

"But I was an idiot and Iso got away alive and a few months later he shows up and takes revenge on just you and it's all my fault."

"Joshua. That night was my fault, remember? I made us leave because I thought we were going to get caught. Otherwise you would have gotten to kill him."