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"I don't know. I have a rule with Chance not to talk about my father unless it's absolutely necessary, which includes his death. All I know and wanted to know was that he was murdered on a mission to negotiate with the Vultures to live in peace with each other."
"You don't resent Chance?"
Mykie shook her head before she shrugged. "Why would I? Resenting him gets me nowhere. Besides, he was young, and he did what he thought was right for the Cantil as a whole. It just happened that my father ended up being an unintended sacrifice for nothing."
"Funny," Ryker snorted, but his expression said it was anything but. "Both our dads were killed because of leaders that thought it was best for their group. That's the problem with rising to a position of power, I suppose. Lives become just as insignificant as chess pieces."
"How fucked up is that?" Mykie murmured. She lifted one hand to push her hair out of her face.
"I didn't even get to tell him I loved him once last time," she whispered.
"I’m sorry," Ryker murmured. He moved up on the bed until he was sitting beside her. He wrapped his arm around her back, and she turned her head until she could press the side of her face into his chest.
"I miss him," she said thickly into his chest before the waterworks broke through. "I miss Mom, too. It was so much simpler before everyone died."
Ryker held her close as she sobbed. She was surprised that Jezebeth didn't hear her through the wall, but if she had heard her crying, she probably knew she had company as well.
"You just have to remember that they would be proud of the woman you've become. First off, you’re Chance's second-in-command. You can't say that he wouldn't be proud of you for that."
"It probably would have taken him a little while to wrap himself around the idea of me being a part of the Cantil at all, but he'd probably be happy for me. Mom would have hit him in the back of the head for being so difficult with me and being unfair." Mykie giggled to herself as she imagined a scene just like that between her parents. It would have been nice to see the two of them grow old, gaining a few gray hairs every year as time passed.
The mood grew somber again in the silent room. "I wish they would have lived to see all my accomplishments. Chance was more than enough, but it would have been nice to see them all at my soccer games or taking pictures at prom or being at my high school graduation."
She pressed her face into his chest again. "I wouldn't be able to deal if I lost someone else."
"You won't," he murmured in her ear.
"Promise me," she insisted. Words would do nothing to make it true, but it would hopefully bring her erratic heart to a restful beat.
"I’ve already told you., I won’t leave you."
She laid in his arms for a long while, crying away all her pain. Eventually, she came to a point where she couldn't produce any more tears. Her breath was still uneven, so she closed her eyes and tried to relax until she could breathe at a regular pace again. The exercise to bring her breath back to normal almost lulled her to sleep, but something Ryker said earlier kept nagging at her mind.
"You said that power makes people care less about murder and death...Do you think I'll ever get to that point?" she whispered. There was a chance that Ryker had fallen asleep, too, but she was quickly reassured when his hand tightened on her side.
"Not if I can prevent it," he said in such a confident and certain voice that she couldn't help but believe him.
SECRETS KEPT
When Mykie woke up again, it was past noon and Ryker had snuck out.
She checked her phone and noticed a text from Chance that told her to call him. The text was sent over twelve hours ago, and she crossed her fingers that it wasn't some sort of emergency.
The phone rang for a little while and Mykie was almost sure she'd have to leave a message, but a groggy voice came over the line.
"Mmm, what do you want?"
"You asked me to call, so I did. I should be asking you that question," Mykie jested lightly. She knew Chance wasn't an early-morning person, and noon was like seven A.M. to anyone else.
"I need you to come in tonight so we can discuss what we're going to do now that the Harpers aren't an option. I know that they're a sensitive topic for you but—"
"But work comes before play. I haven’t forgotten that, Chance. I'm practically the model example of that. I didn't see your message until this morning, but I'll be there tonight for sure."
She hadn't been as focused on the Cantil lately, but it was about time she got back to it.
"No, no. I'm up now, so just stop by the house. It's not like I have to clean up the house for you."
"Oh, so just because I lived there, I'm not good enough to clean up for?" Mykie joked.
