4
Wylder
We pulledup outside the apartment complex where we’d set up Mercy to live, and I peered out at the gray concrete walls. This was one of the nicer parts of the Bend, but it was still pretty grungy looking. Amateur graffiti marked the side wall, and rust was creeping around some of the window frames.
It was only a few blocks from the official border of Paradise City, but the two places might as well have been worlds apart.
“It was the nicest property I felt we could get away with confiscating unnoticed,” Gideon said, taking in my reaction.
Kaige looked out the window and shrugged. “It isn’t so bad. I’ve lived in a lot worse.”
So had Gideon. From what I’d gathered, Rowan’s family had been comfortably middle-class, but I was the only one here who’d grown up in a mansion.
I shouldn’t let that turn me into some kind of snob, but I couldn’t help wrinkling my nose as I stepped out of the car. I didn’t like the idea of Mercy living here alone. It didn’t matter that I knew that she could take care of herself. She deserved better. She should be treated like a fucking princess.
“Do we have everything we need?” I asked.
Rowan nodded to the large rucksack that he then hoisted over his shoulder. “Yep.”
I motioned to the side alley. “You know what to do.”
Gideon had scoped out strategic places where we could set up surveillance so that we could keep an eye on the building, just in case trouble came calling. It made me feel slightly better when we couldn’t be here to personally protect her 24-7.
“If we all stick to the plan, we should be done within the hour,” Gideon said, giving Rowan and Kaige a critical glance.
I clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m sure you can keep them in line. I’ll go in and see how Mercy’s doing. Meet me in the apartment when you’re done.”
As the three of them scattered, I climbed up the dingy staircase to the third-floor apartment. The low-rise building was five stories total but no elevator. It figured.
I knocked on the door and waited. A minute passed, and there was no sound on the other side. I knocked again, frowning, and then checked the handle, but the door didn’t budge. I didn’t remember the code off the top of my head.
“Wylder?” said a voice from behind me. I whirled around to find Mercy just tucking the knife I’d given her back into the pocket of her jeans.
A smile tugged at my lips. God, it was good to see her, cheeks flushed and dark hair in its typical ponytail, looking like her usual impervious self. I had the urge to grab her in a hug, but something in me balked. Just because I was glad to see her didn’t mean I was going to go all mushy.
Instead, I turned it into a joke. “Thinking about slicing and dicing me?”
She laughed and nudged me aside to reach for the door. “You did tell me to be careful. Come on, unless you want to shimmy around the building to go in a window.”
So that’s how she’d snuck up on me. Pride coursed through me. Damn, she was good.
The inside of the apartment was about as drab as the outside, but at least it’d come with all the basics: sofa, table, kitchen appliances. Nothing hung on the walls, but Mercy had added a couple little touches that made the place already feel like it was hers. A few of her silly origami figures stood on the coffee table, and she’d placed a bowl on the kitchen island with some fruit she must have bought with the money I’d given her.
She flopped onto one end of the sofa, totally at home. Well, she’d had five days to get settled in. Which she obviously hadn’t forgotten either. She shot me a narrow look. “It took you long enough to come by.”
“Things haven’t been so smooth back home with Dad,” I said. “I didn’t want to risk coming here until I was sure we wouldn’t be bringing trouble with us.”
“I don’t suppose the Grand High Noble has changed his opinion of me.”
I grimaced. “No, but he’s gotten distracted by other things.”
“Mostly Xavier, I hope.” Mercy straightened up again, her expression instantly alert. “Things are a mess down here. He’d better be ready to step in.”
That sounded ominous. I sat down next to her. “What’s going on? He’s mostly been focused on figuring out where Xavier came from and how big an operation we’re up against, not what’s going on down here.”
“I haven’t had a whole lot to do other than keep an eye on things around here,” Mercy said. “Carefully, of course,” she added dryly when I started to protest. “I haven’t figured everything out, but from what I can tell, there are two groups going up against each other right now.”
“What? I thought Xavier was out to get us, and there haven’t been any clashes between him and the Nobles yet.”