Confidentiality

Chapter 30

What the wattpad chapters look like before I transfer the google doc ^

When Ms. Libelle took him back to the base, Janus felt like he was in a daze.

His hands were covered in blood, and his guns felt heavy in their holsters. He couldn't even speak, throat tight. Still, though, he didn't cry, even though he desperately wanted to.

"Janus," Ms. Libelle turned to him, "I have something to show you."

Oh, yeah. She had mentioned that earlier, hadn't she?

He forced his tongue to unstick from the roof of his mouth. "What is it?"

She waved her hand, and suddenly Ursula and Facilier were walking over, going to stand on either side of her. "Hello, Golden Boy." The latter grinned, eyeing the blood on his clothing in satisfaction.

Janus just nodded.

Ursula took the necklace off of her neck, holding it up. It was a shell, which looked to be...glowing?

"What--?" Janus began.

"Morality's powers are in here." Faciler pointed to it, instantly shutting Janus up.

Janus furrowed his brow, looking at the necklace again. "What?"

"It's a little creation Facilier and I made." Ursula smiled smugly. "No contract or deal needed, just an ingested substance." She chuckled. "Thank you, by the way, for making this possible."

"This is another test." Ms. Libelle told her son flatly before he could decide how felt about the praise. "You are one of the few people in the world who know where Morality's powers are being kept. If you keep this secret, then you pass, if you don't, then you fail."

"Haven't I already been through enough trust exercises?" Janus murmured, looking away. "I thought I was ready."

That was the reason he was doing all this, wasn't it? To get a seat at the villain's table, to finally accomplish his dream? To be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with his mother?

"Ready?" Ms. Libelle scoffed, like he had said something completely ridiculous. "Janus, you're far from ready."

Janus pursed his lips. That couldn't be right. "I thought we agreed that I would get a seat at the table now--"

Ursula laughed harshly. "Oh, goodness! When did we ever say that?"

Janus frowned. "What? You did! You said that..." He trailed off, replaying the conversation where he'd been assigned the mission in his head.

His mother had said it, surely.

Or maybe Facilier, they had spoken too, hadn't they?

Someone did. They must've.

He wracked his brain for when it was said, coming to one, horrifying conclusion.

He...

He had never been promised a seat at the table.

He had never been promised anything.

"Consider this part of your training."

That's all it ever was.

Training.

Janus paled.

That meant everything he's done to the heroes has been for nothing. His own delusions fueled his decision to side with his mother. All the months he spent with the heroes, wasted. All of the guilt and pain, for naught.