Collapsed World [MxM, Non-Con, Mpreg]

Part 32 [Taj]

If Taj or Lykaios had known about Julius' power and ability to see lies as colors, they both might have rethought how they went about this deception. However, since Taj now knew Julius suspected him and was wary of him, he was likely to be more careful about the things he said and didn't say. He supposed he might not have fretted so much even if he did know. After all, after the Corvines had arrived most everyone who had any hope of surviving became liars of one sort or another. Taj was not particularly malicious, nor did he really think Lykaios was in the end. He had no proof of the latter except how well he treated Taj's mother and the others relative to other Corvines. Not that he thought Julius would believe that, especially given that Taj had just infected and probably killed Milo on Lykaios' orders.

No, Julius would not understand, even if Lykaios did have a reason for what he had done. Taj wasn't sure that Julius was completely okay with Taj's reasons or would necessarily trust him even though he had told him the truth. So when Julius reached out to ruffle Taj's hair, he flinched a little, expecting that Julius was going to hit him or something of the sort. When no blow came, Taj looked up at Julius, a little confused as to what was going on and what Julius was thinking. When Julius voiced his opinions, Taj's eyes widened in shock. That hadn't been at all what he was expecting Julius to say, at least not the first part. Taj looked down and chewed his lip in thought, something he did every now and then out of habit when he was thinking really hard.

"I don't want you to help with my mother. In fact I'd like you to forget about her all together. You can't save her, not now not ever. She's safe where she is and I want it to stay that way. She wont leave in any case, and so the best I can do is make sure the person who looks after doesn't have reason to hurt her on my account." Taj said without hesitation, looking up into Julius's eyes. Jules could not take Lykaios. Julius was smart, fast, had military prowess, could even be ruthless if he needed to be, but Taj was sure Lykaios excelled in all those areas and had advantages over Julius that Julius couldn't make up for. In Taj's opinion, Julius might have been capable of being ruthless, but he was not capable of the calm cruelty Lykaios could visit upon the most innocent of people. Because Julius had a moral code anyone could understand. His good and bad were clear cut and without ambiguity. In the time Taj had lived under Lykaios, he still didn't know where Lykaios drew the moral line. Taj couldn't risk his mother being the target of such a person.

"On the subject of the investigation...if there is no one you can trust, then why are you trusting me with this? Surely you don't suddenly think I am above suspicion." Taj pointed out, not daft in thinking Julius' opinion of him had changed so quickly. Then a thought came to him.

"You're going to have others investigating me as well while I'm investigating...makes sense. If everyone is watching each other it's less likely the culprit will escape." At the same point, if he was working on the investigation it would be a little easier to place the blame on someone else and erase all traces of his own involvement. He was sure there was a trap somewhere, so he would have to be careful.

"Do you know what it was that poisoned Milo? It would help to know how fast after exposure he was taken ill. If he was poisoned same day or days in advance, that would change the suspect pool." Taj said, deciding to get started on this as if he weren't the suspect.

"Will you go after him...if your mate is alive? Even if he's been..." Taj stopped himself and looked away.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that. It's none of my business." Taj said. It was evil of him, but he hoped Julius' mate was dead. That would be better than if he were alive and twisted by some Corvine. For his own selfish feelings Taj thought that way and immediately felt a bit bad for them.