Mahogany and Teakwood

Chapter 40: Lobelia

you've built your life above the sin

you hold my hand before the end comes

Virgil's eyebrows shot up. I mean...damn.

Roman's nostrils flared. He didn't smile, but the pleased set to his jaw suggested one as he lined up his blade.

"Logan..." Patton's eyes were wide.

"He has given us no other option." Logan shook his head.

It touched Virgil's heart that Patton couldn't bear to watch a faery, even this faery, be killed in front of him. And again, it infuriated Virgil that Deceit had been able to trick him into believing that lying, murderous ass was his soft-hearted friend.

Patton inhaled, but Logan caught his hand and gently kissed the knuckles. Which didn't hurt to watch.

"Deceit," Roman said. "If that is your real name—"

"It is," the faery answered. He continued to hang from Logan's chains, head still tilted up, almost deliberately baring his throat.

"Do you confess to dealing in fetches?"

A hush fell over the hall. It had been quiet before, but Virgil sensed the rest of Smile actively listening now. There was something ritualistic about Roman's tone, as though he needed this in order to do as Logan asked.

Deceit looked pointedly around the room, at his horde of quietly waiting dolls, and looked back at Roman as if to say, "Duh."

Roman's jaw clenched. "Do you confess to compelling human thralls to make said fetches?"

Deceit rolled his head and looked straight into Virgil's eyes.

"Mmm." The faery grinned, all sharp edges. "And they were so good at it."

Tense silence.

Deceit held Virgil's gaze for a long moment, as though waiting for him to break and confess. It took every ounce of courage Virgil possessed not to wither under that snake-eyed stare, but for once in his life, he held his chin high and managed it...though his hands did tremble violently at his sides.

"Then, in accordance with the Accords." Roman laid the edge of his blade across Deceit's neck. "You must die for your crimes."

Virgil's mind flashed back to that night in Logan's apartment; Roman whispering "smile" into Logan's ear as steel sliced into his neck...

Roman leaned in. His mouth opened...

From the dais, Rapunzel let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Kate and Rosa both staggered backward. Logan's mother, still lying between them, screamed again. Deceit began to laugh. Rapunzel screamed for a third time, longer and more hoarsely, ending in a whimper.

Logan's hands curled in fists, and his irises had gone blank white. "Wait!" he said in a strangled voice.

Rapunzel's screams ceased the moment Roman pulled his sword back.

"Logan, how long would one such as I expect to survive, once Roman has severed my carotid arteries?" Deceit asked, infuriatingly nonchalant.

Logan took a deep breath, obviously regaining control. "Anywhere from thirty seconds to a minute, depending on how thorough the killer is. Consciousness would be likely lost within half that time."

Virgil shuddered. Even shaken, Logan was a literal trove of random—and gruesome—knowledge.

"Oh, I will be very fucking thorough," Roman spat.