Read Online The Mortal Bone by Marjorie M. Liu - Free Book Online Page B

ever—only riddles that were deliberately, maddeningly vague. It had been—and always would be—enough to drive me insane. Even though, in hindsight, I understood all the reasons for being so careful with the truth.
    Some truths were too big to tell.
    But this ? Ripping the boys off my body? That didn’t have anything to do with the truth. That felt like an act of war . A first strike. Completely, indisputably unfriendly.
    Grant fell silent after I stopped speaking. Zee sighed. Raw and Aaz cracked open their eyes. Dek and Mal stopped singing. All of them torn between watching him and me—but especially me.
    You guys know something, don’t you?
    “Hey,” I said, but Grant thought I was talking to him.
    “I’m thinking” he replied. “I don’t know where to start.”
    I could sympathize. I’d been too sick to think about what had happened—just that it had, and I was dealing with the consequences. But now my head was clear, I wasn’t dying, and all those memories and questions were rocking back on me, hard.
    “My mother mentioned my . . . father . . . in that message on the rose.” I watched the boys from the corner of my eye.
    “The same man we saw in that vision of your mother, when we were trying to close the prison veil . . .” His voice trailed away.
    “Yes,” I said in a tight voice. “Him.”
    “You’re sure he’s your father?”
    I tilted my head to look at Zee. “Well?”
    The little demon pulled the covers over his head.
    Grant frowned. “Okay. Let’s assume, however weird , that it’s true. But the message . . . forgive your father . . . sounds as though he’s the one responsible for this.”
    “Not almost. He must be. He must have told my mother what he was planning. And she agreed to it.”
    I flipped away the blanket and found Zee clutching the teddy bear again. He blinked at me with big eyes.
    “Answers,” I said. “Is the man who crafted the rose my father?”
    “Yes,” he muttered, scowling as Dek and Mal slithered off my shoulders to nibble on his bear.
    Hearing him confirm the truth made me light-headed.
    “Maxine,” Grant said, with concern.
    I shook my head at him. “Until recently, I imagined that my father was a trucker, or maybe a mechanic. My mom liked cars. Or maybe some mystery man she picked up in a bar, just to get the job done. Pregnant in one night, no strings attached.”
    “Romantic.”
    “My sex education consisted of watching dirty movies in hotel rooms. My mother didn’t talk about men except to say that I shouldn’t hold on to them. What was I supposed to think?” I frowned, staring at the armor on my hand. “I would have preferred that he was human and normal.”
    Grant cleared his throat. “Severing the boys almost took your life. Why would he do that? Why now ?”
    I poked Zee. “You were there with my mother. What did you see?”
    He turned away from me. “Always sleeping in the Labyrinth. Always skin-bound.”
    “In your dreams, then.”
    “We remember,” he said, voice muffled against the teddy bear. “They fought. We tasted her tears. Saw him craft the rose from his skin but did not know its meaning.”
    “His skin,” Grant said, as I thought the same thing. Was that a metaphor or literal? I had seen enough strange things in my life that I couldn’t be certain.
    “I have to find him,” I said, but Zee started shaking his head before I’d even finished my sentence.
    “Insane,” he told me. “You, brain-dead.”
    “I need to understand why this was done,” I shot back. “This was not random. This was planned. If you know why, and you’re not telling me—”
    “No.” Zee shook his head. “Was shocked . Still shocked.”
    I believed him. But that didn’t make it easier.
    “Zee,” I said, “I don’t know how to react to your being free. I don’t know if I should be happy for you or afraid.”
    He sighed. “Don’t know, either.”
    “Okay,” I said, thinking that was horrible. “Okay, fine. What was done . . .