Page 480 -- LVI.

--donation bonus (day #22, post 4/5)--
<“Your courier hasn’t... he hasn’t done anything wrong. Even if you lie to me, I won’t... I won’t hurt him.”>

“But you said before that my help was in exchange for his life.”

<“No. You said that.”>

The prince chortled. “Then you’re admitting to me that you have nothing to leverage for my information.”

<“...I’m admitting no such thing.”>

“Then how can you be sure I’ll cooperate?”

<“...I said I wouldn’t hurt your courier. I didn’t say anything about you.”>

David opened his mouth but no words came out. He abruptly remembered that he didn’t know how Hector had learned about Harold. Some other source of information was undoubtedly involved, which could serve to check whatever intel David offered. Furthermore, he remembered that Hector hadn’t actually denied being a mass murderer.

<“So please, Prince David... don’t try to trick me.”>

The reports all said that Hector Goffe was only sixteen, but at the moment, David was having a hard time believing that. These didn’t strike him as the words of someone so young. There was a certain caution in Hector’s voice, a carefulness in everything he said. The boy even laid a kind of trap for him. As long as that other source of information was in play, David couldn’t just tell any old lie in order to gain Hector’s trust.

Of course, David had no intention of lying, but still, it seemed clear now that Abolish had underestimated this person. And David did not want to do the same.

“I would promise not to trick you, but I fear it would sound rather like something a trickster would say.”


Chapter Fifty-Six: ‘Gather unto thee...’
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Gina didn’t get to drive. She had to sit in the front passenger seat, while Mr. Edith took the wheel and followed her directions. Mrs. Edith sat directly behind her, no doubt ready to pounce on a moment’s notice and kill her in any number of horrible ways. Gina just tried not to stare at the woman in the car’s side mirror. She would’ve liked to call Hector again, but Mrs. Edith also confiscated her phone.