Mercy (Queen's Birds of Prey 1)

“I like that idea. So you think that all the others will find mates as well?” He said that he knew that they would. “I see. And do you know who they are? I don’t want you to tell me, but I would like to know that they will be as happy as I am right now.”

“Yes, they will all find mates. And Mother knew who they would be. She also knew that Joel would give you her first grandchild.” She put her hand over her belly that was just beginning to show a little. “Not that one, although she would have been thrilled for you both, but Miley. Miley is a great addition to the family, Mercy. And I can tell that you love her.”

“I do. Very much. Will they all turn to their birds? When Joel and I touched the first time, he beca

me all that I am. Will that happen with the rest of them?” He nodded. “Good. Another thing that I’d like to see for them.”

After she was able to put the painting in her pocket by shrinking it a great deal, she found the trunks for him and he took them with him. As she stood in the open field waiting for Duncan to close up the caves, she looked around.

Such a lovely spot here, she thought, and wondered why she’d not thought of putting a nice park here that they could enjoy the view from. As soon as she got home, she was going to talk to Joel about it.

After hugging Duncan and telling him that she was glad to have met him, he begged her not to tell anyone that he was around. Mercy told him that the only person she’d tell was Joel, and that she’d not be able to keep it from him. Smiling, he left her there. Mercy wondered for a moment if he was a bird already, and decided that if she saw him again, she’d ask. Taking flight, she made her way home.

She knew just where she was going to put the painting. It was only fitting that it hung over the fireplace, much like it had in the castle. The sword that Dante had used was hanging with hers, and she knew that it would look good there.

As soon as she arrived home, she noticed the police in the driveway, and went into the house from the rear, coming out the front door just as they were leaving. Joel was sitting on the rocker. She asked him if he was all right and he nodded, then shook his head.

“Saul died this afternoon. They said that he’d been stockpiling his meds and killed himself with a drug overdose. To make sure that he did, they said that he’d taken his monitors off his chest several times the last few days. It was annoying, Allen said, so they just left them off. I guess that was his plan all along.” She said she was sorry. “I am too. Not because he’s gone, but that I don’t have any feelings one way or the other about it.”

“He never was a good person. Not just to you, but to anyone that he met.” Joel nodded, and she sat on his lap. “I’m so sorry, Joel. I know that he was a pigheaded jerk, but he was your brother.”

“He was pigheaded. Allen told me that he’d gone there last week because Saul had called him. Something about the staff trying to keep him from having a good meal. Saul told him that he should take his gun and shoot Miley. That way maybe I’d bring him some cash. Like he needed it where he was headed.”

Prison—he had been headed to prison. She’d forgotten about that. Not that he might be going, but the date had been set. The week after Thanksgiving, he would have been going away for good. She wondered if that was what prompted him to hoard his meds.

She took Joel into the house, leading him by the hand as she might have a small child. Putting the picture on the mantel, they both sat on the couch and looked at it. It was a huge painting, but it was very well done too.

“Most of the time back then, there would have been a hack painting portraits of the royal family. He’d not allow them to see it until he was paid. And even then, he’d make them wait, like maybe picking it up at some other location so that he’d have time to get away.” She looked at Joel. “I saw him. Duncan. He was at the cave. But we’re not to tell anyone.”

“That’s wonderful, Mercy. I’m betting that he looks like her, doesn’t he? Oh, to have the painting and him in the same place must have been wonderfully revealing.” She said that it was, and that he knew who he was mated to. “Let me guess. I’d say Piper. No, not her. She’d eat him alive if he tried this on her. Remi. It’s Remi, right?”

“No, Jude. He said that she’s his mate and that, just as we guessed, he’s going to meet her at the party. And he wishes for her to wear his mother’s wedding dress for their wedding. It’s been preserved. Dante did that, for him, I think now. My goodness, Joel, he knows a great deal about our future and that of the others.”

They talked about the likeness of Dante’s painting, and with her face coming back to Mercy, the memory of how beautiful she’d been, other stories about Dante came to light as well. Some she told to Joel, others she left for another time. When he brought up Saul again, she listened while he told stories of the other man.

“I can’t think of a single time, not in all our lives, that he was ever kind to someone. You know what I mean. There would be times in most people’s life that made them seem as if they were human? Not him. He was a horrible person about everything and everyone.” She again told him she was sorry. “Don’t be. I know that I should stop talking about him. But with you, I feel like I can tell you how my heart feels, and you won’t judge me about how I feel about him. I was thinking of the reason why he’d never gotten anything from my grandma.”

“I would think you’d have to be a pretty bad person for even your grandma not to give you anything for your birthday. I’d like to think that no matter what my grandchild did to me, I’d still want them to have a gift.” He said that it wasn’t for lack of trying on her part. “What did he do to her?”

“Saul’s birthday was in January, just after the holidays, and his card was late coming to him. I was about four or five then. Not too terribly old, but I remember him being so pissed at her. When the card came, two days late, he had a fit. I mean, like he destroyed the mail box and all the mail in it with his fit. Then when he went into the house, Grandma was there, and as I remember now, he picked up a fork that was on the table and stabbed her in the hand with it. It was so bad that it had to be pried from the table.” Mercy asked him how he explained himself for such behavior. “He told Grandma that next time she thought to send a card to him, she’d see the scar and remember never to be late again. Then he told her that it would be worse if she was. Grandma stood up and slapped him so hard he fell to the floor, then drew a gun out and pointed it at him as he laid on the floor. I don’t know who was more shocked about it, Mom, who was there, or Saul.”

“Oh Christ, I wish I could have met her. She sounds like someone that I would have loved.” He told her that she’d love her too. “What did she say to the little pisser? I’m sure that it was classic.”

“She told him that if he ever drew his hand back to harm her in any way, shape, or form again, she’d come to his bed and blow his head off. Mom told me later that he’d tangled with Grandma before. Then when Saul started to get up, she shot a hole into the floor right between his legs, and told him that next time, she’d not fuck around—yes, she said fuck around—with his twig and berries—they were worth very little anyway—and that she would indeed kill him. After that, there was never a word spoken between them, and he never got another card. Grandma had to have forty-four stitches in her hand. I was both terrified of her and in awe of her at the same time.”

Mercy laughed about that several times throughout the rest of the day. She wished she could have met the elderly woman. Mercy would have made her an immortal just to have her around to have fun with. And there wasn’t any doubt that they’d have had a blast.

Chapter 13

The funeral was very quiet. No one had shown up but the women and he and Miley. Miley had wanted to stay home, not caring for her uncle, but Mercy talked to her and she was ready to go by the time they were. But she refused to wear black and had worn the most colorful outfit that she could figure out to wear. Joel loved it.

There was no sermon at the graveside. None of them thought that it would have done Saul’s soul any good to have had someone pray over him. As they stood there, the grave workers putting the last of the dirt over the casket, he looked around at the place that Mercy had picked out for his brother.

There were no flowers around his grave like the others, and Joel didn’t think that there ever would be. The markers at the other sites were old, some of them as old as the town that they lived in. The place, he’d figured out just an hour ago, was for the indigents, as well as prisoners that hadn’t any family to claim them. Mercy had been true to her word on finding him a place in the cemetery. It was just as bad as he might have found for him. It wasn’t that he hated his brother—he just had no feelings for him. No love, no hatred, just nothing at all. Saul was l

ike a stranger to him.

When the service was over, the last of the dirt piled on his grave, he took a single flower, a daisy that he’d seen in the window at the shop and put it on the grave.