Read Online Beast in Shining Armor by Cassandra Gannon - Free Book Online Page B

Avenant’s tricks and angles,
but this time there didn’t seem to be any obvious benefit to his actions.
    That
made her nervous, because he was suddenly harder to predict.
    “You’ve
been different since you came back from that prison.”  Belle wasn’t sure why
she said it, but the words just sort of came out.  “You seem so… different.”
    “Weren’t
you paying attention at the hearing?  I’m rehabilitated thanks to all the drugs
they forced on me in that hellhole.”
    Belle
hesitated.  “They gave you drugs in there?”
    “What
the fuck do you think?”  He flashed her a glare.  “That we played polo all day?”
    “I
don’t know.  I just…”
    “There
were drugs.  There were iron bars.  There were guards who beat us, and
administrators who tried to molest us, and they almost killed me with a rocket
launcher.  And you sent me there.”
    Belle
opened her mouth, even though she wasn’t sure how she planned to respond. 
There didn’t seem to be an answer she could give to that.  She’d brought
Avenant down.  She had.  But, she’d never, ever thought he’d go to prison.  To
be honest, she hadn’t thought about the day after her victory, at all.  She’d
been so angry at Avenant and she’d just wanted to beat him.
    It
had all gotten out of control.  Everything had gotten out of control.
    “Why
did you have me locked up?”  Avenant demanded, cutting off whatever she might
have said.  “What did I do that was so terrible?”
    “You’ve
done a million terrible things.”
    “But,
you never took my kingdom before!”
    “You
never had men break into my house and attack me before!”
    He
had the audacity to look insulted.  “Are you out of your mind?  I never sent
anyone to your house.”  He flashed her a look over his shoulder.  “ How did they attack you?  Are you alright?”
    “I’m
fine, no thanks to you.”
    “I’m
telling you, I’m not the one who sent them.”
    Belle
snorted.  “Sure you’re not.”
    “Damn
it, if you’d…”  He stopped short his attention on the ground.  “Huh.”  He
stepped back, checking the bottom of his foot and making a face.  “Well, I
found the source of your screaming.”
    Belle’s
eyes went wide as she took in the carnage.  Someone had carved up Mr.
Pumpkin-Eater.  Stringing clumps of pumpkin guts and seeds covered the floor in
a gruesome orange crime scene.  His scarecrow body was crumpled at an unnatural
angle and his jack-o-lantern head had been hacked open.  Its gooey contents were
spilled out on the icy ground like a Halloween party gone horribly wrong.
    Belle
cringed.  He’d been a cannibal, eating his own kind after baking them into
grotesque pies, but it was still a terrible way for someone to die.  “Who
could’ve done this?”  She asked.
    “Well,
anybody who knew him had a motive.”  Avenant scrapped some of Mr. Pumpkin-Eater
off his shoe.  “Narrowing the suspects, it looks like he was killed with
something big and sharp.  His head was hacked apart with a blade.  Possibly
that.”  He pointed to a meat cleaver on the floor.  Mr. Pumpkin-Eater’s hand
was resting on it, so maybe he’d tried to wrestle it away from the assailant. 
“Or possibly an axe or a knife or a sword.  I’m sure everybody except you
brought at least fifty-six weapons with them today, so it’s a toss-up.”
    “That
makes me feel a lot better.”
    Avenant
wasn’t quite done with his CSI analysis, though.  “I’m betting one of our more
strategically minded competitors plans to thin the herd and this jackass was
just the first to go.  It seems like a really focused hit.  No other blood or
clues.”  Avenant edged around the pumpkin slurry.  “The killer probably wants
to hide in plain sight.  Then, he’ll pick us off, one-by-one, until it’s just
him and Excalibur.”
    “Could
you not sound like you admire him, please?
    “Well,
it’s a good plan.  To be honest, I’m almost impressed.”
    “What
are you