Death is My Frenemy Rewritten (Book 3 of the Rewritten Death Chronicles)

Chapter 12: The Seventh Strike

"What's your name anyway?" Romeo asked as I was deep in my thoughts.

"Faith."

Romeo spun toward me. "Chhh chh chh!" he shushed me with snap of his towel in the air. "Are you mad, woman? Shush it down with the F word. You'll have us both strung up like pigs and cooked over a fire, like ol' Willy Burns!"

"Ol' Willy never was the same afer' that one," muttered the man in the dark cell beside us, who spooked me a little. "He got addicted to the flame."

"Charred his dingdong right off, he did," Romeo added with a sad shake of his head.

My mouth popped open.

"Oh, I'm just jesting, love. That didn't really happen..." Dropping his voice, Romeo leaned against the cell bars to concealed neighbor. "Oy, Wolfie, you got any extra bag-o-meat for my new beautiful lady friend? Seems she blipped in down here on accident. Poor thing's trembling from the cold and a little skinny in the cheeks. The ones on her face, if ya' know wha' I mean."

I punched Romeo in the kidney. "Ooof," Romeo wheezed. "She's a mean little bean this one."

"Can't share my supper, sorry," Wolf replied. "Not unless I get half your ration for din."

"Honestly, do you have five stomachs?" Romeo sneered. "Just give the lady a damn scrap, chum."

"What's the deal with her?" Wolf asked. "Ladies don't just blip down here out of nothin.' Could be a spy."

"I always trust a woman with blue eyes," Romeo said with a wink at me. "No one's telling nothin' about her. So you just mind your own cell if you don't want to chat nice with my new girly friend and keep those light-fingered hands to yourself. Got it?"

"Whatever gets your whiskey breath off my direction," Wolf muttered.

Romeo's lip curled a little and he pulled me away from our friendly neighbor's bars. Lowering his voice, he said, "He has a point though, love. I could meet a great misfortune with you tiptoeing about. Though, they don't call me the gal-sneaking jester for nothing. Why don't you tell me your real name at least?"

"But...I did," I said.

"Your name is...Faith?" Romeo's one eyebrow climbed higher than the other. "Honest?"

I smiled sheepishly.

Romeo burst out laughing. "Bloody hell, the irony is sick. Better change it now, love. You won't last a bloody fucking hour in here with tha' one."

"I'm not changing my name."

Romeo shrugged. "Your funeral. So, you're a player, huh?"

I scoffed. "If anything, I think you're the player between us."

Romeo frowned. "I'm confused. Are you not wearing a character gown?" He pointed to my Roman outfit, Alexandru's mother's old clothes. "Looks just like the reenactment they did a few days ago. Rub His Highness the wrong way with your acting, did we? Let me guess. You ended your performance with a smile. He never reacts well to a smile. Morbid bastard."

I vaguely listened to Romeo's drunken rant, my eyes locked on the cell across from us, where a horned thing glared at me through its prison bars with drool dripping from its massive jaws. WTF?

"He doesn't like much of anything, methinks," Romeo was saying, as I tuned back in to him with wide eyes. "Never before has a jester survived a joke before His Highness." He put a hand to his chest. "But I pride myself in making him laugh once."