Rule and Ruin

twenty-two; the sweetness

Dino.

Selene shrank into herself at the reminder of him. She picked at her food, remembering the last time she had seen that old man.

"Oh," she said absently. "I stabbed him, by the way. So he might be a little hard to find right now. He's not exactly up and about."

The two boys stopped moving and stared at her for a moment.

"You what?" Nix asked slowly.

"I stabbed him," she repeated, as if reminding herself of what happened. "When I ran away."

Nix and Ren exchanged a look. Selene was beginning to wonder if she did something wrong until Nix burst out laughing. Ren just shook his head and looked down at his coffee with an amused smile.

"How did you manage that?" Nix asked with a smile.

She didn't really want to talk about it but she recapped.

"When he let me out of that cage," she swallowed. "I let myself accidentally bump into one of his men, stole his knife, and stabbed Dino when he let his guard down."

Nix tilted his head as he examined her. Ren nodded as if he was mildly impressed.

Selene shoved some more rice into her mouth. "Why are you looking for him, anyway? I thought you just wanted to get Adelaide back."

Nix's light demeanor shifted. He looked at her and it made her shiver how quickly his eyes darkened.

"I'm going to kill him," he said simply.

Selene stopped mid-chew. Ren drank his coffee.

There were a million thoughts running through Selene's head. She had imagined killing Dino a million times, even when she worked for him. But all this time, he had seemed like an unkillable force. Even after she had stabbed him, his blood didn't feel real. His pain didn't feel like enough. She wasn't sure someone like him was capable of death.

"Coffee?" a new voice interrupted the loaded silence.

They all looked up to Adelaide lingering at the kitchen entrance.

Ren stood up immediately and approached her. "Here," he said, pushing a cup he had prepared earlier towards her on the counter.

"Thank you," Adelaide said politely.

Ren smiled. Selene had never seen Ren smile like that before. He almost seemed kind.

"Hello, Selene," Adelaide said.

"Uh, hey," Selene replied awkwardly. She still didn't know how to act around this girl.

"Coffee is Adelaide's new favorite thing," Nix reported proudly. "She was amazed when she had it for the first time."

"She likes it with sugar and cream," Ren added.

Adelaide nodded to confirm.

"Um, okay. Cool," Selene said. She looked down at her food to avoid Adelaide's gaze. She didn't know how to feel around her. Half the time she felt guilty for whatever role she played in shaping Adelaide's past. The other half she felt a withdrawal for the torturous experiences they shared.

"I gotta go grocery shopping," Ren was mumbling. "This is more mouths than I asked to feed."

Selene had forgotten she and Nix were basically fugitives. They couldn't show their faces on the streets without alerting Dino.

"May I come with you?" Adelaide asked.

"Of course," Ren said with a smile.

"Can we get Milano biscuits again?"

"Of course," Ren said again, his voice fading away as he led the two of them out of the kitchen. Nix drummed his hands on the table. When Selene looked up from her food, she was unnerved to see him staring at her.

"What?" she mumbled.

"Nothing," he smiled.

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure it's safe for her to go?"

"She insists," Nix said with a sigh. "We cut her hair a while ago, and she goes out with a hat and sunglasses. I trust Ren to be with her if anything were to happen."

"Wang knows about her," Selene said. "He might be looking for her to get to you."

"I know," he clenched his jaw. "Trust me, I wasn't happy about it either, but she practically begged me. It's the only time she gets to go out, and she absolutely loves it. Who am I to deny her that freedom? Besides, the local supermarket is just a block away and we have people in the area."

"People you trust?"

"With my life," Nix confirmed.

Selene nodded, "Alright."

She set the bowl aside and leaned back in her chair. She was happy for Nix. His long lost sister - finally back safe. Even though she had only come to know Adelaide recently, she couldn't help but ruminate over the childhood that had been stripped away from her. She had only been seven. If it made Selene angry, it must have driven Nix mad.

"I never thanked you," Nix said suddenly.

"For what?"

"I don't know. For helping me. Her. You're the reason she's here, you know?" he said quietly.

"Oh," she said.

"So, thank you."

"Yeah," Selene said distractedly. Why was everyone getting so heartfelt today? "Anyways," she cleared her throat. "Dino."

The very name made her want to scream.

Nix's lips twitched, "What about him?"

"What are you going to do?"

He held her gaze and leaned forward on the table with a cold smile, "Remember that message you delivered to him?"

She forgot to tell him she never delivered it.

"I will have his head," he said with murderous mutiny. "I'm going to tear his eyes out and then I'm going to slit his throat."

Somehow the words sounded deadlier than the first time she had heard them.

He leaned back. "You know, everytime I dreamt about killing Dino - which was a lot - I was doing it for Adelaide. All my revenge was for her."

He paused.

"But when I think about it now," he looked into Selene's eyes, "I'm doing it for you, too."