The sugary expression slid from Rob's face. "Never you mind. Let's talk about you. How exactly are you going to feed those bastard brothers of yours?"
"None of your business."
"You know . . ." Rob frowned, pretending to be immersed in thought. "I've always fancied you."
Declan emerged from the brush and started toward Rob in a very determined fashion. He must have followed her this entire time. She wouldn't put it past him. He probably thought this was his chance to get into her good graces - his Icy Lordship, all poised for the rescue. She glanced at his face, and alarm shot through her. She always thought that seeing murder in someone's eyes was a figure of speech, but when she looked at Declan, she saw it crystal clear.
She crossed her arms and looked above Rob's head at Declan. "It's a bad idea."
Declan kept coming. He didn't walk, he stalked, huge and lethal and very angry.
"Oh no," Rob said. "It's a great idea. I'll make you a deal: you suck me off, and I'll see about getting you your old job back."
Oh, you sad, slimy bastard.
Muscles played along Declan's jaw. He would kill Rob if he got his hands on him.
"If you do this, I'll never speak to you again," she promised him.
Declan halted for a moment.
"Oh, I like it when you get mad," Rob said. "The way I look at it, my dad promised you to me four years ago, but I never got to have you. Like a Christmas present I never got to unwrap. I figure, I'm long overdue."
She had seconds to get rid of Rob. Rose faked a sigh. "You're right, Rob. I do need a job, and nobody seems to be hiring. I guess I've been chased into a corner."
"I'm glad you see it my way."
Declan resumed his march.
Rose smiled. "The thing about being in the corner is that now I've got nothing to lose. And I have this powerful urge, Rob. A very powerful urge to hurt somebody."
It took him a second. "You're getting ahead of yourself there, bitch."
"I think I'll start with you," she said. "You know, when I flashed Brad, he pissed all over himself. I think I'd like to see you wet your pants, Rob. And then I think I'll go over to your family home and see if your daddy wets his pants as good as you do."
"You wouldn't dare."
"What do I have to lose, you dimwit?" She laughed and began to rise from the steps.
Rob's mouth hung open. He turned and saw Declan, looming in his path. Rob went white as a sheet.
Rose resorted to the last weapon in her arsenal. "Declan, please don't hurt him."
Declan leaned an inch toward Rob. His voice was a low snarl. "Run."
Rob dashed down the path. He was never a good runner, but he cleared the stretch to the road at record speed.
"You shouldn't have stopped me." Declan stared after him. He looked like he was about to change his mind. No matter how fast Rob ran, Declan would catch him.
"I could've hurt Rob. First, I could've shot him." She reached into her tote and showed him her gun. "Second, I could've fried him with my flash. I didn't hurt him. I could've, but I didn't."
His eyes narrowed. "Why? Do you have feelings for him?"
"No! At least not the kind of feelings you're asking about."
"Then why?"
"It's kind of complicated. I'll explain it if you promise not to go off hunting Rob."
He mulled it over. "Very well." His tone made it plain that he was doing her a favor.
Rose did her best to disguise letting out a breath and sat in the grass on her side of the ward line. He sat cross-legged and looked at her. He was still wearing the jeans and the sweatshirt. The jeans hid most of his boots, and from his feet up to his neck, he should've looked like a man from the Broken. Should've but didn't. He held himself like a man who never rode in a crowded bus. His shoulders were too wide, his posture too forceful, and if he were to step into one of the busy malls of the Broken, people would probably trip over themselves to give him his space.
His hair added to the effect, but his eyes and his face were worst of all. Even when he was calm, like now, his eyes made you catch your breath. They were the eyes of a noble from the Weird, who expected to be obeyed and would enforce his orders without a moment's hesitation. Instead of looking like a native of the Broken, Declan ended up looking like a blueblood who had dressed up in otherworldly garb for Halloween.
And she had to explain the complex rules of the Edge to him. How would she ever find the words?
"In the Broken, when a man assaults a woman, the police are called," she said. "They review the evidence, and if there is enough of it, the man is taken into custody, charged with a crime, tried, and if found guilty, put away into a prison. What happens in the Weird?"
"In Adrianglia, a similar process," Declan said. "Sheriffs examine the evidence and take the guilty party into custody. If they fail to apprehend him, they call the headhunters, and if they fail, they call the Marshal. Someone like me."
She would definitely prefer the headhunters. It sounded ominous, but not as bad as he. "It's your job to apprehend criminals?"
"Only some. You have to do something remarkable to gain my attention. Please continue."
"Do you know what happens in the Edge?"
"I expect you'll enlighten me," he said.
"Nothing." She checked his face to see if it sank in, but it might have been a mask for all the good it did her. "In the Edge, there are no police, no marshals, sheriffs, or any kind of protection. There is no impartial third party. Instead, the entire community of East Laporte sits there and watches to see what will happen. Because there are so few of us, everyone knows everybody else and everything we do has consequences."
She took a deep breath. "If a woman gets assaulted, it's between her family and the family of her attacker. They might come to an agreement of some sort on restitution or punishment. Or they might spend the next few decades lying in wait with their guns trying to splatter each others' brains all over the local greenery. Nobody likes a feud. Feuds are messy: many families are related, and when a feud flares, all of East Laporte can go up in flames. Innocent people get hurt, and the trade suffers. A lot of us make a good chunk of our money from trading with the caravans from the Weird and then selling what we bartered in the Broken. If the caravans know there's a feud, they'll skip the town and visit someone else."
He nodded.
"We try not to feud. We try to be reasonable. That means that punishment has to fit the crime. Let's say a man tried to kidnap me. I would be within my rights to kill him, and I've done it before."