A knock on the door woke me up from my deathlike state, I ran a hand over my heavily laden eyes and looked around in panic when I noticed the room I was in wasn’t my bedroom; it took another second or two till the events of the last few days finally caught up with me.

  I must have finally fallen asleep last night.

  Another knock at the door, this one louder, forced me to groan under my hand as I got up to my feet and dragged myself towards my door. Yanking it open, I was greeted by a hot pot of coffee and a plate full of waffles with a side of bacon.

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” Poppy said, beaming from ear to ear. “I thought you would like something to eat, as we ate nothing last night.”

  I eyed the plate suspiciously, not wanting to take it, but my stomach rumbled despite my best efforts not to look interested.

  “Thank you,” I said taking the plate of waffles, “but you can keep that devil’s piss known as coffee, I can’t stand the stuff.”

  “Oh,” Poppy said with a shy smile, “I thought it was only me who thought that way about coffee. I wasn’t going to bring you any but Willis said only real men drink it."

  “Willis is an ass,” I said, sitting back on my bed and using my knees as a table. Butter dripped down the stack as I cut into them and took a mouthful.

  I closed my eyes as the taste washed over me.

  I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until I began eating.

  “God, these are good, Tuari sure can cook.”

  “Actually I made them,” she said, flicking a strand of hair behind her ear.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Oh.”

  I kept my gaze on her as she blushed and looked away from me. Not knowing what to say I nodded and mumbled, “Thank you.”

  The only sounds heard were from my knife and fork as I kept on eating, not knowing and really not caring if this meal was poisoned or not.

  “This is fantastic, Pop, I didn’t know you knew how to cook, I thought the only chef on the crew was Tuari.”

  She looked at me sideways, brows furrowed in confusion.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Why did you call me Pop?”

  “I don’t know, sometimes people call other people nicknames because they’re friends or because they’re close or because… It just felt right.”

  “Hmm,” she said, looking up at the ceiling and repeating the name to herself, “Pop, I like it. It sounds... interesting.”

  “I’m glad. So,” I asked, dragging out the word, “how did you come to be part of the crew?”

  “They found me.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I nodded and kept on eating allowing the silence to lengthen.

  “Yes, they found me and gave me a place to stay, a place to call home and a place where I felt like I have a family. My life hasn’t always been easy; there were times...” She dipped her head as a faraway look appeared behind her eyes.

  I said nothing, fork halfway to my mouth.

  “There were times,” she said, lifting her head up and giving me a weak smile, “when all I thought about was suicide. All I thought about was how easy it would be to end it all, but then like a guardian angel José plucked me from the trash and gave me a purpose, something to live for, some reason to keep ongoing.”

  “And that purpose was to kill, steal, and smuggle for money?”

  She looked at me sharply, the first sign of true irritation I had seen on her face towards me since we had met.

  “You give away the most precious thing you have, your time, for minimum wage and a noose around your neck and you look down at me as if I’m nothing. I work for the things that are honest to me, that mean the most to me, that I would live and die for.

  “I may be a killer but at least I’m honest as to who I am.”

  She backed away from me and turned her back walking towards the door.

  I had upset her, she whom I had seen kill men with nothing but a knife and her body. She hadn’t shown emotion while in the process, no anger, no hate, no regret. It appeared like she was just a factory worker on an assembly line who needed to get the job done.

  That in itself scared me more than anything.

  But despite all that I still felt bad.

  Bad for upsetting this woman I had only known less than a handful of days, and I didn’t know why.

  “After you’re done, José says you need to get ready, we’re going to see The Lady.”