CHAPTER NINE:AFTER THE STORM
1413 Words
The room was silent—eerily so.
Ron stared at the woman across from him, the one who’d just introduced herself with that dangerous little smile and said, “I’m Wyonne’s elder sister.”
Lady Hew.
The name buzzed in his ears like a trapped fly. Mami froze mid-sip of her tea, Jerry blinked at the air as though he’d missed something critical, and even Minos—yes, the half-zombie, muscle-bound, half-decaying enigma—leaned in just a little, lips twitching with interest.
Ron coughed. “Excuse me?”
Lady Hew didn’t repeat herself. She simply folded one leg over the other, resting her gloved hands on her knee like a queen awaiting tribute. Her beauty was cold and polished, like an antique blade that hadn’t been used in years but could still cut a man in half.
“I suppose Wyonne hasn’t told you much about me,” she said, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.
“She hasn’t told me anything about you,” Ron said, dryly. “And for the record, I haven’t told her anything either.”
Lady Hew’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Well, that’s a relief. I was beginning to wonder if you two had already started exchanging wedding vows in secret.”
Jerry let out a startled snort of laughter. Mami elbowed him so hard he almost fell off the hospital chair.
Ron, on the other hand, sat straighter. “Look, Lady Hew—”
“Just call me Hew.”
“Fine. Hew. I don’t know what Wyonne’s told you, or your father, or your butler or whoever—”
“She told us everything,” Hew said smoothly. “How she met a boy in the market square. How he saved her from a gang of street boys. How he refused her reward. How he insulted her, actually. She loved that.”
Ron rubbed his face, already regretting not leaping out the window earlier.
“I didn’t insult her.”
“No?” Hew said, raising an elegant eyebrow. “Telling a magistrate’s daughter to ‘go donate her diamonds to beggars instead of playing Santa Claus to peasants’ doesn’t count?”
“I was being honest.”
“I know,” Hew said with a touch of approval. “That’s why she became obsessed.”
Minos chose that moment to grunt. “Is this important? I thought the boy was dying. If not, I’ll go hunt rats.”
“No one’s hunting anything,” Mami said, pulling her wrapper tighter. “Let’s all just calm down. Maybe Lady Hew came here out of goodwill. Abi?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Hew said. “I only came to deliver some fruit and good wishes to your family, especially to Ron. I didn’t expect... this.”
Ron frowned. “This what?”
“This circus,” she replied. “You. The zombie. The hospital walls with bite marks on them. Are we pretending that’s normal?”
Everyone turned to look at Minos.
He bared his teeth. “I was hungry. Walls are soft.”
Lady Hew laughed, the sound light and musical like wind chimes. “You’re delightful.”
Minos blinked.
Mami sat up straighter, finally recovering her tongue. “Ma, with all due respect, what exactly do you want with my son?”
“Oh, nothing now. Initially I came to ask how he was recovering. But now I’m more intrigued by his... unusual circle of acquaintances.” She glanced at Minos again. “Half-zombie, I assume?”
“Yes,” Minos said without hesitation. “I devour flesh, but also fried yam and egusi soup. I can recite poetry. I bite only when annoyed.”
Ron sighed. “Please stop talking.”
“You started it,” Minos muttered.
Hew leaned forward. “You know, Wyonne truly does like you, Ron. She doesn’t take ‘no’ very well. That runs in the family. But more importantly—” she flicked her fingers and her tone changed “—she has told our father.”
The temperature in the room dropped.
Jerry’s lips parted. “Wait. The magistrate knows about Ron?”
“Oh yes,” Hew replied. “He knows everything. Including that Ron refused his daughter in public, multiple times. Including that Ron is now... involved with a rogue half-zombie.”
Minos grinned proudly. “Rogue. I like that.”
“What does he want?” Ron asked, his voice low.
Hew looked at him for a long time. “To protect his daughter’s honour. To investigate what exactly you and your ‘zombie friend’ are really doing in this city. To monitor your movements.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Mami said, standing now. “We’re just villagers. We came here because Ron fell sick. He nearly died.”
“Exactly,” Ron added. “I didn’t ask Wyonne for anything. I didn’t trick her, didn’t lead her on. I have no interest in joining your family of—of nobility and politics and secrets.”
Jerry whispered, “You can say that again.”
“I didn’t come here to threaten you,” Hew said softly. “In fact, I came to help you.”
Ron’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
She stood, brushing invisible dust off her navy-blue trousers. “There’s a party this weekend. Wyonne insisted your family be invited. My father—begrudgingly—allowed it. He wants to see you. Speak to you directly. Judge you with his own eyes.”
“Judge me?” Ron repeated, feeling the heat rise in his neck.
Hew turned to leave. “If I were you, I’d accept. If only to defend your family’s name. You won’t be going as a guest. You’ll be going as a witness.”
“A witness to what?”
She paused at the door, the metal handle gleaming in her hand. “To the storm that’s coming. Because like it or not, Ron... you’ve already stepped into the fire. And fire burns.”
And with that, she disappeared through the hallway, her heels clicking like war drums on the tiled floor.
---
There was silence for several seconds.
“Did she just threaten me... elegantly?” Ron asked no one in particular.
“Yes,” Minos said, popping a grape into his mouth from the gift basket. “And I liked her.”
Mami turned toward Ron, eyes full of fear and frustration. “You didn’t tell us you were involved with the magistrate’s daughter.”
“I wasn’t involved,” Ron snapped. “She liked me. I didn’t like her back.”
“Well, now we’re all involved,” Jerry said. “Like meat in egusi.”
Minos stretched lazily. “So... we’re going to a party?”
“Not a party,” Ron muttered, rubbing his temple. “An ambush.”
---
Later that evening, after Jerry had gone to find suya and Mami had fallen asleep on the hospital cot, Minos sat beside Ron’s bed, polishing the rust off a bone-handled knife.
“You know this changes things,” the half-zombie said.
“I know.”
“They’ll want answers. They’ll want to know why someone like you is hanging out with someone like me.”
“Let them ask.”
“They’ll probably ask violently.”
Ron leaned back, staring at the ceiling. “Let them try.”
Minos chuckled. “You’re becoming darker, Ron.”
Ron didn’t answer.
But deep inside, he knew something had shifted.
Lady Hew hadn’t come to simply warn him. She came to remind him that he was now part of something bigger than himself—something he hadn’t asked for but couldn’t escape.
And in a city where the powerful ruled, where the dead walked, and where half-zombies held the truth in their broken fists... Ron had just been marked.
By a girl he barely knew.
By a family with too much power.
And by his own decision to say “no” in a world where saying “yes” might have meant safety.
He sighed.
“Minos.”
“Hm?”
“If anything happens to my family—”
“They’ll die screaming. Got it.”
“No. You protect them. Even if I’m not around.”
Minos looked at him with those pale, glassy eyes. “You’re not dying, boy.”
“I hope not,” Ron muttered, closing his eyes.
But deep down, he wasn’t so sure anymore.
- Writer
