Just Mercy: Chapter 11 Summary Novels & Stories

He gestured to the warehouse, indicating the people that slept within. “My wife and daughter were both severely altered by what was done to them. Verina has never blamed me,” he swallowed thickly, shaking his head sorrowfully. "Mercy though... Mercy blames me, and justly. What sort of life does she have locked up with her parents, unable to seek her own way, to experience the world, to have friends, a mate… But I cannot free her,” a muscle twitched in the corner of his jaw as his eyes lifted to the second story windows and, following his gaze, Aislen saw that Mercy looked down at them, her head tilted and her expression chilling in its predatory nature. “Because I fear what she will do.”

Plus I still needed one very big question answered. I had to hold on, fight through the pain. Fight through the chains burning into my open wounds. Mercy was done with me, Murphy didn’t know to look for me. Jesse was likely trying to regroup and get more help, I hoped. But I didn’t want my friends brought into my shit.

“It’s done. You think locking yourself in here will change what happened?” “You killed him.” My voice cracked as the tears fell more freely. “You killed everything.” “I didn’t.” My ears perked up, a little bit of relief flooding through me. “You didn’t?” I didn’t let it slip through my voice though. “I spared his life,” he said. “He’s alive because I let him be.” I turned then, meeting his gaze. “You call that mercy? You had him beaten, humiliated, and nearly shot in front of me. How is that mercy?”

“Please. Please have mercy.” Raif lets me pull the shift and I stand, towering over Jasper. “You tried to take what was mine. You tried to take the only good thing that has ever happened to me in my life. You tried to take the light that pushes away my darkness. But she’s not here now, and there’s no one who can push this darkness away, so there will no mercy.”

“Tell me, what did your reign achieve for them?” Her eyes snapped to mine, sharp and wet. “You call this justice? Or revenge?” “This is mercy,” I replied, forcing calm into the words. Mercy was easier to claim than cruelty. She looked back at the pit, at Clara’s trembling hands, at Ben’s hunched form. “Let me help them,” she said. The plea was soft, but it struck deeper than any scream. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to order the guards to release them, to stop this madness. Instead, I heard myself answer, “You will join them soon enough.”

The journey from bad to good, from wish to prayer, from greed to generosity, from ignorance to wisdom, from heartless to merciful, from hopelessness to hope and from lust to love was accomplished only by the patience that shone like a flame inside them. Especially in Hazel. Because her mother’s words always encouraged her in her mind when she said that there is no bigger and more powerful weapon than a kind and gentle soul at every stage of life. In every circumstance. It was not necessary that there should be evil for evil — like they say an eye for an eye — so she did not think it right to curse anyone even in her mind and today, everything was arranged for her. Just to instil fear in them

she said and without waiting for a permit she walked out of the room with her trolley. She rubbed her eyes on her way out, "What a way to start my day" she said, shaking her head. Thank God the maid from earlier hasn't recognised her as Avyanna the Goddess or else she would've been the first one to taint her out there, she told herself. In a short while everything made sense to her, John Lewis, that man was the one who did this to her. She desperately inspected herself and she was relieved to see that she wasn't raped.

Sigrid gestured for silence when Dan moved slightly, wanting to finish the errand now that the danger was passed, however, she wanted to hear the discussion between father and daughter whilst they were unaware that there were others around and see what secrets they revealed. “I do not need to be imprisoned,” Mercy snarled back. “I have been free all this time, and I have proven that I can contain and direct my hunger to appropriate food sources, and dispose of the remnants, have I not? I have been perfectly behaved. I have helped our allies and mother. I have shown that I control my hunger, not it me. I will not go back into prison, father! I refuse. I am an adult, and as an adult, I am free

Me: You don’t deserve to walk free after what you’ve done. I hope you know there’s a reckoning coming for you, and when it does, don’t expect any mercy. I'm beginning to believe that I'm actually gullible for a human. Walking on God's big green earth pretending to be normal. I thought about the men who died. I wasn't close to them or knew them, but I could see the hurt in Alex's eyes when he said, “No men left behind,” only to have all his men ambushed.

That this isn’t a job—it’s penance, and no matter how cruel he is or how hard this gets, I deserve every second of it? I can’t. So I slip into my own head instead, let the silence stretch while Renee waits on the other end. Because I owe him this. The very least I can do is not give up on him the way everyone else has. Because seeing it on the news was one thing, but witnessing what it actually did to him, seeing him suffer every single day, knowing my family caused all of it—I can’t walk away from that. I won’t. “Cass? You still there?”