I snapped my fingers, remembering something else. “And Darrell has even more of this stuff at home. He showed me pictures of his collectibles during the holiday party at the Pork Pit.”
Darrell didn’t respond, but a pink flush crept up his neck, his lips pinched together into a tight, thin line, and he crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive motion. Guilty as charged.
“Gin’s right. You’redoing this because you’re a greedy bastard, not because I hurt your feelings.” Owen shook his head. “And here I thought you actually believed in all this medieval, ren-faire stuff about duty and honor and loyalty.”
“Oh, I do believe in it, but my favorite characters to play have always been the rogues, the thieves, the pirates.” Darrell tipped his head to me. “And especially the assassins whotake what they want and kill whomever they like.”
“Gin has more honor and loyalty in her pinkie than you will ever have,” Owen snarled.
Darrell gave him an amused look. “Aw, how noble of you to defend your lady’s honor. I hope Gin appreciates the gesture, especially since it’s the last thing you’ll ever do for her.”
He slid his phone back into his pocket, then walked over to the two giantsstill sitting at the computers. “Are we ready to transfer the money?”
One of the giants flashed him a thumbs-up and handed him a tablet. Darrell clutched the device in the crook of his elbow, then strolled back over to Owen.
“And now, boss, it’s time to give me access to your accounts—all of them.” Darrell loomed over him. “I need your master login and password, as well as your personal authenticationkeywords.”
“Fuck off,” Owen snarled. “I’m not giving you a thing—not one damn thing.”
“I thought you might say that.”
Darrell stepped back and jerked his head at Celeste, who twirled her swords around in her hands again. I knew what she was going to do, and I took a step forward to try to stop her, but the two giants raised their fists and cracked their knuckles in warning. They were standingbetween me and Owen, as were Darrell and Celeste, and any one of them could easily kill Owen before I could get to him. So as much as I hated it, I stopped, gritted my teeth, and held up my hands, surrendering to the bastards.
For now.
Celeste made sure that I wasn’t going to interfere, then whipped around and slammed the hilt of her first sword straight into Owen’s face.
Crunch.
The soundof his nose breaking seemed as loud as a clap of thunder in the barn. Owen let out a low groan of pain, and blood gushed down his face.
Celeste hummed with happiness. And then she hit him again. And then again and then again.
She slammed the hilts of her swords into Owen’s face, chest, and arms over and over, like he was a dummy she was practicing her moves on. Each pain-filled grunt that escapedhis lips was like a punch to my own heart. Celeste also put a bit of her electrical magic into the blows, making Owen’s entire body twitch and jerk and his skin blister and burn.
The acrid stench of his singed flesh was one of the worst things I had ever smelled in my entire life.
Through it all, Owen stared at me, his violet gaze steady on mine. The absolute love and trust shining in his eyesmade my own heart squeeze tight in response. Despite our dire situation, he still believed that I would get us out of this. That I would save us. His unwavering trust filled me with a warm rush of love, along with an iron determination not to let him down.
But Celeste could still slit Owen’s throat before I could reach him, so I had to stand there and watch while the bitch tortured him.
Aftera few minutes, Celeste finally lowered her weapons and stepped back. Owen coughed and coughed, trying to get his breath back after all the brutal blows, and his arms and legs kept twitching from the lingering stings of her electricity. After the better part of a minute, he finally stopped coughing, although the faint hitch and wheeze in his breath indicated that he probably had at least one crackedor broken rib, if not more.
Celeste smirked at me. My hands clenched into tight fists. She was going to die for hurting him—she just didn’t realize it yet.
Darrell gestured at his partner in crime. “I like to play the part of a thief, but Celeste here, well, she’s more of a barbarian at heart. I love that about her.”
He gave an elaborate hand flourish and bowed low to her, as though he reallywas a gallant knight and she was some fair maiden, instead of them both being rotten and treacherous to the core. Darrell straightened back up, and Celeste blew him an air kiss, which he caught and dramatically pressed to his heart. Ugh.Kill me now, just like Finn had said.
Owen looked up at the two of them. Then he leaned forward and spat out a mouthful of blood right onto Darrell’s shiny blackboots. I grinned. And that was one of the reasons I loved him.
“How’s that for barbaric?” Owen rasped.
Darrell’s nose crinkled with disgust. Celeste stepped forward and hit Owen again, making him cough up more blood. Worry twisted my chest, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t risk attacking while Celeste and her swords were still that close to Owen.
Darrell eyed his former boss a moment longer, thensmiled, as if some new, horrible thought had occurred to him.
“Well, if you won’t give up the information to save yourself, then maybe you’ll give it up to save your own precious assassin queen.” Darrell jerked his head at Celeste, who grinned and stalked over to me.
