“Still am. They pay well, and I get a fraction of the elixirs to sell here.” The man leaned forward on the counter. “Unless you’re willing to give me a better offer. How important is it you find him?”
The difficult way, then.
“Idohave a better offer,” Felix said coolly. “You’re going to hand over the token for free, and perhaps I won’t kill you where you stand for profiting off the deaths of my people.”
The man scoffed, and then, as expected, he reached for the gun again. This time, Felix made no attempt to stop him.
“Felix,” Marlow cautioned.
He waited for the man to turn the weapon on them before calmly giving the order to stop.
The man did.
“Do you know how to use the token?” Felix asked Marlow.
“I do, yeah. Ciaran uses them now and then for important deliveries.”
“Brilliant.” With a slow smile, Felix said, “Put the barrel beneath your chin.”
The man obeyed, his face serene.
“Felix, c’mon.” Marlow swiped the token from the counter and held it up between her thumb and forefinger. “We have it. Let’s just go.”
His gaze slid over the man’s fine clothing purchased with wielder blood money before landing on two jars on the shelf behind him, each marked with an elegantAintertwined with a simple black rose. Ashcroft’s insignia.
A searing heat burned beneath his skin as his eyes cut back to the man.
Felix had given so much, trying to make this country safer for his people, and this man was profiting from their murders. Why should he feel guilty for his death? For any of their deaths?
He clenched his fists tightly. “Pull the trigger.”
The gunshot reverberated through the front room of the small shop, and the man’s brains painted the low ceiling before he crumpled behind the counter.
As Felix turned to leave, he snatched the finding token from Marlow. “Destroy those elixirs.”
She didn’t respond, but as he held the token up to the lamplight, studying the etchings, glass shattered against the floor behind him.
For nearly two years they’d hidden here, helpless as their own city was devoured. With each passing day, his fury grew, his burning desire to find the aeslingan all-consuming thing.
But that ended tonight.
“What’s the plan once we find him?” Marlow asked when she’d finished.
“He’s going to fix the tear, then I’m going to put another bullet in his heart.”
“Don’t you think…” Marlow’s sentence hung unfinished in the air, and he tilted his head, studying her pensive expression.
“Don’t I think what, Mar?”
“He could drop our charges, and we wouldn’t have to hide from the Watch anymore.”
Felix spun on her. “You want to beg for his forgiveness? Ask him to call off his mother?”
“No, I—”
“After everything he’s done, you think I should let him live?”
“For Arunas’ sake,” she huffed. “Alright. Fine. Gods, you’re so bitchy.” When he responded with a slight smile, she asked, “How are we gonna keep hold of someone who can disappear?”
