You are terrible.Ronan smirked.
Of course she was. Xaydin was wounded and his brother was missing. She was more than willing to pluck off as many body parts as she needed to get the information that would help them.
“Why did you take the contract from theaþaswere?” She pressed harder against his eye.
He refused to answer.
She went deeper with her fingernail. “Any second we’ll have that satisfying pop.”
“Stop!” he screamed. “I’ll tell you.”
She let up but kept some pressure there. Just to remind him that she didn’t mind doing this to him. “Start talking.”
“Your mother sent me in case you needed me.”
Those words caught her off guard. “You lie. My mother would never have done that.” She applied more pressure.
“Stop! Stop! She didn’t send me to watch over you…”
No kidding. That would require a level of care her mother didn’t possess. “Then why are you here?”
“To finish it,” he screamed.
Ronan cursed as he pulled her away from Garyn. “Don’t you see? He’s here to kill theaþaswere.”
That made no sense. “What?”
“Your mother wants everyone to think that she’s a victim. It’s how she’s always been. If she sends you out to protect anaþaswerewho ends up dead…”
Gisela winced at an explanation that made way too much sense.I knew it was bullshit.The moment her mother had told her to protect theaþaswere, it’d sounded wrong.
Now she knew why.
Her mother wasn’t about protecting anyone other than herself. This was to cover her ass when she went after Dash. Or to force the High King to do something so she could fight back without consequences.
That bitch!
She was so tired of being lied to. She doubted if her mother had ever once told her the truth.
About anything. For all she knew, her father was a lie, too.
And she was done with it. The temptation to kill the assassin was almost beyond her abilities to resist. There was only one thing that kept him alive.
“Where’s Masakage?” she demanded.
He shook his head slowly. “I’m not stupid. I know the only thing keeping me alive is the fact that you know if you kill me, you’ll never see him again.”
Damn him for being right.
“Not telling us will just cost you body parts.” She went for his eye again.
Screaming, he tried to pull away. “Wait! We can figure this out. We don’t need to be violent.”
“I’d rather cause you pain.”
This time, Ronan caught her. “Maybe he’s right and we ought to work something out.”
“Rather not. He hurt Xaydin and kidnapped Masakage. I vote we torture him just on principle.”
