Percy let his emotions rise to the surface, filling him to the brim and then some: love, fear, happiness, hope. What he’d once taken as a liability became an infinite source of strength. Though the time for rash decisions and heavy promises was over.
Now the delicate work began.
*
Percy’s promise weighedon Danny’s chest like an elephant on an ant hill.
Keep walking, she told herself.Don’t stop. If she did, that pressure would crush her into dust.
That glimmer in his eye, Danny wouldn’t delude herself into believing Percy had finally realized his worth. A man berated all his life, his proposed inadequacies thrust in his face by peoplewithout compassion, wouldn’t magically come to his senses. But he had seemed grounded, as if understanding the true devastation his death would reap with risky maneuvers.
He’d take his time now, assess and reassess before jumping headfirst into something foolish.
A good thing too because Danny had just told the greatest lie of her life.
She made for the woods on the opposite side of the clearing from the bomb, having made a secondary discovery during her early perfunctory survey of the area.
Sensing her intent, the person hiding in the towering oaks uncurled from their crouched position and waved from the upper branches, unrecognizable except for a familiar dark hood.
Danny gritted her teeth, not allowing her fear to take control.
Percy had shouldered most of the risk and all the planning, leaving himself a too-easy target. He may have been skilled, but even Danny saw half a dozen ways he’d be caught in the web of his own making, even with his newfound caution.
Danny trudged ahead, her gaze fixed on the trees where the Merry Men’s gang leader had spotted her progress and jumped down from the branches to intercept her.
Heart galloping, Danny didn’t retreat. There was no time for hesitation. She was not some obedient wife or damsel in need of protection. She was a woman with a mind and a hundred-yard center shot, and a duke who’d offered her a partnership in life. And right now, her partner was letting his fear for her safety leave a blind spot.
Danny kept walking. Because she was that strong woman, because she had her own skills, and because she was sick and tired of playing it safe while everyone else took turns playing a not-so-innocent game of assassin roulette.
Danny didn’t stop at the respectable distance when she should have. Didn’t bow to her nerves and let her confidenceslip. Her gaze fixed on the face hidden in shadows, she walked up to stand toe to toe with the leader of the most ruthless gang in Dockside.
And struck a deal to set her own haphazard plan in motion. She prayed her instincts weren’t wrong.
