AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fourteen
Aika
We’re both panting by the time we drag the man down the back alley into the abandoned fishmonger’s shop a block away. There is a distinct trail in the sludge on the ground showcasing two sets of footprints dragging what is obviously a body.
I curse and tell Remy to go cover our tracks as soon as we’re inside. Whatever small bit of amusement I had wrangled a few minutes ago has effectively evaporated in the wake of what I have to do now.
With practiced fingers, I tie the unconscious man to a chair, using a special reinforced bit of twine Mother helped me create. Every shred of emotion has left my body, replaced by the cool, detached calm I have cultivated for this very purpose.
So that I can get the job done.
I tie my hair back in a knot before pulling my favorite knife from my satchel, a deceptively delicate blade, then seat myself in front of the unconscious brute.
Before I can wake the man up, Remy reenters the shop. His gaze darts from the knife in my hand to the tied-up man, landing at last on my perfectly unperturbed features.
Rare emotion flickers in his eyes. Shock, maybe, with an edge of horror.
“What are you doing?” He rushes over, edging his body between the Pillager and me.
“Getting our answers.” I say it like it’s obvious, because it would be to anyone with any street sense at all.
“You can’t torture him.” He whispers the wordtorture, as if it’s profanity, and I try to remember the version of me that Remy sees. A thief, a gambler, not someone with the expertise to kill or torture someone.
“It can’t be that hard.” I pretend to misunderstand what he’s saying, but he doesn’t buy it.
“You’ve done this before,” he says flatly.
It’s too close to things I’ve been actively trying to hide, but I won’t very well be able to deny it when I start slicing the man up, either. I sigh, deciding on a watered-down version of the truth. My specialty.
“In another life.”
His eyes bore into mine, every bit as intense as they were in the alleyway. But where there was desire before, now there is only a quiet disbelief.
“What exactly did you think we were going to do when I said we needed to get information out of him?” I am genuinely curious about this, though annoyance coats my words as well.
“Not this!” Remy hisses.
I don’t need his judgment now, or ever when it comes to dealing with men like these.
“No? Maybe you could try asking him nicely, when he regains consciousness. That should go splendidly.”
“Wouldn’t bribery be faster?” he counters.
“Bribery?” I grit the word out through clenched teeth.
Remy nods, and I shake my head in disgust.
“You want to give money to a man who steals children off the streets andsellsthem? Do you honestly think funding child trafficking is ethically superior to torturing a man who deals in it?”
His jaw ticks, and he bites out a curse. “You can’t just expect me to stand here while you… slice him up, or whatever you’re going to do.”
“You’re damned right I don’t expect you to just stand there,” I spit out. “You wanted to follow the trail of seedy underground criminals, were willing to risk your life and mine for it, so I expect you to be useful. You can help hold him down.”
Remy looks at me like he’s never seen me before.
He takes on the same expression he gets when he’s counting cards or deciphering someone’s line of play, only this time, he is appalled by whatever he has figured out.
Several heartbeats pass before he opens his mouth, probably to protest or ask more questions, and I cut him off.
