Page 72 of Elven Lies

She widened her eyes at him and glanced at the bodies one more time. “Rowan, I meant to end this interrogation and let them go with a message. Not that it was time to literallyendthem.”

“Ah…” The corners of his mouth turned down in contemplation before he shrugged again. “Easy mistake.”

“No, it’s not! Why would I tell them to deliver a message to their boss if I was just gonna kill them first anyway?”

“Hey, I just thought you were trying to go easy on them. You know they don’t struggle so much when they think everything’s gonna work out.”

She couldn’t believe this. This was insane.Hewas insane.

It was unequivocally against both Shade’s best interests and her own to intercept old partners and allies of Aldous, no matter how much he might have screwed them over, and literally kill the messenger.

If this unnamed Big Boss was anything like the other magicals Rebecca had already dealt with in Chicago, Shade was in for one massive battle of retribution, and Rowan had just handed the enemy a golden key to start a gang war across the city.

Whoever the Big Boss was, he wouldn’t just sit back and ignore two of his guys being permanently taken out of the game, no matter lacking they were in common sense. He’d want to make those responsible pay, and Shade was already in too many pickles already.

Namely the still unidentified gang that had attacked Nyx’s transport team to hold them hostage in the abandoned park. Plus Eduardo was out there somewhere, still pissed about having his illegal weapons stolen, and now Rebecca was certain Harkennr was on her trail.

Rowan had just dug an even deeper grave for all of them.

Because he still hadn’t learned to listen.

“I can’t believe you did that,” she said, glaring at him.

“Why? It’s notthatunbelievable.”

“Because I was trying to play things safe here, not make a bigger mess with another crime boss in Chicago! Not to mention someone Aldous was already working with and hadn’t paid his debts to. We could’ve squeezed some other information out of them. Maybe. Or they might’ve tried to set up a meeting with their boss. Literallyanythingelse other than what you just did would have been a smarter way to handle this!”

Rowan watched her without expression, apathetic to the whole thing.

“Do you haveanythingto say for yourself?” she barked, unsure if the boiling heat inside her came from her magic threatening to lash out at him the way she wanted or from her rage.

They glowered at each other a moment longer, then Rowan’s features softened.

His eyes widened as he studied every inch of her face, then he cocked his head, as if some life-changing epiphany had just hit him.

Rebecca wished it would have hit him a little harder.

“You’re really pissed, aren’t you?”

“What insight.” She folded her arms. “How could you tell?”

“All right, let’s just pause for a second.” Frowning, Rowan studied the circular room before his gaze fell on the corpses lying at his feet in the golden circle. “I’m actually really confused, here. Because I can tell you’re serious right now, but you’veneverhad an issue taking out the trash before…”

“Not when that trash might’ve brought us useful information or kept us from all-out war with another gang!”

Though he still showed no sign of remorse or recognition that anything was wrong with this picture, his frown darkened as he studied Rebecca again. “You’ve changed…”

“No shit,” she growled, fighting to keep her voice level, as if talking to a child. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you this whole time. I’ve changed. The world has changed.Everythingis different now.”

“Yes. I’m starting to see that now.”

“Great. It’s about time you opened your fucking eyes.” With a frustrated sigh, Rebecca spun away from him, mostly because she didn’t want to lose control and seriously injure him as a result. But she spared a final glance at the orc corpses on the floor and shook her head.

There was nothing she could do about it now. Rowan had made his choice and taken action, and it couldn’t be undone.

Now, these dead orcs’ boss would eventually come gunning for Shade and its new Roth-Da’al who’d taken over after Aldous.

Even without receiving her message, anyone smart enough to make himself boss of any gang was smart enough to draw a connection between the two orcs he’d sent to capture Aldous and the fact that they never came back. He’d most likely come looking for Aldous because he’d never receive the right information.

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