Rage and Ruin | 2

3 | 0

D E L P H I N I U M

I watched in horror as Riley and Kane huddled around Benny's lifeless body. In my nightmares, I'd watched him die countless times but I never thought that I'd actually be seeing it now in real life.

The more sickening fact was that I wasn't sure whether I'd rather him be dead or alive. Benny had been the only good part of the three years I'd been imprisoned by Orion. However, he wasn't the same boy that I'd known; he'd caused a lot of damage. I couldn't suffer through any more.

Riley felt his pulse. "He's still alive but he must be having an allergic reaction or something. I know I got the dosage correct."

"Gigi," Kane called frantically, "Please, can you try to save him?"

She quickly dropped her bow and joined the two on the ground next to Benny. Putting her hand on his chest, she worked her magic through his body. After a horribly long moment of nothing happening, he coughed and spluttered until he vomited up the contents of his stomach, poison and all.

Once I saw that he was beginning to wake back up, I helped Jaxon and Finn bind him up with a rope that we'd brought for this specific purpose. Benny's arms were tied behind him, his legs were roped together with only a few inches of leeway to help him walk under supervision; Jaxon also placed a gag in his mouth to prevent any noises he might make to alert the other guests of what we were doing.

"This way," Jake instructed, gesturing down the hall. "There's a side room in an art exhibit that's being worked on; no one will know that we're even here." Before, we'd been finding a place to hide Benny once we caught him. That's why Riley had been alone with him for a few minutes too long in the corridor.

      Benny was forced to his feet as we made our way to the place Jake had discovered. Both Jaxon and Kane held onto his tightly bound arms to ensure that he wouldn't try to get away. I caught a pained expression on Kane's face as he helped escort his brother deeper into the museum and knew that it couldn't be easy for him to be in this predicament.

      Jake shoved the assassin into the side room and shut the door with all of us in it. The room appeared to be the place they kept all the art conservation materials for cleaning or fixing damaged art pieces. No one would be coming into this room for as long as we were using it.

      Once we were all safely in the room and the door was locked, Kane and Jaxon forced Benny to sit in a chair. I removed the gag in his mouth with my mind. It fluttered to the floor.

      Benny locked eyes with me and snarled, "You filthy traitor, how could you let them do this to me?" He fought against his bounds and tried to lunge for me. Kane pushed him back down into the chair.

      "I might be a traitor," I told him calmly, "But it's better than what you've become. I did what I had to do."

      He nodded, a solemn look now settling on his face. "I did too, Delphinium. I stayed with our master, continued serving him when you betrayed us. You'll pay the price for what you did. He wants to see you."

      My blood ran cold. Simply knowing that he had survived my destruction on his fortress was torturous enough. Another actual interaction with Orion would most likely break me.

      "Yeah," I scoffed. "He wants this whole team, most likely to make an example out of us to his other enemies." I stepped closer to Benny. "But you'll never have us. Try as hard as you want, but you know we're too strong."

      "You think you're strong," he disagreed, observing me with his narrowed eyes. "You think you're able to defeat Imperium, but you're wrong. What Orion sent for you in the past was nothing; he knew you weren't a threat, so he took his time, employing Adiago Hundsen and his men to bring you to us. But now you've made him angry, attacking us on our own ground, showing your face at the fortress you burned. You're not going to be ready for what's coming."