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."

Jaxon started to lunge for him, saying, "I'll show you how ready I am," but Jake stopped him with one arm.

"Are you done talking?" Jake regraded Benny with his cold gaze. "You can say what you want, but that won't help you escape from the fact that we got you." He leaned in towards the assassin. "You're about to find out what I do to my enemies."

"Oh, I already know," Benny said with certainty. "I've heard of you."

"Good," Jake retorted, his voice dripping with ice. "Then I won't have to explain it in detail to you. Hunt doesn't need you in one piece in order to get information from you, and I'm feeling particularly impatient today. One wrong move and I'll start cutting off fingers."

When Benny gave no reply, Jake continued on, "I won't drill you for information now; that's Hunt's business. I only have a few questions: firstly, what exactly did you do for Adiago Hundsen?"

Benny looked at him with a flat gaze. "I only do what Orion instructs me. He's my only leader, not Hundsen."

"Where is Hundsen now?"

"I don't know. He's been in hiding, as you probably already know."

Jake stepped forward and rested the blade of his knife on Benny's fingers behind his back. "I don't like liars," he hissed through gritted teeth. "I told you what would happen if you didn't obey. Let's see if you can still shoot a gun after this."

"Wait," Riley stepped forward, making Jake turn his attention to her. "Don't do anything drastic yet. Let Kane talk to him."

We all turned to look at Kane. He had a deep frown on his face as he watched what Jake was about to do to his brother. But when he heard what Riley had suggested, he took a few hesitant steps toward the bound assassin.

"Fine," Jake sneered, watching the assassin again. "You'd better talk, for your own good."

Kane then stood alone in front of Benny, facing his devious-looking brother for the first time.

"Benny," seemed to be all Kane could get out.

"Brother," he acknowledged.

"It's been a long time."

"It's been for the best," Benny said and I could almost feel the pain in Kane's heart. Even after all the dreams I had where I relived the moment I left Benny behind during the fires, this was when I felt the most guilt. He wouldn't be acting this way if I'd saved him.

Kane shook his head, whispering, "What did they do to you?"

"You think I'm a victim?" Benny asked, giving his brother a flat look. "If I was untied right now, I'd show you how much of a victim I am."

For a moment, no one said anything. It was one thing to know that Benny was out there, wanting to bring us to Orion. It was another to threaten to kill his own brother. I knew that he'd actually do it if he wasn't tied down.

"Though I suppose you already are, brother," Benny stated matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean by that?" Kane still spoke quietly. This was painful enough for me to watch; I couldn't imagine how he was feeling. We may have been in a disagreement but that was clearly not the biggest problem we had.

"You're angry, Kane," Benny said, holding his brother's steady gaze. "You're seething with rage. I can practically smell it."

When Kane didn't give a response, Benny kept talking. "You're furious with Delphinium for leaving me behind. You think that I wouldn't have become this if Delphinium was there?"

"Yes." Kane seemed less sure of himself now.

Benny looked at me over Kane's shoulder and said in Romanian, "We both know that isn't true."

Arlo nudged me. "What did he say?"

When I gave no answer, he muttered, "Once again, I hate being left out of things."

"And you, dear Delphinium, seem to feel similarly. I can see the guilt rolling off of you. Did you really think I'd died in your destruction of the fortress?"

I responded in Romanian, "Now I'm wondering if that would have been better for the both of us."

Benny slowly shook his head. "Out of the two of us, I'm better off. You know that."

He switched back to English. "You picked the wrong side, Secerător."

I clenched my jaw. "Don't call me that."

Benny raised an eyebrow. "Why shouldn't I? Even if you don't go by that name anymore, you know deep down that's still who you are."

I said nothing, knowing that he might have been right. I also didn't have a response that would make him think otherwise. What he'd said had buried itself into my heart; there was more truth to it than I cared to admit. Even if Orion wasn't my master anymore, I still carried around the burden of what he'd done to me every day. He was still with me, there was no ridding him from my mind.

I turned towards the door, ready to be done with this interrogation. "We should take him to the ONNT now."

The others obliged and got Benny to his feet, preparing to smuggle him out of here without being seen. I led the way back down the hall, marching like a general.

I didn't give any sign that Benny's words had affected me. But they had.