Chapter - 20
"Did you come to finish the job, pretty boy?"
"Or did you feel guilty enough to "hang out" with me?" Brena smirked as she looked at Leo.
Leo ignored her and gestured for the guard to leave.
"I will let you know when I am done."
The guard, five gold coins richer, nodded and quickly closed the door, giving Leo privacy.
Leo then pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Brena, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.
This was the first time they have been face to face. He was not going to start with the bashing.
"I am not here to kill you, Brena," he started to say, "And I am certainly not going to hang with you."
"I just want to talk about your dead lover, I don’t even know the name of that poor bastard."
"Then I probably want to know more about your dead rebound, Varkas."
As he spoke, Leo activated his Amulet of Keen Observation.
And when he mentioned her dead lover, he felt her heart rate drop. But was it for that dead guy or Varkas, he wasn’t sure.
"And if you don’t want to talk about any of them. Let’s just cut to the chase. Who was the guy you worked with?"
Suddenly she laughed, she laughed out loud hysterically with contempt, "Go fuck yourself, you bastard."
"I am not telling you shit."
"And I don’t want to hear shit," Leo was far from losing his temper.
"Your life is over," Leo continued, his tone reasonable. "The only question now is how it ends."
"I can assure you Lord Caelum is not a merciful man. No lord is."
"Now you can be a pig for his men to work their art on you."
"You will be all alone, begging for them to stop, make the pain go away and end it quickly."
"But they won’t listen. They will come everyday for weeks, maybe months. They will spend the whole day with you, even accompany you on lonely nights."
"They will slowly take you apart. They will start with your nails, move to your fingers, then they will break your bones so that you can’t resist. Then they will skin you alive as you scream and beg. But you won’t be able to do anything."
"All you can do is pray for death day in and day out. But they won’t give it to you."
"Or you can give me something useful. Maybe a name or some information."
"And I will try to give you a clean start, or at the least, a quick painless death. And I promise you won’t be alone."
"The choice is yours. You heard the guard. I only had 5 minutes. And you only have 2."
On the other hand, as he spoke, Brena stared at him with her eyes wide open and her breathing ragged.
His words sent genuine fear in his body. She felt her skin crawl for a moment.
But she has seen every bit of torture when she was with the Blackfang bandits. She was quick to replace the fear with defiance.
"You think you can scare me?" she spat.
"I have seen worse, boy. I have done worse." Brena smirked.
"You are just a boy playing at being a man. I have played with men twice your size."
"I would rather be tortured to death by a man than play "I am a man" with you. So take your offer, and shove it up your pretty pink ass!"
That sudden outburst was not something Leo had anticipated. He was a reasonable man with a reasonable offer. So why was this bitch not taking it?
He stared at her for some time. Now the logical route was taken, he had to go the other way.
"Alright," he said softly, "It seems you can’t be reasoned with."
"That’s right you dog. Run with your tail between..."
THWACK!
Before she could have her fill, mocking Leo, he pulled out his iron sword and giving her no chance to react, brought it down.
"Uhhhh!"
For a second Brena did not feel a thing, she just stared at her hand, resting on the table. But her little finger and ring finger were gone, severed from the knuckle, lying a couple of inches away from her hand. She could even see them twitching slightly.
The shock held for a couple of seconds.
Then, the pain started to hit her. Blood began to spurt out of her fingers like a fountain. Blood covered her face, hands, lap and even started to make a pool on the floor. She wanted to cry, scream in pain. But before she could do that, Leo moved and covered her mouth with his palm.
"You know," he spoke, whispering in her ears, "I read once that the nerves in the hand twitch for minutes after separation. Looks like that’s true."
The blade in his hand was suddenly gone. And then with his other hand, He reached down, grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her head back, forcing her to look at him through her pain-filled, terrified eyes.
"You must be thinking I am a monster."
"But I really am not."
"I tried reasoning with you, didn’t I?"
"But you have to understand, talking with you is expensive. I can’t afford it just yet."
"Now that was your pinky and ring finger," Leo whispered, his lips brushing against her ears. This could have been a romantic scene if not for the muffled screams and ragged breaths.
"Don’t be mad. I am just giving you a glimpse of how the Lord will play with you."
"It looks fun when you are the one playing, isn’t it?"
"Now I will move to your middle finger next."
"Then the index finger... Then your thumb."
"Then I will move to the other hand. Can’t ignore it."
After that I will attend to your beautiful legs."
"I am a quick learner, Brena. By the time I am done with your hands. Your legs will be a piece of leg.... Haha... Did you get the word play? Do you have cakes here?"
"Oh well, look at me. I am getting distracted."
"But coming back to the point."
"Before I let you enjoy all that on the menu. Let me ask you again."
"Who was the one who helped you?"
"Now I am going to remove my hand, you better start chirping like the little bird you are, or we are going to have a deep, long chat."
"Do we have a deal, darling?"
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