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Even froirls’ faces was evident

Both Celaena and Sae chamber and inspected the dens on the other side By that ti When Farran had finished, he looked over his shoulder and nodded to Heled hat could only be relief, but then paled and quickly found soers at one of the sentries near a small door Immediately, the door opened and a shackled, dirty, ed out by another sentry The prisoner looked half dead already, but the ainst the sentry’s grip

It was hard to hear, but Celaena discerned enough froist of it: he was a fighter in the Vaults, owed Jayne more money than he could ever repay, and had tried to cheat his way out of it

Although the prisoner promised to repay Jayne with interest, Farran just s thebreath Then Farran jerked his chin toward a door half-hidden behind a ragged curtain, and his s limpse of a stairwell that swept doard

Without so much as a look in the direction of the patrons discreetly watching from their tables, Farran led the sentry and his prisoner inside and shut the door Whatever was about to happen was Jayne’s version of justice

Sure enough, five h the Vaults

It was more animal than huh torture at the Keep to know that when people screa By the end, when that sort of pain happened, the victims had usually blown out their vocal cords and could only eritted her teeth so hard her jaw hurt The barkeep gave a sharp wave to the minstrels in the corner, and they i to cover the noise But screams still echoed up froh about Farran to knoouldn’t kill the ht away No, his pleasure came from the pain itself

"It’s tiripped his

"We can’t just--"

"We can," she said sharply "Believe ned like a death trap, and I’ve no desire toat the stairwell door "When the ti a hand on his arm, "you’ll make sure he pays his debt"

Sam turned to her, his face concealed within the shadows of the hood, but she could read the aggression in his body well enough "He’ll pay his debt for all of this," Sairls eeping, so Yes, Farran had visited before, had used that roo everyone else not to cross the Criirls witnessed--or at least heard?

The screa up from belohen they left the Vaults

She had intended to lead the to the public park built along a well-off neighborhood beside the Avery River After ravel ays, he slu the water He pulled off his hood and rubbed his face with his broad hands

"We’re not like that," he whispered through his fingers

Celaena stared down at him, then sank onto the wooden bench She knew exactly what he h her head as they walked here They had been taught how to kill and maim and torture--she kne to skin ait She kne to keep so hours of tor someone bleed out

Arobynn had been so, so clever about it, too He’d brought in the ue assassins who had butchered innocents--and he’d athered on thes they’d done until she was so enraged she couldn’t think straight, until she was aching to er into a lethal blade And she’d let him

Before Skull’s Bay, she’d done it all and had rarely questioned it She’d pretended that she had some moral code, lied to herself and said that since she didn’t enjoy it, it meant that she had some excuse, but … she had still stood in that chamber beneath the Assassin’s Keep and seen the blood floard the drain in the sloped floor

"We can’t be like that," Sa them away from his face "We’re not like Farran We kno to do it, but we don’t enjoy it That’s the difference"

His brown eyes were distant as he watched the gentle current of the Averyits way toward the nearby sea "When Arobynn ordered us to do things like that, we never said no"

"We had no choice But we do now" Once they left Rifthold, they’d never have to ain--they could create their own codes

Sam looked at her, his expression so haunted and bleak it made her sick "But there was always that part That part that did enjoy it when it was someone who truly deserved it"

"Yes," she breathed "Yes, there was always that part But we still had a line, Sam--we still stayed on the other side of it Lines don’t exist for someone like Farran"

They weren’t like Farran--Sam wasn’t like Farran She knew that in her bones Sam would never be like Farran He’d never be like her, either She sometimes wondered if he knew just how dark she could turn

Sa his head on her shoulder "When we die, do you think we’ll be punished for the things we’ve done?"

She looked at the far bank of the river, where a row of ramshackle houses and docks had been built "When we die," she said, "I don’t think the gods will even knohat to do with us"

Sa in his eyes

Celaena s heartbeat, felt right