Ashes to Ashes | ✓

8.1 || Bound By Red and Gold

Thunder closed in overhead as Felix and Cinere left the forest behind. Mae mewled impatient at the sky, sometimes throwing a hiss in there to further express his frustration. For once, Felix found himself agreeing with the cat. His clothes were soaked through to his skin, clinging to his body with the uncomfortable weight of the water. The rain got in his eyes, though it was already hard enough to see through the curtain of heavy downpour. Much like Mae, Felix found himself wanting to yell at the sky.

He refrained. He was better than the cat.

Cinere had fallen uncharacteristically silent since they began to leave the forest behind. She jogged at his side, holding Mae tightly in her arms. Her lips were pressed together in a thoughtful frown, and her gaze was trained on the ground. She only glanced up when the thunder rumbled through the sky and lightning flashed in the distance.

It felt like an eternity before the gates of Crocea came in sight. The guards called out as soon as they spotted them. One ran to meet them, speaking in the elegant lull of the Nivean tongue. Cinere answered in the same language, waving him away. The guard paused for a moment before he took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders. He glanced once at Felix before he returned to his post.

Cinere sighed, pulling the cloak tighter around her shoulders. Mae ducked under it, vanishing beneath the folds. A contented purr rumbled from within, the only thing that let Felix know the cat was still there.

"If you want to see The Core, that can be arranged," she said, softly but still loud enough to be heard over the constant stream of rain. "It will take me some time to put all the pieces together though."

"The pieces?" he asked.

"The Core is in the palace." She met his gaze and held it. Soaked through, shadowed by the overcast sky, she still looked pitiful and small, as if she was no one special at all. "It's technically forbidden for anyone but the priests and the royal family to go down there, so I have to find a time to smuggle you in."

Felix rubbed the back of his neck. Cinere's dedication to roping him into The Core and Aiko's curse was quite persistent—so much so that she would trust him enough to take him down to a place that was so sacred. Faintly, it tugged at his heartstrings with guilt.

"You... care a lot about Aiko, don't you?" he murmured.

Cinere smiled bitterly, chuckling to herself as she pulled the hood of the cloak over her head. "I suppose you could say that."

Some part of him wanted to protest that it was all part of her blank, and yet, looking at her, he could read her. He could read weariness, exhaustion, and some hint of sadness. It wasn't her confident, innocent, and angelic blank. It was as if there was a shift in her in the mere span of an hour—if even that. Perhaps it was that the soul world took a toll on her, or maybe it was simply that the rain put a damper on her. A childish part of him claimed it was that the rain had put out the strong flame of her soul, leaving her as empty as a shell.

He shoved that aside. The flame wasn't literal, and water could have no effect on it.

If he was going to use Cinere to get to Aiko, he would have to look past her pitiful appearance—blank or no blank. She was nothing but a pawn, and he didn't care what happened to her. He was an assassin, his only duty was to kill. A weapon is a tool, and a tool is made to be used, not loved.

There was no place for the turbulence of emotions in his heart if he truly craved release. She was no more special than any other weapon, and he would simply toss her aside when he was done.

With that in mind, he drew back from his heart and stamped out whatever sympathy reached out to her.

"Well," Cinere said, straightening her spine. She dipped her head to him. "Goodbye, then. I'll come find you—or send Mae—when I'm ready. Please don't wait around, though. It could be a while."