WE BECOME THOUGHTLESS

forty-four | months and months

Alistair steadied himself. This was no time to panic, not in front of the man who held an alarming amount of power over both himself and Cole -- or rather, whoever Cole had become.

He gave himself a brief moment just to stare, because gods, he would simply combust into flame if he didn't. Cole looked different than he had all those months ago. He wasn't bloodied up and bruised, but the jut of his bones and slip of his oversized toga left a feeling not unlike a knife, lodged somewhere in Alistair's chest. His hair was longer, too, and framed his face like black silk, shielding eyes that held no recognition for him.

He wanted to ask whether they were taking care of him, but that was a silly question. Of course they bloody weren't.

Wrangling control over his senses, Alistair began the slow walk up the Villa's steps. He had to keep his head on straight. He was in the belly of the beast now, and couldn't fuck this job up.

"Mr. Drakos, is it?"

Alistair swept his cloak to the side, placed a hand on his hip and shook the man's hand with his other. Lord Aldine had the barest hint of a smile stretched against his lips, and it was already starting to unnerve him. How would he survive for two whole days?

"In the flesh, my lord." He nodded his head to show respect, a fine strand of hair coming undone from its immaculate placement. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"What was the hold up?"

Alistair sucked in an imperceptible breath, trying desperately to maintain an air of professionalism despite the wild thump of his heart. He didn't like questions, particularly those coming from a Lord's mouth with the unmistakeable edge of confrontation. "The typical sort. It's a long trip from the coast to here, you can imagine."

"Of course," Lord Aldine gestured through his doors, which were excessively large, and smoothed out the wrinkles in his gold-rimmed jacket. "We have a few things prepared for your overnight stay, and then there are things that need to be discussed."

"About the job, my lord?"

The man followed him inside, and Alistair tried to be subtle as he craned his neck up at the smooth marble ceiling, warm light from the sunset catching on gold veining. Chrysosians loved their gold. Any child that sprung from Chrysos had flesh that bled gold when cut -- which was untrue, but the other unconquered territories didn't know that.

"Yes, your job," the Lord cast a shifty look over his shoulder. "And I have a... delicate matter to discuss with you. I know the military sent you, so what I will ask of you might be better suited for a mindrenderer specialised in a separate field."

Alistair disguised his nervous gulp by turning his head, giving the appearance of someone who'd seen it all and was otherwise unimpressed by the stretch of marble and clean luxury before him. He hoped it was working. "I look forward to it. Please, lead the way."

The Lord liked to talk as he guided him through the Villa, commenting on new pieces of furniture and the beautiful view from his balcony windows. Alistair tried to memorise it all. He suspected he wouldn't need to know the entire layout of the Villa completely by the time he left tomorrow evening, but something kept him from refraining. Some nagging in his gut.

Lord Aldine stopped at the end of a hallway and opened a plain-looking door, motioning him inside with the sweep of his hand. Alistair turned inside to spot a comfortable two-person bed paired with a chest, a large desk and impressive balcony window, where its curtains were pushed back against the soft breeze.

Two servants were placing down the bags he'd left in the carriage as he entered, and nodded politely before disappearing out the door without saying a word. It made him feel distinctly uncomfortable, being taken care of by strangers like this. But he wouldn't be refusing a bed that looked like that, not in a million years, he would've had to be completely mad.

"I hope it's to your liking," the Lord said.

"It'll do, thank you." Alistair shot him a lukewarm smile. It felt oddly personal for a Lord to be giving him a tour of his Villa, but he supposed a lot of nobles groused at the thought of having a mindrenderer in their homes. Couldn't be trusted with anyone but themselves. And, when there was a particularly discreet matter to be dealt with, they wanted as little people involved as possible.

The Lord nodded tersely. "A servant will come fetch you for dinner with myself and my children soon, we will discuss your services there. For now, you can get settled in."

He turned away and was gone.

Finally, Alistair was alone.

He gave himself a moment to recollect his thoughts, and sat himself against the edge of his bed. His fingers curled around the hem of his cloak. Cole was here. Somehow, after months of working and bleeding and mindrendering, Alistair had stumbled upon the only person he wanted to see.

Planning went out the window. He couldn't leave him here, festering like an open wound left out in the cold, couldn't stick to his initial plan of finding Cole's memories and returning them after. Alistair's knuckles whitened. There was only one other option -- take him with him and collect his memories together, as a team.

Only, they wouldn't be a team. Alistair would be travelling with a stranger, and that would tear at his heart.

That didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was undoing the monstrous thing he'd done.

"Mr. Drakos?" A small voice came from the open doorway after... how long? He couldn't tell. "Lord Aldine is waiting for you in the dining room. I'm here to escort you."

"Yes, won't be a moment!"