Red Princess

69. Misplaced Trust

Kaidon

"Don't go overboard. You both need to surrender." I commanded on the earpiece, my eyes steadying my target on the window of the five-storey building shrouded in darkness. We had another hostage situation to take care of for the government, one that involved an influential diplomat.

"You don't need to tell me that, Black Wolf." Seydon's raspy voice rang in my ear through the communication device, making me scoff.

"That statement was exactly meant for you, Silver Hawk." I barked through the microphone, and his amused chuckle followed after.

Sirens of the police cars were audible in the distance. The negotiators tried to make a deal while we worked in the background to rescue the hostages. The dark of the night was working against us. My snipers had no way to distinguish friend from foe. Seydon and Ariel were supposed to infiltrate and get captured. They would mark all the enemies on their vital body parts with a special luminescent oil that only the goggles developed by The Order could detect. Once they were taken to the leader and we had enough information on them, all the snipers that I had placed on the perimeter around the building would take them out.

It had been a week since I moved out of Seydon's place. I was back to my home, back to my sanctuary, the place that still held some essence of Alice. She had made subtle changes in the house while she lived there, not that I minded any. The drapes were a lighter colour, the vase used to have a refill of fresh flowers regularly, and the kitchen had an all-around revamp; I had it all removed before I moved in. My room with her pictures on the wall was permanently locked up while I moved to a bedroom on the second floor.

Ariel followed shortly after; Griffin dropped her at the property. He had given me a death glare, one that spoke menace, that he'd slice my head off if I hurt his sister in the slightest. The tacit threat was genuine and something to be taken seriously because the Fords were expert swordsmen. He left on another one of his expeditions soon after. I gave Ariel the old guest room to stay in, the one Alice used before she started sleeping in my room. Our room.

Our days were spent in silence; I didn't try to approach her, and she stayed out of my way. She was generous enough to make extra portions of meals for me, possibly wanting to compensate me for being an inconvenience, but it would never be enough. Whatever she did, she could never help alleviate the pain it caused me by barely her sight. Time and again, I felt like Alice's memories were slipping away from me, getting replaced by this new version of her that I hardly knew. I feared the resemblance she shared. I feared getting hurt again. I feared falling in love with her.

It wasn't just the guilt of abandoning Alice's memories but also the guilt I felt towards my cousin. Despite having let her go, the love he held for her was unmistakable. I couldn't get close to her. I needed to stay away.

"... do you copy, Black Wolf?" Her voice over the earpiece halted me in my thoughts.

"Repeat that."

"Stop daydreaming!" Seydon should have been the last one admonishing me. He had almost fucked up every single mission before, just because he wanted to take a 'detour'.

"Shut up, asshole! Her voice broke."

He chuckled as he mumbled, "Silver Asshole sounds like a cool codename."

On a typical day, Ariel would have added her two cents to his comment, but she seemed to be avoiding him like the plague. Something had happened between the two. Seydon randomly declaring he was gay was obviously not the reason. I'd had the misfortune of catching him with two women once back in the days. That man was full of bullshit.