The Executioner's Wife

THE LAST TIME

Thanks to everyone still reading! I hope you're enjoying this so far :)

In the shadows of his cell, the torturer's thin frame made it look as though one of the slim bars came alive. His figure glided across the room, snuffing out the spaces of light like wet fingers walking over match-flames. Alois, strapped to a cold stone table, watched as the man brought a candle to a small console in the corner. It was only the second time they had met. In the sunlight, in the daytime, in the market with Lily- he saw his face. He stood there with his husband, examining fruits for spots. The torturer had a careful eye, his long pale fingers bringing up the fruits to his long pale face, and it seemed that none were to his satisfaction. His husband spouted a million different ideas for dinner, and the attentive torturer hummed and nodded as he considered the lacking produce. His other hand held his husband's.

They caught each other's eye then. At that point, they only knew of each other. The infamous torturer, lean and gaunt with a calculating gaze, was said to be a genius of pain in the same way Alois was known to be a master of efficiency. United in mythology, ostracized by society, Alois was the show. The torturer the backstage. Two sides of the same capital punishment coin, they should have at least known the other's name. And yet, here they both were, only now meeting in the flesh with their spouses' hands in their own, a regular day outside the bloody dealings of their day jobs.

The torturer nodded at him. Alois nodded back. Lily noticed her husband's distracted gaze, and smiled at the torturer with a wave. He sent a smile so small that it nearly looked like a wince, as if he'd been taught the motion by a dying man.

"Would it be weird to invite them to dinner sometime?" she asked.

"Would it be weird?"

"You're basically co-workers. Maybe you could be friends."

Alois smirked, but considered the idea. It wouldn't be so awful to have the torturer and his husband over for dinner one day. Awkward, yes, but if he could picture it- Lily and the torturer's husband would hit it off immediately. They would bond over their favorite books and a mutual hate for the disrespectful baker's wife down the road. As for Alois and the torturer, they'd probably be quiet and closed-off at first, tight-lipped oysters at the dinner table as their spouses chatted. Then as the evening warmed they'd slowly crack open and speak the typical dialogue about work, and there must be some things in common between their professions. Through that, they might get to know each other. They might even have an inside joke about referring clients. Alois didn't have many friends outside of the Executioner's Guild- the stench of his job kept them far away, but something told him the torturer didn't have many either. It sounded like something Lily would say, and he found himself thinking it. Then believing it. Maybe they could be friends.

Before Alois could say aloud that he was all for the dinner idea, the torturer's husband gasped in delight at the sight of a rare fish back in season. They moved away, and Alois' mouth closed on the invitation he'd finally been convinced to offer.

Now, his mouth was closed again, and he knew an invite to dinner would be pointless as the torturer checked the restraints around his wrists and ankles. The table was tilted up just enough so that they were nearly face to face now, closer than Alois imagined they would ever be. He avoided the thin man's eyes as he completed his final examination, his long fingers pressing against the numb flesh of his restrained limbs.

The torturer cleared his throat and stood back. Alois lifted his chin to peer at him in the dark. The darkness did him no favors. Or maybe that was the point. The lack of light made the torturer look like a ghoul, all sunken cheeks and piercing eyes. A sight that would surely make anyone talk to avoid whatever this man was capable of. But Alois knew he was not going to talk, or beg, or agree to sign the divorce papers. He could be tortured forever and never change his mind and resolve to give up Lily. He hoped his eyes communicated that to the torturer across the meter of darkness between them.