The Executioner's Wife

THE END

The light of the torturer's wing in the dungeon was still, casting long, skinny shadows across the cell. Invisible rats skittered their wet claws across the stone, and something leaked, somewhere in the dark. Just down the hall, they could hear the torturer calibrating his machine. However much power it would take to kill them both, he would have to re-crunch the numbers. He'd told Lily and Alois, with humble apology and the inability to look them in the eye, to give him about half an hour. Then he disappeared back into his office, and Lily and Alois took notice of the minutes slipping away.

They held each other silently, knowing the end was near. Whether the king had selected the torturer for this task as one last act of pettiness or a sane favor of kindness, the people would not know about their deaths until that evening. But the evening was no longer their concern. Now, as they sat in the dark, thinking of all that had happened, thinking of the last normal morning, thinking of the coming morning that they would never see, there was not much to say. Lily wrapped her arms around Alois' waist, careful to mind his injuries. Alois kept an arm around her, keeping her as close as possible. They could hear the electricity sparking to life, meters away. Alois remembered his session well. He prayed, for both of their sakes, that the torturer would be merciful and make things quick.

Alois looked down again at Lily, her short hair brushing his chin, her eyes closed against the tears yearning to spill. There was still blood drying on his clothes, on his face, but he hardly paid enough mind to scrape it away. He felt, at that moment, that he wouldn't have traded their seven years for anything. There was a bounty of beautiful memories wrapped up in this one woman. The inside jokes, the long conversations, the comfortable silence, the occasional arguments, the sharing of sorrow- waking up next to her was his greatest blessing, and losing her had been a hellish curse. It was why he had fought for her so hard, and now, he finally had her. He smiled as he brushed away the one tear that managed to squeeze out of her eye. What he would give to meet and fall in love with her all over again, even if it ended the same way every time.

The silly question came to him once more, and he asked it for the last time. "Why did you walk up to me that day?"

Lily allowed a little laugh and leaned off of his chest to look at him. Her eyes were sad, but tinged with amusement. "I guess now is the best time to tell you." She admitted.

Alois sat up, ready to listen. Lily laughed again, wiping her eyes clear. "I saw you for the first time I think, on maybe my third day in town? I was at a cafe with some women from the hostel. I didn't really know them, but I really didn't know anybody else, and I was still getting used to things. I wasn't talking much, and everyone else was, so I felt out of place. But then, you walked in. And I couldn't take my eyes off you." 

Alois gave a small smile as she continued. 

"I think you ordered a coffee, and then you went to sit outside. You were alone, but it was like you didn't mind it. You didn't read anything, or try to force conversation with anyone. You just sat and looked out at the street, just taking everything in. And I didn't know you, but I admired that about you. I'd always felt so insecure about being alone or looking alone. But you sat there, and you drank your coffee, like you were just happy to have however much time you had to enjoy it, completely alone. I wanted to talk to you then. But I was too scared."

"Did you know I was the Royal Executioner?"

"No. Not until about two days later. I was still beating myself up because I didn't say anything to you, because I let you walk away at the cafe. So I was walking through town, and I ended up in a crowd pushing to the scaffold. There you were. I recognized you. Your eyes- above the mask. I noticed them especially this time, because there was a woman you were executing. I won't lie, I was a little surprised, even though it explained why you were sitting alone a few days before. She was crying, and you were waiting for her. But she couldn't kneel down. She was too scared. So you went to her and touched her shoulder, and you looked at her."