Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
...⚔...
The biting cold wind brushed against Natalia's cheeks, and she looked at the snow-covered trees leading to the mountains. Natalia blinked as rays of sunlight peeked through the clouds, dissipating the darkness from her home.
"It's time,"
Natalia looked over her shoulder at her father's hand reaching out for her. She grabbed it and let him pull her back into the warmth of the temple. Natalia ignored the assassins as they stood guard in the hall. All she could think about was that soon Bruce would be able to leave the league.
There was no turning back once he accepted the brand. He would have to stand before her, her father, and everyone, pledging his life to kill for the rest of his life.
I don't want this for him.
"He's strong," Father began. "He's only the recruit to beat the trial in three days,"
Natalia stopped looking around at the wooden post in the middle of the room and shifted to Father's chair-like throne. She rubbed her ribs, feeling the ink branding into her skin.
"I thought whether he deserves to be inducted by ink or fire," Father told her. He walks over the bowl of hot coals and flames. "Only you girls have ink because your mother would think branding our daughters like cattle is monstrous."
"I know," Natalia said.
Holding everything together, he grabbed the black lace with a small silver circlet in the middle. The blue diamonds reflected against the flames, and Natalia waited.
"I know you dislike his path," Father said absentmindedly. "But I need an heir,"
Natalia dropped to the ground as her dress pooled around her like blue ink. She felt the heaviness of the circlet on her head and peered through the black veil. Natalia got to her feet as her father nodded at the assassins.
"But this is more than just inducting him into our ways of life," Father said.
Natalia frowned. "I don't understand,"
He grasped her arms. "I could wait until you both are ready on your own. But it's better this way." He smiled, trying to reassure her. "You'll see."
Natalia furrowed her brows and turned as the metal doors groaned opening. Her gaze landed on Bruce and his bare chest as he walked.
His face was stone cold as nothing reflected in his eyes, so Natalia couldn't tell what he was feeling. He looked unfeeling and exactly the trained killer that her father wanted.
Natalia knew no one could see her face, so she allowed herself to frown briefly before making her own wall of indifference.
"The word assassin has fallen victim to many abuses of language," Father started. Bruce grabbed onto the wood of the wooden post while Father circled him like a predator. "It's real meaning hidden beneath a sediment of lies and falsehoods."
