Keep Your Enemies Closer

A Garden of Peace and Rest

"Of life's two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer's hand." - Khalil Gibran

Chance looks her up and down, a grimace curving his too perfect lips. "I thought you were my dear wife at first." He mutters. "But of course, she wouldn't be dressed dead like that. Not for me at least." And with that, he tips back the glass he's holding into his mouth and she watches as the brown liquid makes its way down his throat. "What do you mean, not for you?" Reyna seethes. It all makes sense now - why he kept laughing when she fashioned myself after my sister, her hair and her name, why he called it honour to help her. Family honour. She scoffs, shaking her head. She could have avoided this ridiculous charade if she had only followed him here. 

"I mean what I said." He replies, bitterness coating his words like sticky sugar. "Not for me."

"You sleep around with other women so why would you fault her-" Reyna accuses, stabbing a finger at him. Chance's blue eyes darken as he places the glass back down on the desk. "You know nothing about my marriage." He says quietly. "The moment she arrived she wanting nothing to do with me and instead took to my best friend. If she can find love elsewhere why can't I?"               

I let the words sink in and swallow. "Wait-"she pauses. "She's pregnant with your baby." He laughs but there's no humour in it. "Is it?" His question hangs in the air and it tells her all she needs to know. "It's not yours?" She breathes, thinking of how Nova has always avoided the topic of her husband. Perhaps its because she feels guilty because of exactly this. 

"She expects me to act like it is. Came to me one night on her knees, pleading and begging to keep her filthy secret." He snaps, looking to his empty glass in annoyance. Reyna can see the wrath in his expression, contorting his face to something uglier. "And you are?" 

Chance nods. "I'm not cruel. She doesn't love me, I don't love her. The only time we kissed was our damned wedding." He huffs out a laugh. 

"I think..." Reyna hesitates. "Thank you. On her behalf."

He leans back in his chair, making himself more comfortable. "Sure, Reyna." He tilts his head like he's remembering something. "Why are you here dressed like that?" He puzzles, frowning. "No that I'm complaining." Reyna throws him a disbelieving look to find him smirking in amusement. 

"I want to kill the Prince." She says, ignoring his comment. 

Chance's mouth splits into a grin. "Have we not already clarified that?" He ruffles his golden brown hair, bracing himself on the desk and gesturing to the chair on the other side in mock politeness. "Please." 

Reyna sits down, hunching her shoulders to hide how much of her is currently exposed in her flimsy dress. "I'm not going to bother asking how you got to this point. So, what exactly do you want me to do with your murder mission?" He asks, cocking his head in genuine curiosity. She shifts in her seat, rallying herself. "He tried to kill me." She bites out. "Has killed multiple of my friends and I cannot allow him to get away with it. I won't." He gestures for her to continue. "Would you - as a business associate of his father's - know anything that can be used against him?" 

Chance rolls his tongue in his mouth, mulling over her words. "I do." He finally replies. "You see, Reyna, I am not only a business associate."

"Ah. Do I know what's coming?"

"I cover up their crimes - both their crimes -" he adds with a pointed look. "Sometimes the other isn't aware but I always know." He fiddles with his glass, adam's apple bobbing. 

"Why would you do that?" Reyna fumed, standing up and leaning over the desk so that they were nose to nose. So that she could see the slope of his nose upwards and the shades of blue in his eyes. "I don't have a choice." He whispers. "I am young and ambitious. Once I was in, I was in or my own assassination faced me." 

"Is that your excuse?" Reyna raged. "Did you drag their dead bodies across the-"

Abruptly, Chance is up and his fingers are pressed to her mouth, eyes wide. "Don't." he commands. "Do you want them to hear us, Reyna?"

"Don't you dare command me." Reyna threatens, ripping his hand away and taking a step back. "Would you prefer to be killed?" He shoots back, the only sign of the anger he keeps under the surface. His chest heaves and the blue fire in his eyes banks a little. "Listen. I will help you. But for it to work-" he gestures between them -"we need to work." 

"There's no We." 

Chance lifts a brow. "Oh? Who's helping you then?" 

Reyna bares her teeth. "Fine, Andy." She uses his name as a curse as she spits it out, causing Chance to smile slightly, showing his gleaming white teeth. "There it is." 

"Where are they then?" The dead bodies Chance has been hiding for the Prince with no questions asked. Emotion threatened to bubble over but she kept calm, eyes locked on Chance. "Here." He whispered, like he was scared anyone would hear him. His throat bobbed. "I didn't do it myself, of course. But they're buried in the garden."

Her eyes couldn't help but well at that. She thought they had been left to rot and decompose in a cellar, some forgotten room or dungeon. But no, they had been buried beneath the sky and flowers. The only offering Chance had been able to give them although they had no grave stones to mark they had ever existed. "Do you know where they are?" She asked shakily. 

He nodded. "There's small markers that have no indication to anyone but me. They likely haven't decomposed too much yet." 

Reyna bit her lip, an image forming in her mind - dragging them all out from their peace under the earth to do what? To shove them in front of the King's face where he would do nothing, where the authority would do nothing? She and Chance would be killed for nothing. It broke her heart to say it but she knew she had to. For Valentina, Julie, Mimoza, Gladys. "No." The words came out strangled, choking her to say it. "Some people will always get away. Killing him will be enough for them. For them, they can call me the monster." 

Chance blinked once. Twice. "Are you sure, Reyna?" To her surprise, he looked concerned. They were family in a sense after all though she didn't consider him a brother in the slightest. The thought alone made her feel a rise of nausea. "I'm sure." She conceded. "I'll kill him tomorrow." And once he was dead, she could return to Fabian who was waiting for her. Her heart did a leap at the thought of seeing him once again after missing him achingly. 

"What, you're just going to storm in and slit his throat?" She was pulled back to the present as she considered his question. "Well...no." 

Chance made a tutting sound and drummed his hands on the desk. "What's your plan?" 

"I don't have one."

He stared at her like he was expecting a joke. He didn't get one. "Okay," he said hesitantly. "Do you need help?"

"Why would you offer that?" She inquired, finding Chance's character increasingly more difficult to decipher. He made a show of shrugging. "Call it redemption, if it pleases you." 

Chance had led her to one of the guest roomed that was conveniently equipped with a bathroom and female clothes. Reyna savoured the feel of the silky nightwear after days of sleeping in the same creased garments. She sank onto the bed, nuzzling into the soft mattress and duvet. She let out a sigh of pleasure as her eyes closed, exhaustion taking her instantly after her hectic day. Tomorrow, she would say goodbye to Nova and make her way to the Palace with Chance by her side. He would cause a distraction for the guards in the early morning and she would sneak inside while everyone was still asleep. She would have multiple weapons on her and she would kill the Prince and Tegan. Afterwards, she would grab a horse that Chance would leave for her at the stables and ride back to the Moon's Rest hopefully without too many pursuers. From there, she would make her way to Ashur with Fabian and to her new life free from all this guilt and despair, knowing she had tried to avenge her friends the best she could.

 Putting the shattered glass back in the mirror wouldn't fix it, holding together for a moment before breaking again. But she could try. That was all she could do.