↳ 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐑 ー 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘

𝐋𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈 ー 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞

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A glare as stone cold as the compact space digs its icy fingers into her face. Pale skin pulled taut over her cheekbones, jaw fixed so tight her teeth ache. Every inch of her being screams at her freeze instinct.

"I heard whispers about a girl starting a war." A semblance of a chuckle, rich and baritone beneath the cobwebs. "Now why would you do something like that?"

"Same reason we wiped out your kind. To protect my family," she spits with acrid venom.

A gravelly hum. "Family." It's a foreign word to him. He utters it as if it's for the first time; like he's never moulded his mouth around it until now.

"I didn't come here to talk about the things I've done."

Wicked eyes, one olive green and the other whiskey brown, flicker with something darker. It's no secret that he's been expecting her. Nor is it a secret that he knows exactly what will leave her mouth next before her mouth is open.

"I want to talk about what you've done."

Not a movement save for the slight tilt of his head. "Are you certain your mind can handle it?"

"I'm not fragile," she bites.

"No. I suppose you're not. Tell me, who is it you're fighting?"

"X." Sierra answers with every ounce of disdain. For a very brief moment, his mask slips. It betrays something beneath. "That's how they looked at me when they discovered my brand. Afterwards they fled, all of them petrified."

He almost gives way to a smile. "Good."

"Good?" she echoes incredulously.

He ignores her rising anger completely. Fixates on a point on the concrete wall behind her as if she's not standing in front of him. If not for the ruminative expression clouding the edges of his face, she'd assume he's ignorant like the rest.

"I want answers, Christian."

Now that tempts the corner of his mouth to twitch. "I like the way you say my name." Laced with such contempt and disgust. Treating it like a curse word or an insult.

"Answers." She takes a step closer.

He cranes his neck by another inch to devour the sight of her up close. Her stomach couldn't possibly twist itself into more of an agonising knot if it tried.

"You started a war without knowing your opponent."

"I had no choice."

"Now you do," he declares simply.

Her tongue pushes against the inside of her cheek. It's tedious having to chase after him for an explanation. The bastard loves a chase whether it's him who's being hunted or the one doing the hunting.

"What do you mean?"

"I can assure you, the number of people who have died at your hands is nothing compared to how many have died at ours."

She could scream. "What are you talking about?"

"We could have reached you sooner. We did not bide our time because we simply could. We wanted our mere existence to loom over the brothers, to haunt them until the moment we finally took our revenge. It is in the possibilities and uncertainty that true fear is unravelled."