Beyond the Darkness

Chapter 15

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            It was the fifth time she was meeting Kai. As usual they met at the Red Lady at the table in the back corner. They had gotten into a habit to where whoever arrived first ordered food. Today it was Amaya, as it always was, since Kai was habitually late. She sat at their table and waved over one of the red haired sisters. She ordered their usual and sat back to wait for Kai to arrive. He came just moments after the girl sat down their bowls. He took the seat across from her, with his back facing the crowd.

        He gave her a huge smile and took a sip from his mug. "How has your week been?" he asked.

       Her week? She thought and she reviewed the days that passed by after their last meeting. The castle was still stuffy, the people still wary of her and her eyes no matter what reassurances Aiden told everybody. There was never anything to do but go to balls and dinners. The best part of her week was meeting him. The fights made her feel alive and she never had to hide herself from him. Kai wasn't afraid of her, even with Aiden there were brief glimpses she caught that showed his apprehension.

      "Boring," she finally answered and smiled back at him.

      They ate their food quickly, paid, and left. They walked into the forest, to their clearing. They had found a new spot after their first fight when they realized it was too close to town after someone had ran in on them to see what was wrong.

      The forest floor of the clearing was noticeably disturbed and marked with gauges from previous fights. Amaya pulled off her riding jacket and tossed it to the side along with her large pile of weapons. It was the usual, seven knives of a variety of different sizes. Kai did the same, his own amount of weapons differing. He had his sword and only three other blades that he carried. His main weapon of choice was his bow which he had left with his horse.

      She rolled her shoulders and leaned down to rub her calf muscles. Then she straightened back up and noticed that Kai hadn't done his usual stretching. He seemed like he wanted to ask her something but was torn between doing it or not.

       Amaya tilted her head at him, instantly worried. "What is it?" she asked.

       "It's just, I heard something and I don't know, it doesn't matter," he stammered and turned away, running his hand through his hair nervously. He wouldn't even meet her eyes.

       "What did you hear?" she growled. "Just tell me." There was a long silence before he finally spoke. Amaya wanted to hear what he had to say but dreaded to know all at the same time.

      "Were you really seven when you first killed someone?" he asked softly and looked up to meet her eyes. For the first time she was the one who looked away first. Shame coursed through her body. So he had finally heard. It was about time. She knew something like that would get around to him eventually. She hadn't wanted him to know. She didn't want him to look at her differently, like she was someone to be afraid of.

      Kai was still waiting for an answer and it almost broke her heart. This was part of the past she had buried deep inside her. She was afraid that with this revelation he would begin to hate her. She had been a fool to hope that he would never find out. Secrets were never secrets for long.

      "Yes, it's true," she finally whispered. She knew that now was probably the best time to leave. She couldn't meet his eyes. She didn't want to see the disgust there. She started walking over to her stuff when he called her name.