Nadia stared at him with wide brown eyes after jumping off the bed. She could almost feel her heart stop and her breath was caught in her throat. The revelation that he didn’t want to kill her was slowly sinking in and she could feel the relief wash over her like a waterfall. In fact, it was so heavy that she fell to her knees, her dress in a heap around her as she sunk to the floor, bringing her dainty hands up to her face as an endless amount of tears began to spill down her rosy cheeks. Gentle sobs shook her small frame and she gasped with each one.
“G-Garin!” She cried, her hands shook wildly when she pulled them away from her face, “I don’t understand!”
Garin moved to get down to her level, she could feel his hand on her arm, a soothing touch she hadn’t expected. “I can’t kill you. I won’t be killing you.”
Nadia was stunned and confused, her eyes were still wide with tears flowing down her cheeks. “I just don’t understand!” She sobbed, “How can you not?”
He smiled sympathetically, then grabbed a clean kerchief from a stack near his bed; he obviously hadn’t put them away after she had cleaned them for him. “You’ve been talking to Javik a lot lately, I know that much… but did he ever tell you why I try my best to avoid learning anything about a mark?” He asked, beginning to carefully dry her tears. “It’s because I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t be able to follow through with most of my bounties, but unlike Javik, I really don’t have any skills that don’t include killing people.” He sighed heavily, “I knew from the moment you told me your name that I’d never be able to kill you, but I thought I could prove myself wrong if I tried hard enough, but the harder I tried to push you away, the harder you pushed back.”
Nadia quickly replaced the tears that were falling even after he’d wiped them away. “What will happen to you if you don’t kill me?” She asked, her heart was beginning to race as she continued to absorb the revelation that he didn’t plan on killing her. So many new opportunities seemed to open up when he said that, and she looked forward to the idea of being a real mother to her child.
Garin’s smile slowly faded, “I’ll be fine, we’ll think of something.”
Nadia gradually stopped shaking, she dropped her hands onto her lap and anxiously smoothed her skirts. “What does this mean?” She asked cautiously. “Where do we go from here?”
“I will leave that up to you, Nadia.” He said her name and it sent a chill up her spine, she could feel his eyes on her as she had turned her head away from him. Her cheeks were on fire, she couldn’t seem to make eye contact with him after that. There was just something different about him, and she supposed it was that he had feelings for her. That was another thing she had been thinking when he had been so affectionate earlier that morning. She knew that he said his mind wasn’t very clear, but here he was, wiping her tears away.
“Do you love me?”
That question took Garin by surprise. “Love is a big word.”
“So you don’t?” Nadia asked, clenching her hands into fists, bunches of her skirt caught in her fingers.
