The Cursed Deal ✓

Chapter 59

Kaspar raised his empty hands in the air and left his crossbow on the floor below his slowly rising knees. Faine watched his throat bob when he swallowed, watched a muscle tighten in his jaw, and studied the way he went through the dreadful calculations in his head. Same as her. At one point, she was on their side—and still was. But this didn't feel the same. This was a level of crime that would set the tone for an entire land.

Under normal circumstances, this wasn't Kaspar's way of life. Faine couldn't believe her eyes, yet he was there, standing before her with his hands raised next to his head, palms facing her to reveal he held nothing of a weapon.

Over their many years of friendship, she never held a weapon in his direction. She never pointed anything at Kaspar for the fear of accidentally shooting, but this...it was unavoidable. Her hands shook around the crossbow, and she was so close, so close to releasing her finger that she blinked to clear her thoughts. No, Kaspar would not die here. There had to be another way.

"Faine," Kaspar breathed. His leather armor groaned when he took one step forward and she responded with one step back. Drawn in the sand, a white line underneath the toe of Faine's boot, Kaspar's eyes reflected hurt. They couldn't see it, but it was there. The wall separating them now. "Remember what side you're on. Silver Willow is only a mission; Rising Eternity and everyone there—they're your real home Your family. Not Silver Willow."

Staring down the crossbow at him, Faine snapped at the same time applause erupted from the throne room, "That is not why I'm here. These are the high elves; I never would've gone through with this if Zebulon asked it of me, and I trusted you to do the same. Yet here you are, planning to kill them."

"This is my job." He attempted to walk towards her again, but Faine had none of it. She fired a warning shot at the wall and Kaspar leapt out of the way, the bolt narrowly missing scraping his side. Faine drew another. "I know you, Faine. You would've done the same thing."

Stalling. Kaspar was stalling. Faine turned, only for a second, and searched the highest points of the room for other members of Rising Eternity. They had to be around somewhere, and possibly too close for her to catch in time. There wasn't enough of her to go around, she needed to protect Ilian and find Celestia and save the high elves. Another occurrence where she wished there was more than one of her in existence.

"No, I never would've done this. These are the high elves, the leaders of the land, and if they die, you put too many innocent lives on the line. Mine, yours, the innocent mortals, the fladlines and weaker beasts. It'll be the largest that rise to rule and we'll be left to the dust," Faine hissed. "Please, Kaspar, rethink this. I cannot let you leave here completing the task."

The feliram pressed a hand to his forehead, like trying to rub this moment from his brow. Like Ilian and Faine herself, Kaspar was now faced with the realization that he had to choose. Between what was his job and the family he discovered outside blood. Decisions, when faced against a ticking clock, didn't have time to manifest. You had to decide, immediately, as Faine had. Instead of choosing the easy route and finishing her hundred-year deal, she chose Ilian instead. Happiness instead of force.

Neither of them received the chance to further persuasion for Ilian appeared at Faine's side, crossbow raised, and aimed for Kaspar's chest. No personal attachment kept him from taking Kaspar's life, and Faine stepped in the way of his weapon, blocking off the mortal's attempts, and demanded in her coldest tone, "Ilian, you are not to kill this feliram. He is my friend and a member of Rising Eternity. Though he is now an enemy, you leave his life to me."

"Get out of the way, then. Enemy or friend, he does not kill the high elves. That is our mission, and he will not get in the way of that," Ilian hissed, gathering his courage.