What Makes a Monster

♱Forty-Seven♱

"W-What?" I ask, wide-eyed and confused.

"I may be back tomorrow, next week, or next month. I'm not sure."

"W-W-What?" I repeat since, apparently, that's the only word I know now.

"This business is not one I can ignore nor push off. I leave tonight so let me ask again, do you trust me, Wallie?"

"I, uh, yes, obviously."

I don't know if Soran is even aware of the fact that he honestly looks pleased to hear that. His lip twitches back into a small smile for all of a second before disappearing. I choose not to mention it seeing as there's a rather pressing matter at the moment.

"You're being very confusing right now," I say. "Not to mention, are we really not going to talk about last night?"

"Wallace--"

"We kissed, Soran. Not some accidental peck on the cheek but full on make out mode."

"No need to describe it."

"And I saw what was in the rooms!" I gesture behind me. The memory of what was in them has my arms going limp at my side. Soran doesn't appear much different, continuing to avoid my gaze.

"Your family," I whisper, the words coming out in a shuttered breath. "I know the late Emperor Elyon killed his children and there's no record of anyone other than you ever being here. Who are they really? What happened to them?"

"You're intelligent enough to take a guess."

"A guess isn't truth until you have all the facts."

Soran snorts, but he doesn't sound annoyed. Pressing his hands to the desk, Soran responds with his gaze on the ground, "So you're aware."

"Aware of what?"

"The consequences should you stay. It isn't just the royals that will come for you."

My throat tightens.

"And should I not be here to keep you safe, like now, you won't just be killed. It will be as if you never existed."

"How will leaving change that?" I ask, standing firm even when Soran clicks his tongue in obvious annoyance.

So he did want me to back off on my own, huh? Even if I understand, that doesn't stop me from getting a little peeved about all this. We're running in circles at this point.

"Cathen already suspects us. He wouldn't have approached me otherwise. And if he knows, others likely do as well. We both know there are spies all around us, nothing here is secret." I glance at the bubble around us. "Save maybe this conversation, I'm guessing?"

Soran hums in response. I'm tempted to ask why it isn't normally up if this bubble thing is sound proof, but I'll save that for another day.

Now it's my turn to watch Soran for a reaction, which he gives by crossing his arms defensively as I argue, "If I leave, what then? You won't be with me either, so I'll still be unsafe. Even if I thought it would be for the best too, the more I think about it the more I realize that to be untrue."

"I know someone that owes me a favor. They can take you far away, someplace safe," Soran says, although his brows furrow, like he's annoyed at the mere thought of this person. "And keep you hidden long enough to settle in."

"So I'm meant to start a new life...again? What if this new home doesn't pan out? Will I have to pick up and leave? Will this go on for the rest of my life or until the royals get bored?"

"I don't know, Wallace, but would you rather move around or die?"

"If I'm in as much danger out there as I am here then at least here I have you."