❝ when she looks into his eyes, she feels the gripping temptation to tell him all her darkest secrets; the names of the men she has killed, but she learned a long time ago that the only people who can keep secrets are resting in overgrown graveyards...
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The air is inky and hot. Everything around her is an orange, angry glow. A hand grips her, the flesh is melted down to the bone, and Calliope screams.
"Save us," the ground opens up and the burned person holding onto her tightens their grip. "Why do you get to live while the rest of us burn!?"
Calliope surfaces from the tail end of her nightmares, shaking and covered in cold sweat. She places one hand over her racing heart, and the other runs through her damp hair. The assassin closes her eyes. Just a dream, just a dream.
Just another nightmare.
This is why she has insomnia. And why she needs a stiff drink. The more she drinks, the less vivid her nightmares are. Last night, she hadn't had a drop of alcohol, so the victims of the village massacre haunted her with a tense presence.
Calliope changes clothes before she sits across from Gaius at breakfast, trying her best to seem normal and unbothered and unlike someone who had outlandish nightmares about dead people. Her blue eyes glance around his chamber as she eats her porridge, which is pretty bland and soupy, but she's grateful to not be sleeping on the ground or on the run or alone.
Every aspect of the physician's chamber looks exactly as she remembers: random potions of all kinds of colors scattered on the tables, unlatched books lying on the dusty floor, odd objects sitting around on messy shelves. Gaius has always been terrible at keeping his things neat and organized, which often irks Calliope. She hates seeing the room such a chaotic and rumpled state, but the physician seems to be able to sort through the confusion as if it perfectly placed in alphabetical order.
Merlin is still fast asleep, unbothered by the upheaval of the chambers. In fact, his snores kept her up half the night before she was finally able to doze off for a few hours.
Gaius notices the bags underneath her blue eyes. She knows he contemplates ignoring them because he's aware she doesn't like prying questions.
"You never told me why you came here."
Calliope's tired gaze moves to him as she leans back in her seat, "Gaius, you're the only one in this world that knows everything about me; the good, the bad..." she glances over Gaius's shoulder to make sure Merlin still hasn't stirred. "The Red Dragon."
"I've always wanted you to give up that life."
Calliope exhales, "Well, today is your lucky day because that's exactly why I'm here...Sort of." Gaius raises his white eyebrows in doubt, "I've been looking for the same person for nearly a year. If I hit one more dead end, I may lose my sanity completely."
"And your mother?"
Calliope's breath hitches. Her heart clenches from all the failed attempts and false information she's received about her mother the past few years.
