Castle of Time and Ash

CHAPTER LVIII

CHAPTER LVIII

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Do it. Now." He said through gnashed teeth, his eyes scintillating. She read the pain and need to perish in those midnight-blue orbs – the desire and urge to die and forever leave the world because there was nothing else for him here.

She only allowed herself a second of hesitation, using that time to fully analyze him, to find out his true motives and intentions. Did he really want her to kill him? Who would want to die so hopelessly? After all, she herself was only trying to end his life so that she may negotiate her survival.

"Why?" She merely asked, dragging the tip of her dagger down the front of his tunic. It made a soft, almost unheard, scratchy sound that echoed resounded around the entire room.

"Do assassins always talk so much before they torture and kill their prey?" She was upon him in a heartbeat, blade pressing firmly against his throat.

"Assassin," he snapped, blood showering from his mouth and coating her tunic. She wiped it away in revulsion, now letting all that darkness in her mind control her.

"Call me that one more time, and I will gut you."

Though it was true and she was indeed a ruthless assassin who murdered without another thought about whether her actions were righteous or not, it was still hard to believe. She hated that word, too, for it brought up thoughts and memories she had told herself to forget forever.

He grinned, his teeth stained red. He was mocking her, making her want to hurt him so that his end would draw nearer. He wantedto die. But she wouldn't let him. Not until she knew what he was hiding.

"Tell me, so-called kingof Daevoren, what is it you know that is so important it makes my father want you dead? What is it that you know made my father force me into that cold room with that animal for weeks? What is it you know that made me become this way?" She roared, her dagger dipping into his neck, a trickle of blood dribbling from the wound.

For a moment, his eyes thinned infinitesimally and the expression of clear bewilderment scrunched up his face. "I don't know what you are talking about," he hissed out. She almost believed him.

"You have to! You haveto know something!" She could feel the anger of the shadow creeping in her mind, forcing, driving her to kill, to punish. She wanted to, so badly.

Kill him... the voice instructed, ringing unrelentingly in her ears. End him now...

She would, and then she would be free. Free from all that grief and remorse. She looked into his eyes to see the truth, even though she knew it would be the most regretful and soul-breaking mistake she would ever make.

An agonizing gleam, so tragic and sad, shone in his glazed blue eyes. There was a heaviness that hung amongst the clouds of weariness and guilt shrouding the features of his face. Soft lips parted and moved, begging her to spare him of the pain, a request to make it quick.

And then there was that familiarity in that look and the barely visible crookedness in the corner of his eyes she didn't notice until now. She could slowly and little by little remember – it was vague and hardly perceptible – how it met the tilt of his lips when he smiled. She hadn't wanted to acknowledge it before, but it was there. It always had been. Not when he smiled at the world, but at her and all those around him – his loved ones, the people he had sworn to shelter. That look he gave her now made her knees buckle slightly. It was as if she was a goddess in his eyes. Maybe once she hadn't forgiven him or had him figured enough to let his ruthlessness go, but now that she knew he and her were beings alike, the remnants of the thirst for his blood died, along with every semblance of her vengeful, sinful beast.