❝ 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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Two entire weeks pass by, and millions of unresolved thoughts convolute Calliope's brain. Her final conversation with Sepharin lurks in the depths of her mind throughout the day. Even when she finally thinks she has freed herself from his unsettling voice, it appears again in a constant echo she cannot escape.
"You're joking, right? Do you think I have a death wish or something?"
She closes her eyes tightly as she tries to think about anything else.
"I'm entirely serious, Calliope. You know how much my people hate Uther, and this is the ultimate punishment for him."
Calliope shakes her head as she stands up and paces in her room.
"I... I can't."
"Well, it's up to you. It's either kill Prince Arthur or come back with me."
Calliope kicks over her bedside table in frustration.
"Fine, but I'll need time. I'll have to get close to him and Uther to do this."
She never should have come to Camelot. Now, everyone around her is in danger.
"I'll give you...three months, but if I find out that you've run or backed out, you won't be the only one paying the price for betrayal."
After Sepharin left her alone in the dark courtyard two weeks ago, she had never felt so defeated. Calliope has three months to kill Arthur or anyone close to her will face the consequences. Sure, Arthur could get on her nerves, but she didn't want to literally kill him. Calliope has considered telling Gaius about what's going on, but she's also under an oath of silence and she doesn't need to put him in any more danger than he's already in by simply knowing her. The more people Sepharin knows care for her could end up dead.
Besides, there's nothing anyone can do to help her. She got herself in entirely too deep with the wrong people because she thought it was what she needed to do for revenge, but if Calliope could go back in time and tell her younger self that it's not worth it, she would. People think she became the Red Dragon by being an elite assassin but before Sepharin, she was just a scared little girl alone in a brutal world with no family or home left to turn to. She was vulnerable, and Sepharin took advantage of that.
A knock on her door startles Calliope. She clears her throat as she leans down to put her bedside table back in its place.
"Come in."
Merlin peeks his head in her room, "There seems to be a deadly sickness going around Camelot."
"You never have any good news, do you, wizard boy?"
Merlin raises his eyebrows, "Um... it's a sunny day...?" Calliope's eyes venture to a single purple flower tucked into the blue cloth Merlin always keeps tied around his neck.
