IMPERMANENCE

chapter ten - the reunion

His mouth went completely dry.

"Or shall I call you Ronan?" she asked him. "Tell me, which do you prefer?"

Dagger stood frozen at the entrance of the tent. Alessia rose from her sitting position. Her ashy hair was tumbling and free. It fell into loose curls down to her breasts. She wore silver and red encrusted armor, a more elegant version of the standard Kintuin soldier armor. The intricate piece was crafted for her body. It exposed the slope of her cleavage and ran down at a bodysuit's length leaving almost all of her thighs and legs exposed.

"Where is the Commander?" he asked coolly. The words ripped right through Dagger's teeth.

"Gods, how rude of me not to properly introduce myself," she stated with great concern. She stood up from the couch and smoothed out her armor. "I tend to go by Commander Alessia."

"Or her Highness," Thea interjected.

"Her Grace could also work," Zane added.

"Whichever you prefer, given that she is the Crown Princess of Kintu and Commander of our army," Lennox sneered.

Dagger could feel the saliva pouring into his mouth and the blazing bile rising up through his throat.

"Though you needn't worry. I never expected you to know who I was," Alessia laughed softly. She turned to face the other three soldiers and spoke exclusively to them, "you see, this here is exactly why nobody from the outside world knows anything about us. The shock on their faces gets me every time."

"I have to agree with you on that, Highness," Zane added joyfully.

They were distracted.

Dagger's hand inched towards the waistline of his pants. His movements were slow and went unnoticed. The straps around his thighs were empty. Weaponless.

Such fools they were to think he was completely unarmed.

When Alessia turned around to face Dagger once more, Zane and Thea were already leaping to shield her.

Dagger's knife had gone flying and was aiming directly for Alessia's heart. He didn't check to see where it landed, because he was already running away.

He needed to get her cornered, he needed larger proximity. Dagger raced back to the castle, entering through the only familiar location he knew; the armory. He'd used his last weapon on Alessia, if that was even her real name, and he would need more if he wanted to make it out of here alive.

It was then that it dawned on him.

He was fighting.

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Dagger's knife had plunged into Alessia's left shoulder, just barely missing her heart. Zane and Thea's reaction times were off, and Lennox was directly at Alessia's side as she stood in silence. Blood trickled down to her breast and was leaking onto her sleeveless breastplate.

"Get the medic! Someone go after him!" Lennox called out to no one in particular as he examined Alessia's wound. His hands were trembling, frantically attempting to remain calm. Zane and Thea were scrambling to their toes and had made it halfway out of the tent. Words were lodged in their throats as they prepared to yell out for assistance.

"Wait," Alessia said.

They obeyed, completely stilling in their tracks. Even Lennox had stopped his examination. His gaze widened completely.

"You will do nothing," she ordered.

Each of their eyes flashed with concern and worry, wondering what she could be scheming.