Daisy II | Levi Ackerman

Chapter 37 - Where Things Fall Apart

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[Naomi]

Zeke's striking blue eyes always pierced through me in a way that evoked undefined trouble, but in that frozen moment when I held his calculating gaze, it was a hundred times more petrifying. My heart pumped so hard inside my ribs, and the longer I stared, the more my head throbbed in ache.

I shook my head, blinked myself to waking from what seemed like a brief, abrupt, blink-of-an-eye fever dream, and stepped back from his suffocating proximity. "What do you mean, it's me? What the hell are you even doing?"

This towering, cunning blonde man never looked to me as this intimidating before; I always viewed him as an understudy, someone we'd be disposing of once his duty was over. But right then and there, something shined differently with the way he looked at me, as if we've known each other for years.

My thoughts were swimming in a raging ocean of debris, and I wasn't yet at the right state of mind to judge whether the fact that he suspected I was a Dietrich was good or bad. After all, he wants to know so that he could exact his auxiliary goals, for whatever those may be- but the price to pay for that would be for myself to capitulate to him.

These twisted goddamn curses these ancestors passed onto us to shoulder infuriated me. I was getting so restless that I wanted it all to stop. I didn't want to question who to trust and what the ultimate cost of trusting was.

"Hmm. I suppose there's no helping it." Zeke partially straightened himself. In my core, I could not comprehend what he was trying to say- I was suddenly doubly perplexed. "Even if you are her, I don't think you'd be of much use. You're already so invested in that godforsaken Ackerman who's more dedicated to his work than you."

"That's not true." I defended, my voice trembling, as the coldness of the weather seeped through my skin.

"I'm going to be really frank with you." Zeke reasoned, his tone escalating into an assertion that further angered me. "I know for a fact that my main mode of execution for our goals to preserve Eldia is a risk. A gamble. This is going to be the safety net that ensures it will win."

"I'd rather die right now than die because I ever chose you." I seethed, unyielding.

"Naomi, you have to understand the duty you hold for both Marleyans and Eldians." He growled, and in a distant flash of lightning I saw the highlights of Uncle Erwin in his visage; staking through my heart. "This is the only way you can fulfill that."

"To give myself up to you?" I roared, shaking my head, all the spite and defiance crawling up to my throat. "That can't possibly be. I'll find another way to do what I have to do. And I assure you, you won't have anything to do with it."

My feet feeling as if I was standing over burning coal, I wrenched myself away in a step, but Zeke grabbed my wrist as tight as he could, yanking me back to face him.

"Do you even have any idea what to actually do?" He spat, staring straight into my eyes with that cold and calculating stare of his, his grasp crushing my wrist. "What? You're going to run to Levi and tell him everything you just learned? He doesn't understand what you and I are destined to do, Naomi. I do not intend to harm you. I'm trying to do what's best for all."

"You said it yourself that this is just an accessory to your schemes. I don't need your goddamn help if I'm going to take advantage of my heritage." I glared right back into him, despite the rain dripping down my face, lifting my shackled arm with one strong yank off of his tight grip. "Do what you have to do, Jaeger, and I'll do what I have to do. Don't involve me in this. My life is already too frayed up to be tangled with yours. So leave me alone."