Must the Flowers Die

Chapter 9: Casual Cruelty

Both of her parents were initially concerned in their growing closeness – her father with a wariness and her mother with an eagerness, but they soon lost their interest when it appeared their relationship to be platonic. They then accepted him easily and openly. Liam felt warmed by their general decency and the love they had for each other. Liam, for his long life, had very rarely spent time with common mortals. When he was younger, he had sought influence and adventure in courts and battlefields, with queens and generals. There had been love in those places but it was rare and often poisoned with ambition and jealousy, even amongst parents and children. That type of love was usually expendable, discarded – albeit sometimes reluctantly – when necessary. As he grew weary, he stopped interacting with mortals altogether, so he was not used to this family's simple and straightforward affection.

Liam had made no overt romantic advances towards Mia, but his interest was far from platonic. He yearned for her most of the time, and sometimes he burned for her so hotly he felt suffocated. Yet he tried to keep his feelings in check. There was the nagging of perceived betrayal of Atlanta, though he doubted Atlanta would begrudge him a new romance so many years after her death. And of course, he reproached himself for the distraction this caused from his task. It was absurd that he could desire a woman – a girl – so much when the fate of a whole entire planet and his own mother hanged in the balance. More acutely, however, he knew he had little to offer Mia. If he was successful in his mission, he would overturn her whole world, and who knew how she would feel about him after that. If he was not, she deserved a life in the open. She deserved her own design house. She could not have time life tied to him, a man who never aged. He could provide her with wealth but not a career, and she would wither if she could not do what she loved. Despite his best efforts, he found himself itching closer and closer to the line. He didn't have to move her hair behind her ears when it fell into her face, but he did. He lingered longer than he had to when he hugged her hello, trying unsuccessfully to pull away. He even tried to stay away completely, but those pathetic attempts ended as soon as she sent him a text message.

Liam came home one evening after a work session with Mia. She had just put the finishing touches on the red dress, and it was finally ready for a fitting. She stepped back when she arranged the last fold and a smile of contentment broke on her face, a smile so sweet that it pulled Liam's lips upward involuntarily. That smiled stayed on Liam's lips the entire drive back to the MacGuire Mansion, but it quickly waned when he saw Demnosia pacing on the front steps.

"Spending time wisely again with that girl, I see." Demnosia's lips were a sneer. Some might describe her countenance as aristocratic, but Liam had seen her in action on the battlefield a few times in his lifetime, and his entire image of the woman was colored by her cruelty in the heat of battle. To him, Demnosia was reptilian. Demnosia then laughed shrilly, and Liam saw the stain of wine on her teeth.

Liam chose to ignore her. She was in a mood, and nothing constructive was going to happen.

"Don't walk away from me!" Liam turned just in time to see a glint of metal flash in the air. Liam acted reflexively and jerked his hand up to catch the handle of the knife Demnosia just threw at him. His movement wasn't quite precise enough, and the edge of the knife nicked his palm. The blood welled for a few seconds before the wound closed, leaving smooth and unblemished skin. The red droplets of blood stood round and perfect on the surface of Liam's palm and reflected the very last rays of the sun like tiny demonic medallions.

Rash and unpredictable. Easy to anger. Easy to offend. It was no wonder she consorted with Ares, though Liam still could not believe that Ares, the most selfish being possible, would care about any human enough to give her an aiónios stone. Yet here she stood, cheating her grave by centuries, with only streaks of gray in her hair. Not for the first time, Liam raged against the injustice of it all. The aiónios stone slowed all mortals' aging, but at different rates, leading to his Atlanta dead in her grave for centuries, while Demnosia still walked to spread her venom.