Faetality |✓|

Chapter Twenty, Part Four - A Gift of Blood and Bone

Silence.

"Do it!"

"Am I wrong for wanting to?" I whispered back, going so far as touch the blade to her throat. "Because somehow, that seems just as bad as actually doing it. Maybe worse." Tanise said nothing. She looked up at me with those hardened eyes, but for the first time I saw actual fear. Even those who are ready to die are frightened by the permanence of death.

"I mean let's face it - it's not like you wouldn't deserve it right? You ruined Dean's funeral by hurting my sister, you led my father on, and to top it off you let Psycho Barbie go on a killing rampage."

Silence reigned again as the wall of hate between us rose ever higher.

"So what's stopping you?" she spat.

I looked down at the blade, fighting hard against the answer. But all the while I was losing to a ghost.

"My mother," I replied, lowering the blade and stepping back. "You loved her and she loved you - which is more than you deserve. But I won't kill you. I'll let the Society do it."

"To show me mercy after everything I've done to you..." Tanise's face softened. "Is very stupid." She got to her feet, brushed off her clothes. "And I should kill you for it..."

"But?" I said.

"But... I'm a Knight. And hard as it maybe for you to believe, I am familiar with honor. I have respect for your choice, so just this once I'll return the favor. "

"So that's it? You're just gonna turn around and walk away?"

Her lips twitched as if maybe she was holding back a smile.

"Yes... for now,"

"Fine. Good. Quit the law firm while you're at it. And stay away from my dad."

"Fair enough," she said with a smirk. "And what about her?"

I tossed a quick look behind me, where Ellara was still writhing like an idiot in the snow.

"Do you care?"

"Not particularly, no,"

"Then I'll handle her,"

Accepting this answer, Tanise turned and began to make her way from the clearing, selecting a path opposite from the one that Riley and Sienna had chosen. But it didn't matter anyway, because ten minutes had come and passed. They were long gone.