Oath of Steel

35| Miss me?|

He'd ventured in dangerous waters, and Rosalynde couldn't wait to dive into them herself. To taste danger was the one true feeling she would have never gotten over. The adrenaline that rushed as she strived to achieve what she was asked of was something that kept her awake mind awake even at night

"Can we trust this person?""Generally speaking? No. But the Seekers have decided to give us a hand. Hellenia would never go against their direct orders if she wishes to live."

A new sentiment rose within her.

"Why did you not tell me it was her?" the question came out harsher than she intended. There was no reason for what seemed annoyance growing within her.

"Because I don't enjoy talking about a woman from my past with the one I'm currently captivated with," if the cold hadn't made her cheeks cold, then his words surely had dealt the killer blow.

"Where are we going then?" He took her down a path alongside the riverbend, the soles of their feet crushing the leaves below.

"The Botanical Gardens," when he gave no other information Rosalynde understood the would have gotten nothing more out of him

"I've kept something from you." Her head snapped to look at him, her eyes flashing with something unknown.

Something that tore her chest apart, something that grinded her ribs to nothing more than dust.

He gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Remember the first night we met? At the Black Tide?" He collected his breath before continuing."As you probably know, me and Hellenia have history together. But that was not the reason why I'm telling you this."

They stopped over a bridge, his gaze training on the dark water rushing below them. "The night we met; I was not there for fun. I was there because I was investigating the drug that was later used on Loid. I'll spare you the details, but someone close to me died by that drug, and I took it upon myself to make sure she was avenged. That was when I first encountered Verity."

Rosalynde turned around, her back leaning against the railway as she took in his handsome face.

It took every ounce of her will to not take his cheek in her hands, smoothing it until worry would have scattered away from his face.

"After paying my way around I discovered a relation between Verity and this drug. It has not yet been put on the market; they're still testing it on human subjects. I do not know who's manufacturing it, even if I do have my suspicions now, but I did find out where they were researching it."

Only then did he look at her, truly look at her.

As if looking at her for the first time, he seemed to remove each layer from her torrid heart.

He'd placed down the table all the cards she needed to place things together. He waited for her mind to crack the enigma alone, for her everlasting smile to morph into something different yet so similar to what he was used to.

And then her eyes widened, her smile thinning as recognition and shock became one on her face.

"The Black Tide," she muttered. "What better way to make people pay off their debts by agreeing into what seems like the perfect scapegoat."

He raised his chest, clearly content with how the conversation was going.

"Loid had gambled all his wealth away, and without thinking twice he fell into their trap. But that's not all. Do you remember Mary Clark? About the empty warehouse you searched right after her death?"

"You think that the warehouse was where the drug had been hidden?" The more he spoke the more things started to make sense. Loid had looked surprised that night, before his mind was completely broken under the effect of the drug.