Loving Through Glass

Chapter Eight: To Leave Or To Stay

Cole held a small knife in his hand, his eyes guarded, but gleaming at the terror in Liz's eyes that he was awake to defend himself.

"How'd I know it was you?" He asked, rubbing her cheek with his roughened palms.

He kissed away the salty tears that slid across her skin and blurred her vision, he directed his knife in the opposite direction taking extra care to not come into contact with hers.

"Know I was what?" She said in a shaky and uncertain voice, the quivering of her chin and knife noticeable in the way she held herself.

"You're what we have been searching for all these years." He said in awe, brushing her hair away from the left side of her face to skim his fingers over the gold mark of her scar.

"You're the one we thought would never come." He whispered. "You are a Steele, aren't you?"

She nodded warily and felt her fingers release the dagger, the glow fading away as the clock struck midnight and it clattered to the floor.

"Then you're the one." He said, pushing her bedraggled hair out of her face so that he could look into her eyes.

"You're the one Liz!" He laughed heartily, holding her close to his chest even though seconds before she had been about to stab him through the heart.

She stared at him in disbelief. "How would you know who I am or that I'm who you're looking for?"

He cupped her left cheek and the necklace on her collarbone. "These are the symbols of the Last Swan Liz, one of the last great assassins known to have inhabited these great halls."

"How did you know I was an assassin?" She asked. "My father would kill himself before having one of his own discovered."

"First of all you had a knife to my chest ready to strike, and secondly, you have her eyes." Cole said smartly, rubbing his fingers against the gold of her scar.

Liz looked at him in confusion. "Whose eyes?"

He grew quiet and pulled the comforters and sheets up closer around them, cocooning them in its warmth.

"Your mother's."

He could hear her breathing increase, not realizing how strong she had to have been all those years with nothing but pain and torment, until he felt the silent sobs wracking her thin shoulders, unwilling to allow the sound show how weak she truly felt.

"It's alright Liz, Shh, I promise it's going to be ok." He whispered lovingly, not letting her move away as she tried to hide her tears from him.

"You don't understand." She gasped with uneven breathing. "They-They have my mother, and she was my bargain with them in exchange for--"

"For killing me." He finished for her. "I understand Liz, I do, your family has always been a hateful one, but not your mother. She was the one who always knew the right things to say, and I promise, we won't let her die."

She looked up at him with questions in her eyes. "I still don't understand how you know of my mother or father, nor why he wants to kill you."

He rested his head against his pillow and listened to the soft whir of the fan as it went around.

"My family.... We're well known for what we do. We're considered one of the main branches of the Assassins Blade."

She held onto the hem of his shirt in a tight grip. "I can't trust the Assassins Blade, they gave up on me as soon as my father disowned me."

"Well.. We're a part of the organization, but your mother and father used to be good friends of my parents until your father began targeting innocents, killing at random nonstop."

Liz moved closer to the edge of the bed, listening, but trying to get as close to the side as she could.

"Your mother knew the risks he was taking and when she had you she tried to get you out of his influence, but sigh your brother already under his control, she had no other hope of escaping your family's clutches."

Liz pushed the covers off the bed and threw them back onto Cole, avoiding his hand as it shot out to grasp her ankle.

She pulled her boots on and pulled her hair up and away from her face in a simple ponytail, adjusting her jacket before making her way to the windowsill.

"You don't have to leave Liz, we can fix this I promise, we'll ensure that she makes it out alive."

She pulled up the window and put half of her body out into the cool and damp night, the faint honking of horns and lit up night sky reflecting from the city miles in the distance.

"You can't promise that." She said. "The minute I dropped that dagger, they knew I had broken the deal and they were free to do whatever they wanted to my mother, but I refuse to let them touch a hair on her head."

Cole sighed from where he lay. "I know you want to leave, and if it's what you want I'll respect that."

Liz held a grim look on her face. "Thank you." She said, weapon in hand, having almost completely cleared the window when she heard Cole faintly whisper.

"But I always remember the ones who leave."

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