for the sake of insanity

i. d a u n t l e s s ;

i. d a u n t l e s s ;

___

A single beam of moonlight trails through a window, the light glinting off of Adelia Kiyoto's blade as she runs a finger across the cold, smooth surface.

Two eyes, one blue and one golden stare back at her.

The door behind her opens, and she spies the silhouette of a man on the shining surface of the desk. Her heart beats faster, and every muscle in her body urges her to move away from this dangerous man.

Even so, she remains still.

"Miss Kiyoto. What a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting you back so soon. Please, feet off the desk."

Amorus Nevrone, at first glance, does not appear to be an intimidating man. But as Adelia had found out the hard way, his power lies not in his muscle, but in his brain.

It is not a mistake she is willing to make again.

Nevrone sits down behind his desk, watching her with his intelligent green eyes. "What of Morkenov?"

Adelia slowly swings her feet off the desk and stands up, resheathing her knife. She reaches into the burlap sack by her feet and empties the contents onto his desk. "The rest of him sleeps with the fishes."

A slow smile spreads across Nevrone's face as his gloved hands lift the severed head to eye-level. "Good."

Leaving the head on the desk, Nevrone rises and moves to stand behind Adelia. She remains still, even as he brushes her hair aside and his breath tickles her neck. "You cannot imagine how I feel every time I see you back inside of my office after a mission, safe."

Goosebumps crawl up her spine. On the list of things Adelia wanted touching her body, Nevrone ranked beneath spiders and slugs. She exhales slowly, holding back her shudders. "How else am I supposed to collect my pay?"

He chuckles softly. "I know that that little thing isn't the only thing keeping you here. And this isn't either."

His rough fingers scrape across the back of her neck gently, directly where the bomb inside of her lies.

Adelia stiffens and sets her jaw, remembering her failed escape attempt from the Institute. He isn't wrong, but his guesses for her staying isn't right, either. Adelia would sooner have her head blown up than kill another person for this vile man, but she couldn't leave.

Not yet.

Nevrone moves away from her neck and returns to his chair behind the desk. Adelia exhales with relief.

"Don't get too comfortable, Miss Kiyoto. I have another mission for you."

"Tell me about it." This is strange. Usually, he gave her a few days between jobs to recuperate. And he always gave her choices about which assignments she chose to fulfill.

"I've been attempting to recreate the shapeshifter serum."

The world stops and then starts again as Adelia processes what he is saying. She looks down at her hands, flexing her fingers. Over twenty years and hundreds of casualties, she had been the only person to ever survive a trial of the shapeshifter serum, and it had changed her in unimaginable ways.

"Why?" Is all she can manage to say. She had risked her life destroying his research, and she had paid for it dearly. For weeks on end she had been trapped in bed, every movement causing her excruciating pain, driving her to the edge so many times that she had prayed to the gods for death.

The Gods have abandoned this world, a place full of prejudice and hatred. Adelia wasn't surprised that her wishes went unheard.

Nevrone's knowledge of anatomy is unparalleled and he used every part of it to make her pay for the destruction she had wrought.