I Refuse to be a Named Character

Part 7

"Our lives?"

Chloe shrugged, her voice emotionless. "Well, it actually said I only need to leave my life behind... but I read online that additional sacrifices increase the success rate of rituals like this..."

"..." I couldn't help it. I threw my head back and laughed. A loud, broken, painful sound. I slowly let go of my sister, stumbling back towards my open window.

"Don't act so innocent! You always thought you were better than me, Especially after Mom and Dad died..."

I had just been about to jump back into my room, but her words forced me to pause and look back.

"Do you really think anything you say will justify what you've done? You're lucky I don't just kill you here."

Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare!"

"I wouldn't be so sure. This world changed me, for better or worse." I smiled. "But you, sister dear... you were always someone who belonged in a world like this."

I thought of Graham face, splattered with his mother's blood as he happily talked about the future. Of Fetter's eyes, that looked at each person as an animal to be slaughtered. Of the king, that forced his own sons into a game of death and laughed while he watched them struggle.

"You fit right in." I jumped through the window, getting ready to close it.

"It's too late! Fetter already knows your name! You won't survive this book! Everything will go back to normal! I'll be the heroine! Everyone will love me! Do you hear me?"

I closed the window, shutting out whatever else she had to say.

I wanted to kill her. I desperately wanted to kill her.

But I wouldn't.

My last concession to the fact that she was my sister.

"From now on... we're strangers."

"Are you sure you don't want her dead?" A quiet voice behind me caused me to spin around. Luke, dressed in dark clothes, his sword at his side, leaned against the wall, half hidden in shadows, his expression unreadable.

"Let her go. The world is changing, she has very little advantage to her now." I looked at him closely. "Why are you here?"

"I heard shouting."

I smiled at the genuine concern I could hear in his voice. "Thank you for checking on me. I'm fine. I'll just be going back to sleep."

"... Are you sure?"

His question gave me pause. "What do you mean?"

"Are you sure you're alright?"

I thought of Fetter's threat, the name written on the parchment. The time limit he had given me before releasing my name to everyone around us. Of Chloe, her ranting... the truth of our crossing over.

"I'm sure." I said the words with certainty. No matter how scared I was about Fetter knowing my name, my brief hesitation was over. I wasn't going to run away. Because no matter how much this world terrified me, no matter how much I hated it. I couldn't leave it alone.

Because he was here.

Luke has changed so much. He's no longer the terrifying villain that he was in the story. I have to protect him.

I said goodnight to Luke, lying back down in my bed, my thoughts full of what the next party would bring.

___________________________

"Should I just kill them all?" Luke whispered quietly to himself, staring into the flames of his bedroom fireplace. "Is that the only way to protect her?"

"Your highness?" The masked servant trembled on the floor where he knelt nearby. The bloodlust radiating off the prince was more than even a seasoned soldier like him could handle.

"Is there anything else to report about my brother's visit to her?"

"No. Just that whatever word he had written on the paper seemed to terrify her." The servant shuddered as the air seemed to freeze over at his words. "Should I try to recover the pieces?"

"... Destroy them, instead. Do not attempt to read the contents."

"Yes, Your Highness." The servant stood to leave, but was stopped by a sword to his throat.

"That is not an idle threat. If you attempt to look at the word written there. I will kill you. Slowly and painfully."

"..." Too terrified to move, the servant nodded slowly, until the blade slowly was pulled away.

"Good. Then go. Gather everyone, be prepared for anything tomorrow night."

The servant left, and Luke was left alone.

He stared into the flames; all too aware of the dark turn his thoughts had taken. The idea of his half brother threatening her... scheming against her... was more than he could bear calmly. The antics of Graham hadn't helped matters at all. He had barely been able to restrain himself from taking the fool's head right there and then as he babbled on about her belonging to him, marrying him. Everything was closing in around him, but the focus, the danger wasn't on himself as Luke had expected, but at the person by his side.

What use is this world if it kills her? His hands tightened into fists.

"It's not too late." He muttered finally. "I'll protect her."

But no matter how much he tried to reassure himself, he couldn't escape the sense that everything had slipped beyond his control.