-Part Four-
THE KING'S KILLER
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
You're holding it like an idiot," she said, glaring at me from where she was resting against a tree trunk, her bad leg stretched out in front of her. My sisters leg had been shattered from a cannon mishap, not even as a result of war. How disappointing was that? Getting your leg shattered from your own canon. Ironic.
"I'm not holding it like an idiot," I said, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at her. "And it's not like you're helping me or anything, you're just...sitting there, glaring and pointing out things about my footing."
"Because your footing is shit," she said. I let out a loud sigh, twisting the dagger in my hands so that the leather bit into my palm.
"Oh stop acting like a dramatic teenager," she said, her high arched brows arching even higher. Tellie was pretty in a harsh sort of way. She had intense features that seemed locked in a hard position all of the time. She rarely smiled, actually, ever since she got back home a few months ago, I hadn't seen her smile. I hadn't seen her smile in such a long time. I wondered if she still could.
"I am a dramatic teenager. I'm sixteen," I said. She rolled her eyes and stood, wincing and stretching out her leg. I had only ever seen her leg once before. She had been getting out of the bath the night she got home. She thought she was strong enough to lift herself up but she hadn't been. She clambered to the floor and I rushed in, not caring about her nakedness or the fact that she was dripping wet. She allowed me to help her sit up and then screamed at me to leave. She had been angry, but not at me, at herself. She was angry that she needed my help in the first place. Tellie was as independent as they came, she never asked for help or assistance. She saw it as a sign of weakness. I realized that as I grew up, I was much the same.
I still remembered what she looked like on the floor, her cheeks red from shame, her eyes filled with tears that she would never let fall. Tellie never cried either. She was steel before she left for the army, hard and cold. But when she became back she was changed, she had transformed from steel to iron. Deadly iron. She felt so unreachable now we might as well have had an iron wall between us.
"Yes, sixteen. I'm so glad I got to miss your fourteenth and fifteenth years," he said, "The tween years are always the hardest." She limped towards me and I stuck my tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes, the freckles at her nose scrunching and moving. I always loved her freckles, and wished I had more like hers. Instead I just got a splatter on my nose. What a shame.
"Well I'd rather it had been you than that official they sent." Since I was underage and Telllie was my legal guardian, they had sent an elderly woman to come care for me. Well, she didn't really care for me. She was gone most days, I wouldn't see her for months and then she'd suddenly make a surprise appearance and act like everything was normal. Of course those surprise visits only ever happened when there'd be a visit from one of the child service officers.
"I know," she said, looking down at me. She reached up and squeezed my shoulder gently. "Now let's teach you how to throw that dagger like a woman and not like a prepubescent boy."
"Ew," I muttered. Tellie and I both had similar thoughts about men. While I liked some, she didn't like any at all, and we were both attracted to girls. Which was nice, considering I'd come home gabbing about a girl I met at the market and she'd only grin and nod, remembering her teenage years full of flirting and blushing. I think she missed those times more than she'd like to admit.
"Exactly," Tellie said, grinning at me, her thin pink lips curving upwards. She went behind me and pressed her front against my back. She grabbed my arm and lifted it upwards. She then started to massage my shoulder. I closed my eyes, leaning my head forward.
"That actually feels really nice," I muttered. There was suddenly a smack at the back of my head and I yelped.
"It was to relax your muscles not for you, weirdo," she said. It sounded like she was trying to sound annoyed, but I heard a hint of laughter in her tone. Well, glad she found pleasure in my pain.
She walked over to my side, adjusting my fingers. "Now, relax your hand and let the knife fly from it. You need to treat the weapon like it's an extension of your body. You need to guide the dagger to where you want it. You're controlling the weapon, it's not controlling you. Understand?"
"I love it when you talk soldier to me," I said in a sultry tone. She reached up as if to smack my head again and I yelped, scampering away. I only went back to her when she looked like she didn't want to hit me. Since Tellie was basically jobless for...the foreseeable future, she had tasked herself with teaching me a few things in self defence. It was a dangerous world out there for a female, she wanted to help me to stay safe in any way that she was able to.
"Alright, now inhale as you pull the knife back, exhale when you release it," she said, she was now standing behind me, far away from where the blade would land unless I somehow managed to throw it backwards. Well...I wouldn't be so surprised if that did happen. I was Eira afterall...
I did as she told me to and adjusted my footing for the hundredth time. I inhaled as I drew the blade back, my fingers folding as she had told them to. I held my breath for a moment, focusing on my target which was the ground right now, right in the middle of a patch of weeds. I needed to get the dagger to stick to the ground before I could think about real targets. I exhaled slowly, and then let the dagger fly. Fly it did...for a brief moment before scanting to the side and landing poorly.
"Gods above!" I groaned, throwing my head back and scorning the gods above me. There was a hand around my shoulder and I turned to see Tellie smirking down at me.
"Same thing happened to me during my first time," she said. I gaped at her. Tellie almost never did anything wrong the first time. She always was perfect at everything. It was one of the things I admired most about her. "But I didn't complain."
"Oh," I said. There she was, so much for the big, supportive sister she was trying to be. Tellie was never the coddling kind, she always went for the 'tough love' approach instead. Which I didn't mind, I knew she cared for me even if she didn't choose to show it in every action she took.
"Suck it up and try again," she said, nodding her head towards the patch of weeds. "We're not leaving till you get it to stick." And we did just that. It had to have been at least two hours before I had finally...finally got it into the ground. It landed with a thunk and I was so tired that I almost hadn't noticed. In fact, I had already started walking towards either side of the weeds where I knew it would be. It wasn't exactly near that group of weeds, but it was in the ground. I heard Tellie let out a surprised laugh behind me.
"I did it!" I yelled, my shriek echoing around the forest. "I freaking did it! Take that gods!" I threw my arm up into the air and pounded it a few times, my victory made the heat of the summer around us and the sweat lining my brow worth it.
I saw Tellie hiding her laughter behind her hand and I practically leapt at her. I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed tight. She froze for a second and I felt myself go still as well. We hadn't hugged in so long either. But then, she did something that I never thought she'd do again. She wrapped her arms around me and pressed me tight to her. She smelt like fresh laundry and soap and I blamed the nostalgic smell for bringing tears to my eyes.
"I'm proud of you," she said. There was no denying my tears then. I was openly sobbing at that point, though neither of us acknowledged it. She held me for as long as I had needed before letting go. I had wiped my cheeks and gathered the dagger and we made our way back home.
We had been talking about some new bread at the bakery when suddenly there was an "oomph" and my sister was falling forwards. I saw another figure falling too, a girl with light brown skin, and a pink dress went sprawling on top of her, the scrolls she had been holding going everywhere.
"I am so sorry!" the girl said. I didn't know the girl, though I had seen around these past couple days, I was pretty sure she had some connection to the army. But I had yet to learn who she really was.
"No it's alright," Tellie said. And it really did look like it was alright. The two of them couldn't stop looking at each other. I had never seen Tellie's hazel eyes sparkle as they had then. The girl blushed before ducking her head and scampering away from Tellie. I had already begun gathering her scrolls, giving them a private moment in case they wanted to start a make out session right there on the floor. The girl finished gathering the rest and I handed her the ones I was holding.
"Again, I am so sorry!" she said. She was still blushing, though her blush wasn't fiery red, more pink, it reminded me of a rose. "I was so busy and I should have looked where I was going-" Tellie was still on the floor and was starting to rise, finding trouble with her leg. I stepped forward to help her but the girl was already giving her a hand. Tellie looked up, surprised, before grabbing onto it.
"Thank you," Tellie said. I hid my grin behind my hand. It sounded like she was a little breathless to me...
"No problem," the girl said, beaming down at my sister. "I'm Heather by the way. I moved here a few days ago with my mother."
Tellie was still staring at Heather, so I cleared my throat awkwardly, stepping forward. "I'm Eira Gellert, this is Tellie. We're sisters."
"I can tell, you guys have the same nose." She said. Tellie blushed...she actually blushed. I never thought that was possible. Heather excused herself politely before walking off in the other direction, I grabbed Tellie's arm and steered her towards our house. She practically had hearts in her eyes.
The two of us were grinning on the way home, though for two very different reasons. Maybe things were finally starting to look up for us.
When I awoke, I didn't open my eyes immediately. I let myself soak in the memory of the dream, holding it close to me as if it was a blanket that could've kept me warm. I held the memories of Tellie's flashing eyes and grin and Heathers batting eyelashes and blush close to my heart, so close that it nearly ached. How long would it be until I forgot their faces? How long until all my memories of them turned to ash and I could barely recall the sound of her voice.
Suddenly, I felt a hand swipe at my cheek, where a tear was silently rolling down it. My eyes snapped open in horror to see a pair of onyx black eyes, staring down at me. The pair had a line of gold wrapping around the pupil and were rimmed with long lashes. Pretty eyes.
"Who in the hells are you?" I gasped, stumbling away from the boy and slamming my back into the wall. I cursed how small this cell was. I could feel the cold seeping into my skin and my clothes were damp with it.
"Hello, beautiful," he purred, "What were you dreaming about?" He had flipped over the bucket that was supposed to be for waste, which I had yet to use, and was now sitting atop of it. He was handsome, that was for sure. It was an almost uncanny beauty. He had sharp cheekbones and a sharper chin, a pointed nose and dark, arched brows. His hair was shot through with gray, though he didn't look old at all, he couldn't have been more than a few years older than me. He had a nice body, lean, though I could see the muscles rippling under the skin. He was wearing nice clothes, a fancy tunic and pants. He had rings on his fingers and knives tucked into his belt. He had multiple earrings pierced high along his ear, up to the very tip of the point.
"Do you usually stalk into girls rooms and watch them when they sleep?" I asked. I hated how breathless my voice was. Half of it was because it felt like I was in the presence of a god and the other part was because I felt as though I had been screaming. Had I been screaming while I slept? I wouldn't be surprised.
"Well, technically this isn't a room, beautiful," he said. Oh gods, I already hated that nickname. "And secondly, that is no way to treat the man who just wiped away your tears in your time of need."
"Wiped away my..." I trailed off as I felt a cool dampness along my cheekbones. I scrubbed furiously at them before scrambling to my feet. I didn't have a weapon, though the moment he got up from that stool I could use it as something to hit him with. It wasn't great, but it was the best I had at the moment...
"Are you..." My voice cracked as I thought of that horrid monster Elda, Anastasia, and Dimitri had talked to me of. Sable Deidre, the king's killer. I recalled that nightmare I had of him, where I had been smothered by his thick shadows. "Are you Sable?" He certainly didn't look like how I was imagining him to be.
The boy flashed a cutting grin my way. His eyes were rimmed with black and he had silver powder along his cheekbones. He was devilishly handsome, and he knew it. "Oh gods no, my cousin is being fashionably late. He sent me to come to...assess you." His eyes scampered down my body that was still hugging the wall, I swallowed down a wad forming in my throat and was thankful for the dim lightning since it hid the blue creeping up my neck and face.
"You're...you're his cousin?" I stammered. I knew fae had siblings, I had just never thought of it that much. It would make sense that they had cousins, the same way that normal humans did. Though I did know that sometimes the family trees got weird considering they stopped aging when they got to their prime. I wondered if the boy in front of me had already stopped aging, he looked to be at his prime.
"Ugh, I know. But don't worry, I'm the most attractive out of the family. You'll be sorely disappointed when you see him." He stood and then there was a slight glimmer and I saw the dirt that had been streaking his boots and some parts of his pants vanish. Magic, he had just used magic, and so easily too. I had yet to figure out how to do that.
"I don't..." I trailed off, hating how weak my voice was, in fact I hated how weak I was in general. I hadn't eaten since breakfast before the agility course, and I hadn't eaten much then thanks to nerves. My power outburst had drained me along with running that course. I slept last night but the dream left me feeling restless. I felt like I hadn't slept at all.
"Don't think you're ready to meet him yet? Yes I know. I'm sure he's hoping I delay the process as much as possible." He rolled his eyes, gold flashing in the dark. I felt a shudder roll through me as I watched him move, with utter grace and ease. His body was roiling with power, I could already tell.
"Delay the process?" I asked.
"Well, I'm the lucky one who gets to escort you to the baths because frankly, beautiful-" He sniffed the air. "You do need one." The sharp points of my ears turned hot and I scowled at him. "And I also get to pick out what you wear, I'm thinking lingerie. I can see you've got a wonderful figure under those rags."
"Say one more thing about my figure and I'll gut you," I growled, the words ripping from my lips before I could stop them. But the boy didn't look in the least bit scared, he looked amused. Smug bastard.
"Noted. I'll leave my eyes to do all the talking." And sure enough his black and gold gaze swiped down to survey my body and I clenched my hands into fists, wondering if I'd be able to somehow manage to get an ice bullet through his stupid forehead.
"Mhm, murder eyes. Sexy." He winked at me. "As much as I'd love to linger longer and watch all the different ways you want to kill me flicker through your head, we do have to go." He turned and dropped his hands to his side, his fingers twitching ever so slightly. Suddenly, metal groaned and squelched and the bars that had been keeping me locked in wrenched to the side and curved in on themselves, opening up a large gap, big enough for two people to fit through.
I tried not to gasp as I stumbled backwards and smashed my back into the wall. He looked over his shoulder at me, that smug expression seemed plastered there. "My uncommon fae ability." He winked once more before beckoning for me to follow. I had half a mind not to, but I'd rather take my chances with him rather than stay here to rot. This cell held enough bad memories to last a lifetime. I never wanted to be back there again.
I stepped precariously through the large hole and almost immediately after my feet hit the opposite side, the metal of the bars groaned again and when I turned back everything was whole and perfect again. He had the ability to control metal. It terrified and awed me.
"Come along, beautiful," he sang out to me as he started to walk up the steps that I had been hauled down before. I clenched my jaw at the nickname and forced myself to walk. I needed to escape, and if I stayed in that dungeon I'd never figure out the best way to leave. I needed to be smart.
I followed the boy up the stairs, needing to stop when my legs became tired and my breaths wheezed in and out of my lungs. My body was aching and bruised from the agility course and from how those brute guards had treated me. I could barely walk, nevermind escape. I felt tears prick at my eyes at how limited my options were.
"Need me to carry you the rest of the way?" Sable's cousin asked, turning to look down at me. I glared at him, wanting to stay and lean against the wall for a bit longer. But he was staring, so I pushed off and continued on.
"You've never told me your name," he said, filling the silence with something more than my labored breaths and the noise of our boots hitting the steps. My legs were shaking now, and I almost wanted to collapse right then and there.
"Don't you know it?" I asked. I really did want to stop, black spots were gathering at the edges of my vision and my swollen throat from where Raven had punched it was making it hard to get decent breaths in.
"No actually," he said. "I bet I could figure it out with a bit of thinking, but no. The king doesn't care about your name, no one here really does. As long as you're a powerful asset and keep your mouth shut, they don't care what your name is."
"How dehumanizing," I muttered softly, thinking he wouldn't hear. His chuckle surprised me.
"Is it something awful?" he asked, after a few more minutes of silence. "Is that why you're keeping it a secret." He glanced down at me. There was a considerable gap between us, and I tried not to notice how he stopped to catch up. I wished he would've shut up and kept walking and greatened the distance instead.
"No," I said. "And I'm not keeping it a secret."
"Is it Bertha?" he asked, wiggling his sharp brows. "Or Penelope? Linda? Dolores? What about Desdemona?"
"No, no, no, and no." I said. "And all those names sound lovely." I shot him a look and his wicked grin spread further. It was a lie, and we both knew it. But I wasn't going to let him stand there and make comments about how perfectly normal girl names were ugly. It was rude.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he said. We got to the top of the stairs and I practically gasped in relief when we got to the platform where a door stood. His fingers didn't twitch this time, but I heard the gears inside the lock working and spinning, and suddenly the door popped open. He was a built in lockbreaker. How handy.
"Fine," I mumbled. We had moved out to a hallway now and I felt incredibly dirty in all the pristine finery. I felt like I didn't belong. No, I knew I didn't belong. I had grown up in a cottage with a dirt floor, an old metal garbage can for a bath, and a smaller than twin bed to share with my sister. And I'd feel much more at home there than I ever would here. I knew it.
"I'm Gray Brandt," he said, spinning around to walk backwards. He moved rather smoothly, as though it was no problem at all. "I'm son of a nobleman, been here for most of my life. I can control metal. No, I'm not part of the cadre. And I enjoy long walks on the beach."
"Six things I didn't need to know," I said. He shook his head at me, a coy smile still playing at his lips. His incredibly pretty lips. I wondered what those lips would've been like to kiss. Too bad he was too annoying to find attractive.
He led me down hall after hall, we passed a few servants and some other people in finery. Those people barely glanced at Gray, and he didn't look at them. It was strange, I would've thought that people would have at least nodded at a nobleman's son. But none did, some even openly sneered. Gray acted as though he didn't see it.
"Is your name Gray because of the hair?" I asked, gesturing to the parts of black that were shot through with gray streaks. It certainly was a look.
"That it is, you're rather inquisitive, beautiful," he said, winking at me. He was being sarcastic, and I had the urge to show him a lovely view of my tallest finger. We got to a door that he opened for me, beckoning me in with a large, dramatic sweep of his hand. I rolled my eyes and trudged inside.
There were blades...everywhere. Hanging on the wall, on the desk, some on the floor, on the dresser. There was an entire table covered in all different bits of metal, gears, and anything else that looked like metal was there. It was a large space, I could fit three of my cottages in there. The bed was dark gray, how suiting, and the entire room had a gray and gold theme to it. It was all well styled, though not neat all. The space looked well lived in.
"Sorry for the mess, I didn't think we'd be getting guests today, but as the king said, 'the gods have a different plan'." He winked at me again and I resisted the urge to shudder. I couldn't simply forget what being under Gabriels power had felt like. I had never felt more vulnerable. His magic was deadly and ancient and it went down to the very marrow in my bones. Just thinking about it made me feel nauseous. Or could that have been from the lack of food?
"Is...Is this your room?" I asked. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself. I had been in Marc's room before, but he had shared it with his sister and we always kept the door propped open when he hung out in there. But I had never been inside a man's room, alone, before. It felt oddly intimate and considering Gray was still a stranger, regardless of the fact that I knew he was fond of long walks on the beach. I wasn't sure I liked being this...intimate with a stranger.
"You can relax now, there are no guards here to abuse you and the king isn't anywhere near here, not that he cares what I'm doing." Gray clapped his hands together before rubbing his palms against each other, as if he was seeking warmth. Except he wasn't. A split second later I saw the pieces of metal that were lying scattered about start to move. They rose up into the air and swirled around, some went to hooks on the wall, others went into a neat pile on the desk or at the nightstand on his bed. I was never going to get used to that.
Eyeing a small knife that was now swinging from a hook, I swallowed against my dry throat. "They're not the ones I'm worried about," I said, rubbing my hands along my arms as the frigidness inside of me flared. Cold, cold, cold, I was always so cold. When was the last time I had felt any semblance of warmth? It felt like ages.
"Oh you mean the fae?" Gray asked, he stalked over to a post on his bed and leaned against it. I watched the gold jewelry adorning his features glimmer. "Yes, smart girl. You should be afraid of the fae here. Very, very afraid." His black eyes glittered as he stared down at me. He was rather tall, tall enough that I had to lift my eyes quite a bit to glare at him. I was suddenly glad that I had grown a bit during my fae transformation, if I hadn't he would have been much bigger.
"I'm fae. Why should I be scared of my own kind?" I said. The falseness in those words made my stomach roil and breath catch. The fae were not my kind, and after seeing their brutality in the short time I had come to know them, I'd never accept them. Once I escaped this wretched place, I'd find Elda and demand to be transformed back to a human. I'd demand it. Why would I want to live in an eternity that didn't have Tellie in it?
"You're young, yes?" he asked. "You haven't reached your prime?" I shook my head and he nodded. He stalked towards me and I stumbled backwards, my boots shuffling on the velvet carpet beneath me. "We grow up fast here. Try to hold onto your youth but don't be naive. That will get you killed easier than a knife to the throat." His eyes darted down to my throat and I wondered briefly if he'd make a blade fly towards it and slice it against the skin there. It'd be fast at least. It wouldn't have been the worst way to go.
I opened my mouth to speak but then he was stalking across the room and opening up a door across from me. "Bathroom." He bobbed his head towards it. "Quick bath. Off you go." He was back to his cheery self once again it seemed.
"I don't have clothes," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
"That doesn't sound like a problem to me," he said, walking over to his desk with all the metal shards. He grabbed a blade and twisted it between his fingers. He was morphing its shape, I watched it turn from a blade into a circle, it kept shifting and changing so much that I got dizzy.
"Gray-" I started, but he interrupted me before I could finish.
"There are clothes on the counter. I'm a flirt, not a pervert." He shot me a grin over his shoulder and I ground my teeth together. I was going to find a way to escape. There was no way in hell that I would be staying here for long...
I turned towards the bathroom, contemplating whether I could drown myself in the bath, when the door slammed shut before me. I stuttered to a stop, sucking in a harsh breath. Metal door hinges. Gods damn.
"Name," he said. I let my head drop and I placed two hands on the door for stability. Cold leached into my heart, twisting and stabbing at it until it physically ached. I remembered what it was like to hear my name on Tellies lips. How long would it be until I forgot that?
"Eira," I said. It didn't sound confident, didn't sound like a fiery warriors name. It didn't even sound pretty, like it always did, it sounded ugly and bloated and bleeding. It sounded like all the bad things twisted into two fucking syllables. It sounded like the name of a sister who abandoned the other and didn't even get to say goodbye before she died.
The lock clicked open and the door creaked ajar. I blinked my dry eyes. I wasn't sure if I had any tears left, maybe they had all frozen up. I grabbed the handle, opened it further, and slipped in. Those tears had frozen up like everything else inside of me. I was nothing but frost.