Saiorse was not a thief. She understood the woes of losing things once held precious. Whether it be a twine of ribbon, or the finest of gold, if Saiorse could not pay for it, she did not take it. Only a very special thing could ever be worth thievery. No, Saiorse did not steal trivial things.
Saiorse stole smiles.
For months it seemed Saiorse slaved away to capture the smallest turning of lips. Each day a challenge to bring forth a happy gleam to her husband's eye. The further he dove into his work, the harder those smiles became to draw. Saiorse did not understand what it was Beckham thought so important that he pay so much attention to. He only left their home to fetch the food he never seemed to touch, even after Saiorse spent the entire evening cooking his favorite stew or heated delicate wine over the fire, suffering burns for the spicey treat. Saiorse feared she'd driven Beckham to hunch over his desk, slaving over his formulas and his books that seemed to magically appear out of nowhere.
Her fear grew stronger on one particular evening as the moon washed over its full cycle once more and still, nothing had come. She'd been around many women - friends with quite a few raising families as well - and all the tales they'd foretold of the grueling months matched her unfortunate experiences. So, as Saiorse stared at herself in the vanity, pulling her gown tight over her tummy, she was quite certain her fears were not misplaced.
It took days to gather the courage; Beckham, so dedicated to his work, only desired her touch when the wine she offered seemed to be a wee too strong. Conversation of their future all but halted - Saiorse wondered if he could no longer see past the yellowing pages of his work. Already a distant gap had wedged between them, his long nights spent at the hunched over desk leaving Saiorse to fend by her lonesome in the chilliest of nights. In the beginning Saiorse had enjoyed his tales of forging creatures with magic, Saiorse, real magic! But now, now it had become a terrible problem. Beckham had become obsessed with the unnatural and the welding of monsters from human beings.
He'd tried to tell her once they could have forever and not the romantic kind of forever he always spilled to her when he'd hint for the unbuttoning of her blouse. Saiorse knew Beckham believed they could truly live every rise and fall of the sun until the Earth itself crumbled beneath their feet - but she did not believe a word of it. Even the flowers spawned from the soil itself had its time. The rocks outside of the tiny cabin they'd made their home in would shift and change long after they left the Earth.
Beckham no longer accepted that the end would one day come, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps when they were old and grey; and it scared her.
As the evening drew close and the house became dark, Saiorse sat cross legged at the kitchen table, tapping her fingers over the oak. How would she even get his attention? He had left the world hours ago in favor of his new findings. She'd sent him to the market for sage, but he'd returned only moments later, eyes bright and jacket flying as he gave an outcry - he'd found a solution, he swore. He had placed a lopsided kiss to her mouth and abandoned the food fixed for him where Saiorse left it. In passing, she'd slapped it from the counter for one of his many 'tracking hounds' (he used them to hunt down what he thought went bump in the night) to greedily lap from the floor.
Shoving herself from the table, Saiorse marched down the halls, grabbing a candle on her way. Hip bumping into the door, she swung it open, hoping the cracking of the door against the wall would gain his attention. Beckham hunched over the desk, scribbling furiously over his parchment. Sighing, Saoirse slammed her fist into the wall. He barely flinched.
"Beckham," Saiorse called.
He waved his hand as if to dismiss her. Saiorse's brows pinched angrily. She sat the candle aside, storming forward. Hands wrapping around the ledges of his book, Saiorse ripped it from underneath his arm, allowing it to clutter to the floor. Immediate rage sparked over his face. He leapt from his seat, diving for the book, but Saiorse violently kicked it, sending it scuttling across the floor.
"What has gotten into you, woman?" Beckham raged, facing her fully now. "Do you know how delicate that is?"
"I have tried to speak to you for hours and you have not paid me a single thought," Saiorse snapped. "It is very important- Beckham Beldare!"
Stooped over his book, Beckham paused, listening to the way her voice pitched. Eyes shut, the man hung his head. He could hear the rattle of her breath. She always wheezed before she cried. Righting himself, Beckham left his book to its lonesome, swiveling to face his wife with a small, warm grin. Saiorse was no fool. Her lips pressed together, halting the coming trembles. He reached to her, flattening his fingers one by one over her narrow shoulders.
Saiorse hung her head, taking a step away. Beckham frowned, but Saiorse held up a finger. She turned sideways, holding his gaze as she pulled her clothing tight over her abdomen. Confused, Beckham raised a brow. Eyes wide with exasperation, Saiorse pressed her hand to her tummy.
"Saiorse?" Beckham asked, stepping forward. "Are you alright?"
Saiorse's face fell blank. "You daft loon," she flung her hands to the ceiling. "I am with child."
Beckham's face paled almost immediately. On his heel, he teetered, gripping hold of the desk with a tight fist. Saiorse's chest filled with anxious panic, holding her breath as he seemed to sway back and forth, hanging his head as he fanned his fingers over his face. Disappointment shoved its way into her chest. This was not the reaction she wanted.
Beckham's eyes seemed to light as his hand slid from his face, dropping to his side. He stared at a book on his shelf, nailed over his desk. Lunging forward, he ripped one free and stifled through it, walking swiftly to Saiorse with a growing smile. He laughed almost hysterically, shoving it into her palms. Ripping a few bottles from his drawers, he began to mix them.
"Perhaps we can not have immortality, but the little one if it is administered prior to its birth!" He whirled around, not catching the absolutely horrified look over Saiorse's face. "I must find my comrade - Khodai. I will test the serum on him first."
He rushed past Saiorse, grabbing hold of his coat. He would have left the room in a hurry had Saiorse not flung the book to the doorframe, nearly knocking him in the head. Beckham looked over his shoulder, shocked. Tears streamed from Saiorse's eyes - but they were not sorrowful. Beckham had never seen so much rage on any one person's face.
"What is wrong with you?" Saiorse gasped, her hand fluttering to clutch her chest. "No. No, you will certainly not test it on Khodai." She pressed herself backward. "You cannot have forever, Beckham. Forever is not possible!"
"It is!" Beckham roared, voice soaring above a civil tone. "Do you wish our child to live in a place ridden with disease and limited to that of a human body? I seek greatness, Saiorse, things you could not imagine!"
"I imagined a home with a sensible husband and lovely children!" Saiorse was screaming now, her fists balled, eyes overflowing. "You told me of magic tricks and creatures of night - I believed them to be things of your imagination. These experiments, these fairy tales are not true."
"They are true," Beckham snapped, slamming his fist against the wall. "I work endlessly to provide eternal happiness for you, for us. You do not see. You do not understand - but you will, you will."
"You are not touching this baby," Saiorse said stiffly. "If I must leave to protect it from then so be it."
Beckham's face grew dark - so did his heart. "If you try to leave I will find you. I will restrain you if I must. Do not make me do that, Saiorse. Do not."
Saiorse stood in silence, wrapping her arms over herself. Beckham, seeming satisfied, left the room, slamming the door shut. The walls caved in. Saiorse world fell apart. To her knees she fell, burying her face inside of her hands as she screamed.
"Oh, stop it, it certainly doesn't hurt that much!"
Saiorse clipped her jaw shut, her hands wrenched so tightly about the table before them. Isabella had left a piece of her fang stuck in Saiorse's shoulder - as bluntly pointed out by Alara during their brief flight away from Basama. One fist pressed to her hip, Alara held out the culprit in front of Saiorse's face, frowning when it was smacked away by a less than pleased vampire.
Two days had gone by, spent in an abandoned home just beyond the reaches of the city. Alara, worried they would be discovered, pressed for their departure - if they could pry the truth from Alexander all would be well. Alara suggested tying him by his toes by the roof, but Saiorse had quickly silenced her ludicrous ideas with a threatening growl.
Saiorse watched the moon, peering at the rough edges and the craters put there by monsters she prayed to never meet. It saddened her, really, to know Alex could never see the stars as clearly as she did.
Or, so, she hoped he never had to.
"Well," Alara began, placing a hand over Saiorse's shoulder. "I am going to hunt. Your partner makes it rather difficult to keep my teeth out of his neck."
Saiorse sighed, opening her mouth to argue her titling of a certain LeRoy, but she found no energy to do so. Instead, Saiorse slumped. She pressed her forehead to the cool glass of the window. This was such a chaotic mess.
Isabella's followers would undoubtedly place the blame of her death over Saiorse's head. The truth would never be revealed. With Alexander at her side, it would certainly seem rather odd that the woman had suddenly turned on their ambassador. Not a word she could say would make the snarls of the vampires hunkered in Basama silent. Even worse, the town would soon be nothing but ash, destroyed by the breath of an infuriated beast Saiorse could not stop.
Isabella's intentions were by far illegal - the killing of dragons was unacceptable, even if they were riddling a town useless. By the laws of the Council the only acceptable manners of dispatching the scaley creatures was by 'gentle force'. To lure it away without causing critical damage. As a representative, Saiorse could only abide by the laws set before her.
However, it was also illegal to kill another supernatural - just as it was illegal to a human being, or any other creature with moral dignity. Isabella's death hadn't been of cold blood, but it mattered not.
"Do you wish to accompany me?" Alara called from the door.
Saiorse shook her head numbly.
Alara frowned, disappointed, but took her leave, shutting the door softly behind her.
Saiorse stared at the dark, unfocused and unseeing. No matter what path she took beyond the cabin doors, she was damned. Damned if she didn't, damned if she did. Alexander would lead her to kill. If she rode back to Basama, Isabella's clan would attack before she could explain - yet again, giving her no choice but to defend. Saiorse pinched her brows, leaning back only enough to peer at her reflection. What was the matter with her?
Only days ago she had no qualms with killing a human being for the wrongs he'd bestowed upon her. To end the life of a human was the same as that of cattle. More than one species depended upon the resources of a human's body, or even emotion to survive. James deserved to suffer, did he not? It didn't matter if he was a father, a husband, a brother. He'd tried to end her life and Saiorse sought to do the same to him.
Her eyes drifted to Alexander, who lounged absent-mindedly on a chair, picking at the bandages set over his shoulder by Saiorse herself.
If Saiorse killed James, would that not make her as evil as he?
Noticing her staring at his reflection, Alex paused. He met her gaze, drawing himself lazily from the chair. He walked to her side, peering not at the trees outside, but at himself. He touched his face, offering Saiorse a small grin.
"I look like a bush," he joked.
"I look like a monster," Saiorse replied.
Alex frowned, abandoning his reflection to look at her face. She only stared at herself - or, her scar, rather. Sighing, Alex crossed his arms over his chest and leaned sideways, pressing himself to her side. Saiorse did not shy away. Slowly, she leaned her head until it rested to his arm. In silence, Alex observed the faint projection of themselves. Try as he might, he could not find a single flaw. His hand fluttered to touch the hand Saiorse lifted to her chest, shooing it away so that he could hold it himself.
"You are no monster," Alex told her. "You are nothing of the sort."
Saiorse pulled away, taking her hand back to press it to her throat. Alex turned his head to watch her as she backed away, her eyes swiveling this way and that as if to find somewhere to focus on - anywhere but him. Still, they only floated back to his face. Alex was rooted where he stood as she spoke, surprised to find her voice so broken - her eyes so shattered.
"I cannot kill your father," Saiorse muttered. "I cannot do that to you. You do not deserve such pain." As her words left her, Saiorse released a strangled snarl, swirling to slam her fist into the table, knocking it against the wall. Saiorse dropped her face into her hands, her shoulders bunching together.
Alex's face pinched with confusion. "Saiorse," he began. "I understand why you want to confront him. I have accepted it. I lied to protect them, but now I am not so sure they deserve it - or, my father at least."
Saiorse turned to face him, her composure broken and scattered. "If I kill your father I am no better than he is. Or Beckham."
"Who is Beckham?" Alex asked, stepping forward. "Those people Isabella mentioned. Who are they to you Saiorse?"
Alex had never seen so much sadness rest over someone's heart.
He almost thought she wouldn't speak, but then, she drew a breath, and continued.
"My son," Saiorse whispered. "Madeus was his name. Beckham, was my husband. Khodai," a small laugh left her as she spoke his name. "A dear friend that I miss terribly so." She lifted her gaze to meet his. "I am the representative of our species because I am the first of my kind. Beckham," she looked at the floor now, unwilling to meet his eyes as she spoke. "He turned me into what I am. He then forced me to change him in any manner possible. We tried for months to discover the right way - but, all the things he had done to himself changed his blood somehow. He became different than myself. Khodai took my son and ran not long after he changed, but," Saiorse drifted off, her voice lowering so much that Alexander had to strain to catch her words. "He caught them before I could warn them. He took Madeus, left Khodai where he lay, injured and broken. I could not bare to see him die."
"You changed him into a vampire?" Alex guessed, voice quiet.
Saiorse looked him in the eyes. "Yes."
"So you did not come by your leadership as a way of voting?" Alex asked, only half teasing. Saiorse drifted to the dust coated sofa, chewing on the inside of her lip. There was no point in keeping secrets - Alexander deserved to know.
"I was contacted a very long time ago, as I did my best to find all of Beckham's creations and help them," she explained. Alex walked to sit beside her. "I tried so very hard to protect them all, to solve problems that arose. Peter, the shapeshifter we met, he searched for me. Upon finding me he took me to Darthara. That is where I took the oath to do whatever it takes to help the wellbeing of my species. I am no hero," Saiorse scoffed. "Only a victim of someone's dream."
Alex reached to place his hand over the flow of dark hair. He twined his fingers full of it, twisting it over his fingers until he ran his hand down to rest between her shoulder blades. Saiorse eyed him warily.
"Why is Beckham standing in your place if they know what he has done to you?" Alex asked.
Saiorse shook her head. "They have no idea what he has done. Only that he made me what I am and that I am dead in a cave somewhere with a lavender arrow sticking from my chest."
"And if we find him and confront him?" Alex asked. "Then what?"
Saiorse's face drew blank, her eyes moving to find his. "Then he will kill me and everyone that I care for."
"So I am safe, then," Alex joked, cracking a wide grin.
"Quite the opposite," Saiorse sighed.
Alex scoffed, turning his body to hers. He placed his hands to her knee, leaning close with a broadening smirk. Saiorse turned her head defensively, her hands hovering over his - as she was going to shove them away from her, but she merely lowered them on top of his, blinking as she seemed to baffle herself. Alex, stunned himself, studied her eyes.
"I have kept you alive this long, why would I put that in jeopardy?" She asked him, her words hot clouds on his lips. "This entire thing," Saiorse shot her hands upward. "It is absolute chaos. You would be better to return home and allow me to face Beckham and the Council."
"By yourself?" Alex huffed. "I do not think so."
Growling, Saiorse shoved her palms into his shoulders, knocking him back against the couch. She shot to her feet, pacing across the room. She brought her nails to her mouth, biting down on them as she began to pace, her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flaring. Alex followed slowly. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"My father is wrong about you," he told her.
"Is he?" Saiorse snapped, marching back around the table to stand before him. She bared her teeth. Alex wasn't affected by the show of her teeth. "I am a murderer!"
"You are innocent," Alex argued, growing angry. "He is the one who stuffed you in a cavern and left you to rot."
Saiorse snarled loudly, cutting his words away. "Do you want to know what I did to those soldiers?" Alex opened his mouth to stop her, but she could not be halted. She curled her fingers through his shirt, her voice full of her venom and her hatred - not for Alex, not for James, but herself. "I sank my teeth into their necks and I drank their blood. Those tender spots on your neck?"
Alex's fingers reached to prod the sides of his neck, until he found a sore spot. He frowned.
"I almost did the same to you," Saiorse spat, tossing him away with a careless flick of her wrist. "I can never escape it, Alexander. I must take the blood of humans in order to survive. Beckham did not give me forever - he gave me a never ending hell."
Alex only approached once more, pressing her arms to her sides with an iron grip. He looked at her straight, his mind already made. "You are not a monster. The man that changed you is."
"When you look at me, what do you see?" Saiorse snapped. "Aside from an ugly scar and pointed, unnatural teeth?"
Alex held her gaze. "I see two eyes, a nose, a mouth that infuriates me when it moves. I see you, not you entrails and what they need to work. You think you are chained by what you need to survive but you are not."
Saiorse was suddenly holding him to the wall next to them, her hands wrapped in his tunic and her face pressed to his with a deafening snarl. Alex did not flinch, nor did he take his hands away from her arms. She panted, her body beginning to shake as she held him there.
"Stop it," she strained.
"Saiorse-"
"Stop!" She screamed. In an ivory blur, Saiorse whirled about, backhanding what stray items lay on the counter beside them. Alex sighed. He rather liked that candle. Hunched now, Saiorse curled her hands through her hair. "You can not do this. You can not walk into my life and tell me that I am any different and then-"
"And then what?" Alexander challenged, walking forward. He grabbed her hand, forcing her to turn about to face him. Her hands fell to curve into his chest.
"Leave me," Saiorse hissed.
Taken aback, Alex stared at her silently. Saiorse's jaw clenched. She pressed him abckward, holding him to the wall once more. "You cannot make me."
"Make you what Saiorse?" Alex huffed.
"Need you," Saiorse spat. "I can't need you. I don't want you, and I cannot afford to need you. You must leave me. You must go back home. I have been alone for all these years and it must stay that way."
"And what happens if it does not?" Alex asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Saiorse swallowed hard. "Then you will die - in more ways than you can imagine. The moment I need you is the second you walk the earth for ages with no need. I will not do that to you. I will not damn you to something so terrible. That is what always happens. I meet someone, I walk with them, I start to care, and then they begin to die. And while they are dying and I am begging myself to let them go, I break. I change them. It happened to Khodai. It happened to Alara." She clasped his face, running her thumbs over his cheeks. "I can't do that to you, Alexander LeRoy, I just can't."
Hands over her neck, Alex found himself leaning forward. Saiorse did not budge, only held his gaze. She saw a door open then, a door to another world with Alex at her side and she reached for the door handle, prepared to shut it and turn away, never to open it again, but it seemed that was not to be. Like the snap of a cluster of logs in a rapid river, Alex stormed forward and pressed his lips to Saiorse's.
It took only the edge of a second for Saiorse to crumble. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers flying to curl into his hair. His hands fall to her hips, pulling her against him as he kissed her fiercely, drawing her lower lip between his teeth. Saiorse raked her nails down his back, drawing a shiver from him that affected a growl from deep within her chest. Shoving her backward, the rest of the items on the counter spilled to the floor. Hands spilling everywhere, Alex took hold of the cloak's button, pulling on it until it snapped, rather than simply unhooking it.
"Alex," Saiorse gasped, yanking her face from his. He only paused to catch her eye as she took her hands back, flattening her palms over his chest. "I do not- I- I will hurt you."
Alex reached downward, clasping the backs of her legs to lift her from the ground. Saiorse grunted as she was plopped onto the counter, breath stilling as he leaned over her, his eyes terribly close to hers.
"And if I told you I wanted you to?" Alex muttered.
Saiorse narrowed her eyes. "Then you would be a very foolish man."
"And that," Alex pushed both of his hands into her chest, knocking her backward. He leaned over her, pressing his elbows to either of her sides. Saiorse swallowed roughly. Alex grinned. "I accept."
Saiorse said not a word as he reached for his shirt. She sat forward, much to his distaste, grabbing his hand where it rested on the hem of the tunic. Slapping it away, Saiorse took his shirt in one palm, running her other beneath to flatten over his stomach. She gave a single, horrifically rough tug and the entire front of the tunic ripped from his body, the back sliding limply to the floor as if slain in battle.
Alex reached behind her feverishly, taking either shoulder of her gown in his hands to tug at it until it ripped like parchment in his fingers. Tossing the top half of the ebony gown away, Alex observed her there for a moment. On the river she'd looked as enticing as any woman - but in the light of the stray candles and the moon, she looked like a goddess. Her silver eyes glinted against the shadow, preying over him like an apex feline stalking a midnight snack.
Of all the women he'd had in his hands - and none quite as beautiful as she. Alex took the folds of her skirt between his fingers, rolling them away from her hips as gentle as he could manage with his hasty hands. He left it to be long forgotten in the dark. He stood there, taking in every piece of her, halting only when Saiorse leaned back on her palms, tilting her head backward. She parted her legs. He needn't anymore encouragement.
Their lips pressed together once more, Alex pressed his palm to her throat, sliding his fingers over her front until they stooped beneath her torso. He felt her tense, holding still until she relaxed once more. He took her chin between his thumb and finger, rolling the tip of his finger over her bottom lip.
"Do not be afraid of me," Alex muttered.
Saiorse scoffed. "I am not afraid of you," she retorted, grabbing a fistful of the knots tying his pants. She yanked them free with ease. "I am afraid of me."
"If you are such a monster prove it to me," Alex told her. "Show me what you are so terrified of."
Saiorse met his gaze, hesitated, then, "As you wish, Lord LeRoy."
In one swift, fluid leap, Saiorse plunged across Alex's chest, knocking them both to the floor. Before they collapsed, she had her lips pressed to his. Alex kissed her roughly, pushing his tongue between her lips as he tasted her. He wasn't sure if the lingering blood was her own, or someone else's. His hands fell over her breasts, rolling his fingers in a way he knew would make her tremble. He wasn't wrong as a shiver wracked her body, helped as he took his lips from hers to press them to the side of her neck. He almost chuckled as he bit her skin, running his tongue over the crook of her throat to dampen the pain.
Grabbing her hips with his hands, Alex pushed Saiorse sideways, rolling them until she lay beneath him, his hands falling to her knees to pry them apart, situating himself between her hips. He lowered his face to her thighs, clamping his teeth around her calf. Rougher and rougher he made a pathway of painful kisses, drawing closer to her middle as he went.
Anticipation made her toes curl, but Alex only left her there, favoring her other thigh, rather than giving her what she desired. As he did this repeatedly, his fingers drawing ridiculous close until they left to her chest once more, Saiorse growled loudly. She wrapped her legs around his waist, twisting so abruptly he was caught off guard. Grunting, Alex peered at her with pinched eyes as she leaned over him.
"You make me so angry," Saiorse snarled.
"Good," Alex growled.
Lurching forward, Alex took a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back to place a kiss to her lips. Saiorse gasped under his mouth, her hands flying to claw at his spine. Alex arched his back, crushing Saiorse to his chest. He pulled her head back further, burying his face against her. Saiorse drew a long breath, shutting her eyes.
Using his forearm to force her back, Alex slammed Saiorse back first against the floor, his hands traveling between her thighs. Breath quickening, Saiorse's back arched from the wooden ground, but she was only pressed back by Alex's free hand. Saiorse wrapped a leg around his waist, yanking him forward rougher than she'd meant to. Trembling Alex lifted his gaze to meet hers, overwhelmed by the intensity her eyes shone with.
He moved over her, pulling forward while he dug his fingers into the backs of her shoulders. A breathless hiss flooded his ears as he bowed his head beside hers, struggling to keep himself upright as she squeezed his hips with her knees. He rolled in a wave, losing himself to her scent - a storm over a field of reeds. His hands curled in her hair, his breathing hitching, his heartrate quickening. He could almost swear he felt hers jump under her skin, too.
Saiorse slammed her nails into his lower back, digging them so deep she felt blood well beneath her fingers. Alex jerked with a huff as the pain wracked his senses, a growl rising in his throat as he grabbed hold of the sofa next to their heads. He wasn't sure if his fingers actually went through the fabric, or it was his imagination. He'd like to think the former.
Suddenly, Alex was beneath her, peering into peregrine eyes that left him motionless. Her hair fell to curtain both of their faces, her breathless shudders bringing forth tremors of his own. She gave no warning, no sign of her decision, only, dove forward against his neck. Alex didn't expect the flash of pain, or the way she moaned, but almost upon contact, he began to fill sheer and utter bliss.
Saiorse had bitten him - but she had not taken blood. She'd pushed the substance that subdued her victims - when she wanted to, anyway - through his veins. Through a haze, Alex watched her lean backward, peering at him through her river of hair with those shimmering eye. She wore a blank expression, her lips set in a downward pull. She was waiting.
Waiting for him to reject - to leave.
Hand slowly slithering to the side of his neck, Alex touched the speck of blood that had rolled from her bite, then reached to her mouth, slipping his finger through her lips. Saiorse grew rigid, but, cautiously, swiped her tongue over his finger. Her eyes rolled, her body shuddered. Head clear enough, Alex pushed her backward against, bringing himself as close to her as he could. Saiorse groaned, her breath leaving in a flustered huff.
"You are no monster," Alex repeated breathlessly, his body rolling in a wave. "I do not know what you have done to me, but- I do not think I wish to fight it."
Saiorse opened her eyes to look at him. "The same thing you have done to me."
Somehow they managed to carry themselves to one of the beds, lost in each other well into the night. Neither of them heard the door crack open, nor did they hear the footsteps that belonged to a stranger - as they were drifting peacefully in the comfort of having someone to hold. They knew not that the figure hovered over them with dagger in hand, raised and poised to sink through the chest of the sleeping woman first, then the slumbering man that clutched her so closely. They would only know of their hesitation and the parchment left on the table as they returned to the night.