Elliott saw flashes of anger, sadness and a little embarrassment in Rose’s ice-blue eyes. Lone tears crawled down her reddened cheeks, as if she were doing her best to not let them fall. She had her head tilted up towards him in defiance, green hair spilling over the shoulders of her red silk dress, fists clenched tightly at her sides though he could see the softest trembles pass through her body like a mild gust would be enough to topple her.

  “Korin,” Elliott said without looking at the dwarf. “Leave us. Stay in the palace grounds where I can find you. I’ll have a job for you later.”

  He didn’t watch the dwarf leave, keeping his eyes on Rose. She kept hers on his. For all the strength she had found to challenge him, he could tell she was barely holding it together.

  “Take a seat,” Elliott said, as he walked around the chairs and took the seat that Korin had vacated. He leant back, balanced his right foot on his left knee. Rose hadn’t moved, still staring towards where Elliott had been. She was trying to regain her composure. Trying to eke out a little victory over him. Trying to make a point that he didn’t dictate her actions.

  It was okay, though.

  He’d seen this sort of thing plenty of times. He just wasn’t someone who cared about things like that anymore. He had real strength. He didn’t need to fake it. Didn’t need to make little shows of defiance to feed his self-esteem.

  But he didn’t fault her for it. She was a child, really. Barely into her twenties. She wasn’t that much older than he’d been when he’d begun his journey.

  He waited, his eyes on the empty chair that she would need to sit in.

  A moment later, she did sit, but not in the chair opposite him. Instead, she took the one to his left. He almost smiled. She was going to take every little victory she could. He turned to her as she wiped away the unfallen tears and faced him.

  “Are you sure you’re ready to hear this?”

  He could see the whites of her knuckles; she was clasping her hands so tightly in her lap.

  “I need to know. You took everything from me. Why?”

  Her voice shook ever so slightly, but she met his eyes.

  Briefly, he considered lying. He was sending her into the dungeon with his sister. As he looked into Rose’s ice-blue eyes, he wondered if she had the ability to not succumb to her emotions. To not break down like she had just now. To not deliberate on events that she could do nothing about.

  Especially in a dangerous environment where the slightest mishap could mean death.

  But she needed to learn that life wasn’t just harsh – it was brutal, pitiless, violent, and it wouldn’t wait for her to be comfortable with it. She was no longer sheltered from the real world by the privileges her name had bought her. If she didn’t just want to survive but thrive, she needed to hear the truth and she needed to learn to live with it.

  “Your parents were criminals,” he said, watching as her eyes narrowed at him. “Usually, I wouldn’t concern myself with such things, but unfortunately for you, your parents weren’t very smart. They embroiled themselves with an organisation that sought to kill me. An organisation that managed to kill some of my people. So, I did what I do. I hunted them all down. You don’t hurt my people and expect to live.”

  He let the words sink in. Her eyes widened and she just stared at him for a moment, her mouth slightly open, like she wanted to talk but couldn’t think of the words she wanted to say.

  “You’re lying,” she whispered finally, though her eyes were on the rug.

  “Am I?”

  “You need some sort of justification to make yourself feel less guilty.”

  “Do I strike you as a man who feels guilt?”

  She glanced up, looked into his eyes. There were those tears again. Ten years after losing her parents, the pain was still raw to her, it seemed. He couldn’t understand it. Even after he and his sister were killed, he’d allowed himself to cry once after it had happened. The morning when he had woken up. Never again after that. It’s not like he could go back in time. All he could do was ensure that it never happened again. And hunt down the ones who were behind it.

  “I don’t believe you,” she whispered.

  “I don’t need you to.”

  “You killed them because that’s what you do,” she said, her voice a little louder.

  “It is what I do,” he agreed.

  “You just go around killing people because you enjoy it.”

  “Enjoy is rather strong. I’m indifferent to it.”

  “Are you? Are you sure you don’t enjoy it?” She’d really found her voice now, shifting to the edge of her seat.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I’d tell you if enjoyment was a primary factor.”

  Her ice-blue eyes flashed with anger and denial.

  “Maybe you killed your sister, too? Maybe she did something to annoy you.”

  He smiled.

  “If I told you that was true, would it change the truth about your parents? Would it make it easier to bear?”

  Silence.

  “I still don’t believe you.”

  “And like I said,” he leaned forwards, bringing his face towards hers, “I don’t need you to.”

  The silence hung between them, his black eyes fixed on her teary blue. It took a moment before she pulled her gaze away, dropped her eyes towards the rug.

  “Now, I told you what you wanted to know. I’ll give you a moment to compose yourself and then I’ll take you to the dungeon. Elsie will be there to protect you and I’ll send someone else in with you. But you need to gather yourself and be prepared.”

  She didn’t move but she didn’t respond either.

  After a minute or two, she asked quietly. “Why would they be criminals?”

  Elliott smiled to himself. Good. She was processing it. Asking the right questions. He leaned back again, put his foot back on his knee.

  “That was your great grandfather’s fault, then his children’s after him. When it came time for your father to inherit, he found there was little left. The riches that Arthur Reese – your grandfather’s grandfather had earned was squandered away by his children and their children. And the rest of your family inheritance along with it.”

  “But how could my parents have kept it hidden from me?”

  “How couldn’t they? You weren’t even a thought in your father’s mind when he first turned to crime. I don’t believe he was even married to your mother then. I respect what he did – he was never entirely poor but he rebuilt your family name to something even beyond what it had been. By the time you were born, most of what he had earned illegitimately, he had legitimised.

  “But when you keep such company, it comes at its own price. The price for his success was my head. And unfortunately for him, I’m quite fond of my head.”

  Her eyes snapped to his, anger flashing across them. He smiled. He thought that was a good joke.

  “Can you prove it?” she asked.

  “No. All of those involved were dealt with. In the way that I enjoy,” Elliott grinned. “The only people here who know the truth of it are Isabel, Elsie and I.”

  “That’s just it, isn’t it? You kill anyone who could be a witness. Who could have a different story. The true story.”

  “How old were you when your parents died? Ten?”

  She nodded.

  He pointed at the pentagram on his forehead. “Did you ever see this symbol in your home?”

  He could see her mind working as she stared at the symbol. He could almost see the memories playing through her mind like an old movie, her eyes slightly widening, her mouth slightly opening.

  “You remember it, don’t you?”

  Slowly, she nodded. “I saw something like it. In father’s study.”

  “I bet it all disappeared after he died.”

  She nodded again. “What does it mean?”

  “It’s a symbol a guild on Earth used to use. A guild whose sole purpose was to kill me. Not the official purpose, of course.”

  “That’s your proof?”

  “That’s the only proof you’re ever going to get. You’ve seen the symbol in your home. I’m sure you saw your parents hosting guests at odd hours of the evening and night. I don’t need to lie to you.”

  “You need me to go to the dungeon. Of course you’d lie to me.”

  “I could ask Korin to go. I could ask Aldric. Elsie would be disappointed but she’d understand. I told you the truth. Whether you accept it or not is up to you but just because your parents weren’t the people that you thought they were doesn’t mean you need to hate me any less. Or love them any less.”

  He sensed movement in the corridor outside the large double doors of the living room, ten metres across from them. He caught faint mutterings and the slight clang of metal as footsteps marched towards them. He glanced at Rose, a finger on his lips.

  He stood, his eyes on the dark mahogany doors as they crashed open, exploding inward with a booming crack. Several soldiers stood to either side of the door in mail armour, spears and halberds pointed towards Elliott. There was a small group standing between them, two large figures in leather armour with large broadswords in hand, and two others in flowing robes, hands held outward. He could feel the mana swirling around them.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”

  Behind the group, a tall soldier stepped forward, helmet under his arm, a dark brown cloak draped around his armour. Elliott didn’t recognise the man, though it seemed the soldier recognised him.

  “Lord Carpenter.” The soldier glanced to his right to someone else in the corridor that Elliott couldn’t see. Soldiers parted as Aldric came into view, striding past them and into the room, Daveran and his other three bodyguards walking beside him, two on either flank.

  “What’s going on?” Elliott asked.

  “Did you create a gateway in here?”

  Elliott nodded then pointed towards the cordoned off area on the other side of the living room.

  “The castle is warded against high-tier magic,” Aldric said, with a rueful smile. “Especially unauthorised entry to the castle. You set off the alarms. I told them it was probably you, but they have their protocols.”

  “All this?” Elliott swept his arm across the soldiers at the doors. “For me? I’m positively frightened.”

  Aldric smiled though the officer at the door seemed less amused.

  “I’m going to be coming back and forth from here,” Elliott said to the house guard.

  The soldier nodded. “We will still have to check, my Lord.”

  “Do what you need to do. Maybe knock next time though instead of barging in. If I was a nervous fellow, there might’ve been some cleaning up to do. Of your limbs.”

  “Of course, my Lord.” He turned to leave, gesturing to the rest of the soldiers to follow him. Aldric quietly asked his bodyguards to wait outside for him.

  “How come you are here?”

  Elliott glanced over his shoulder at Rose. She was staring at nothing in particular, hands interlocked as she twiddled her thumbs.

  He turned back to Aldric.

  “Well, it turns out that I can’t access the dungeon,” Elliott said, loud enough for Rose to hear. “You never told me about that.”

  Aldric was frowning. “I didn’t know…why…it doesn’t make sense. Why would the Twins summon you but make it so you can’t enter?”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Elliott glanced over his shoulder again. Rose was still staring at nothing. “So you still want to go to the dungeon?”

  “Me?”

  Rose began stirring, her eyebrows beginning to frown.

  “Yeah,” Elliott replied, turning back to Aldric. “If I can’t go, I need someone to go in my stead.”

  “Wait,” Rose shouted from behind him. Elliott smiled. “I’ll go.”

  Elliott looked back to her.

  “I’ll go,” she repeated.

  “Are you sure? You need to be in control of yourself. A dungeon is the last place you want to be if you break down.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said, head tilted up at him, a small modicum of defiance in her eyes. “I said I’d go if you gave me answers. Besides, I’m fond of Elsie. If she’s asked for me, I’ll go with her. Not you, though.”

  Elliott grinned. “You don’t need to be fond of me. Looks like I won’t be needing you to go, Aldric,” he said to the young king, his eyes still on Rose.

  “Go get what you need. We leave in five minutes.”