The moon shone brightly overhead as Evren hunted her next target. She brushed stray curls from her face and crept towards the house. She was back in the village she had visited with the High Lord and Celosia three days ago. During those three days, she'd seen very little of Celosia, and she was grateful. She didn't know if the High Lord had spoken to Celosia or not.

    Evren gripped the lattice and began to climb. Her target's bedroom window was on the second floor of the house. The lattice would take her right to it. This male lived alone, according to the High Lord's information. He'd been providing Loyalists with shelter and food, then began plundering himself.

    Evren unlatched the window and pushed it open. She crept into the room. There was a figure asleep on the bed. She drew Mortem silently and slunk towards the bed. The figure shifted and moonlight fell across his features.

    Evren cocked her head. It was the same male who'd grabbed her when they rode through town. The one Eris had threatened for her. Was this male actually a Loyalist or was the High Lord just giving her an opportunity to kill him?

    Did it matter? She was going to kill him because she'd been told to, regardless of the reason she'd been told. Evren inched closer. The male cracked an eye open.

    "I knew there was something off about you," he chuckled. "You're that Human assassin. The Wraith. The one who everyone suspects has been killing Loyalists. You've come to kill me?"

    "I have."

    "Because I'm a Loyalist or because I touched you?"

    Evren plastered a thoughtful look across her face. She touched Mortem's tip to her finger and spun the blade. "Does it matter? You will die, regardless of the reason."

    "When one is looking at their death, they tend to want to know why they must die."

    Evren crossed the room and pressed Mortem to his throat. "All monsters deserve to die," she hissed. "Let that be your reason."

    "How do you know I'm a monster?" He grinned and grabbed her leg. He forced her hand away from him with his free arm. Evren bit back a cry as he flipped her onto the bed and knocked her weapons aside. "No pathetic Human will kill me," he growled.

    He grabbed her by the wrists, holding her down. Evren fought back the panic that flooded her mind. Thinking quickly, she snapped her forehead into his nose. He slouched back, losing his grip on her.

    Evren slipped a packet out of her vest and tore it open, then hid it in her mouth. She pinched off the top with her teeth, hoping none of the powder had fallen onto her tongue. She'd be dead in minutes if it had. The male rounded on her again. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them to his chest. With the other hand, he forced her face closer to his.

    Evren closed her eyes and let him kiss her. She felt his tongue on her lips. Evren parted her own and spat the small packet into his mouth. He pulled back, coughing. Evren kicked him off of her and grabbed Mortem and Vita.

    The male fell to his knees on the floor, gasping for air. "What...did you...do?" He rasped.

    Evren sheathed her blades and watched him. "I poisoned you."

    A white foam gathered around his lips. He gagged and retched, grasping at his throat. Evren crossed her arms, waiting. He coughed once more and collapsed. She touched two fingers to his neck, ensuring that he was dead.

    Evren returned to the window and climbed onto the lattice. She latched the window, then made her way back to the ground. She left the village on foot. Asper was tied to a tree just beyond the village. She mounted him and rode back to the Forest House, trying to ignore the feelings of disgust and shame that pressed at her.

•~ ❘ ۞ ❘ ~•

    Eris sat awake in his chambers, listening to the silence of the house. It was increasingly loud tonight. A door banged shut. Eris stood and approached his door. He waited until he heard footsteps in the hallway outside.

    He cracked the door open and waved a hand. Evren's weapons and bracelet vanished, along with the poisons he'd allowed her to start carrying for assignments. She didn't acknowledge him. That awful empty, yet soulful look filled her eyes.

    "Why him?" She whispered.

    "Is he dead?" Eris asked, not answering her question.

    "Yes. I had to poison him. He managed to get my weapons away for a little while."

    That terrible, empty look. Why did she wear that awful empty look? "Are you all right?"

    She didn't answer. She entered her room and closed the door. Her sentries took up their positions. Eris furrowed his brows and closed his own door. The house was silent again.

•~ ❘ ۞ ❘ ~•

    Evren couldn't sleep. She sat in the tub, filled with scalding water. She drew in measured breaths. No shame, no despair, she thought. It wasn't something I could control. It was never something I could control. Survival. It was for survival.

    She felt some calmness returning gradually. Evren climbed out of the tub at last. She needed to retreat her clothes with the small crystals soon. Evren kicked them into a pile in the corner of the bathroom. She begrudgingly grabbed a nightgown out of her closet and shrugged it on. The soft fabric and short length felt very foreign to her. She never wore dresses of any kind, not even nightgowns.

    Evren grabbed a pair of pants and a sweater. She pulled the pants on beneath the nightgown and slid the sweater over it. She paced around the room a few times, but knew sleep wouldn't come. Evren cracked her door open. The sentries didn't stop her as she entered the hallway. They followed her away from her room and down the stairs.

    Evren took her time, peering into different rooms as she walked. The guards never stopped her or said a word. She reached the hallway filled with many paintings. In between the painting of the Lady of the Autumn Court and Beron Vanserra stood a doorway. Evren opened it curiously.

    She saw a small cozy sitting room inside. Evren entered, looking around. There was no fire on the hearth, but the room was clean and well maintained. She stifled a small gasp, spying a small piano forte along one wall. She crossed the room and sat down at it. Her guards took up positions just inside the door. Evren drew in a deep breath and began to play.

•~ ❘ ۞ ❘ ~•

    There was a sound. But it was not just any sound. It was musical. Eris listened in the darkness of his room as the music drifted through the air. No one had played that piano in years. It belonged to his mother. She was the only one who ever used it. Someone else was playing it now.

    Almost without realizing it, Eris stood and left his room. He followed the sound downstairs and into a sitting room. Evren sat at the piano, her eyes closed as her fingers roamed the keys. Eris gestured to the guards. They left the room without protest. He leaned against the doorway, watching her.

    "My mother taught me to play when I was younger," Evren murmured. "After they died, I practiced at taverns when I had the chance. Music is the only thing that makes me feel alive now. It pulls on my heartstrings and for once, I feel something other than anger, pain, and numbness. I don't feel like a monster with a heart of stone."

    "My mother used to play this piano," Eris answered. "But when Father began abusing and torturing her, she stopped." Evren bowed her head, still playing. Her fingers were moving impossibly fast. "May I watch you?" She nodded wordlessly.

    Eris approached and sat on the bench beside her. She didn't look at him, but kept playing. "I had to make sure my partner was asleep before I left to go to a tavern," Evren said. "I didn't want him to follow me and steal what little I made for playing."

    She ceased playing. Eris let his own hand fall on the keys. He didn't press any, but let his fingers drift over them. "Did he steal from you often?"

    "He stole everything from me." Eris looked up, noticing the hoarseness in her voice. Her eyes were shining, but she didn't cry. "He stole my money, my life, my innocence...everything."

    "Tell me," Eris urged.

    She shook her head and lowered the panel that covered the piano keys. Eris rested his arms on it. Evren's gaze flickered to his wrists. He tensed as she reached out and took one of his hands. She traced the faded lines of scars on his wrist.

    "What happened?" She asked.

    "If I tell you, will you tell me about your partner?"

    Eris didn't move as her fingers drifted away from his scars. She began to trace the lines in his palm. She didn't seem aware of what she was doing. Evren nodded after a moment.

    "These scars," her fingers rubbed over them again, "came from my father. I was twelve. I don't remember what I did to anger him, or if I even did anything. I just remember him beating me and dragging me down to the torture chamber. He didn't torture me, but he chained me to a set of manacles on a wall. I hung there for two weeks."

    Eris broke off. Evren's fingers tickled his palm as she traced the lines again. "My mother came down every day after Father was asleep. She cleaned my wrists and the manacles. She fed me. She told me she loved me. When Father finally let me down, she convinced him to have a healer fix my arms and shoulders."

    Evren was quiet. She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around herself. "Cadoc, my partner, is the one who found me after my parents died. I would have died too if it weren't for him. He took me back to the Mortal Lands and promised to train me as an assassin. I had nowhere else to go, so I agreed and stayed with him."

    "He did train me. He taught me almost everything I know. I thought I could trust him." She closed her eyes. Eris didn't touch her. He didn't move. "I was only ten years old when he found me. He was forty. He came back from a tavern one night. He..." she drew in a deep breath.

    "There was nothing I could do. I was too small to fight him off. There were no weapons near me. I screamed and kicked and cried, but it didn't work. He just..." she covered her face with her hands. "It hurt me in more ways than one. It kept happening. Sometimes he brought friends. They laughed at me when they took their turns. Finally, I just gave in. I quit trying to fight. I quit feeling. I just became this thing that breathed and hunted and killed. I let Cadoc do what he wanted and then he left me alone."

    "Why didn't you leave? Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance?" Eris tried to keep the anger swirling in his gut from emerging through his voice.

    "Despite everything he'd done to me, he had still saved my life. I couldn't leave because I had nowhere to go and no money to live off of. Everything I earned, he stole. What little I had went towards food, gear, and clothes."

    "How long?" Eris asked. "How long did this go on?"

    "Sixteen years."

    "How many times?"

    She shrugged. "I stopped counting."

    He looked away. How many times had he heard his father do the same thing to his mother? How many times had he seen his brothers do such things? Eris curled his hands into fists. Evren was silent beside him. What could he do? Sixteen years of such abuse and trauma. He couldn't erase that from her mind. And she was pretending to be his whore. That male she'd killed...he had touched her. He had grabbed her.

    "Your assignment tonight..." Eris began.

    "It almost didn't end well. I nearly poisoned myself to poison him."

    "What do you mean?"

    She glanced at him. "He overpowered me. I held a packet of poison in my mouth and let him kiss me just to poison him. It could have been worse, I suppose." He didn't know what to say. "Don't feel sorry for me. There's nothing to feel sorry about. Sometimes things turn out that way." Evren stood abruptly. "I survived."

    She breezed out of the sitting room. Eris was left alone with the silence and his own confused thoughts. He hadn't been feeling sorry for her. He'd felt angry. Irrationally angry. Upset. Horrified. Protective, even.

He wanted nothing more than to find that male, Cadoc, and tear him limb from limb. Ten years old. She had been ten years old the first time. Sixteen years. That male let his friends take turns with her. She had been ten. Eris sat there, fuming, until the first rays of dawn came through the window.