Rosalynde's eyes where closed when she heard the sound of the key juggling against the lock. She'd lost count of the days since the guards had thrown her down there. Three of them to ensure she'd gotten inside the cell like any normal incarcerated.

By the standards of the law, she knew of her right to a fair trial – but since when had she herself given fair judgment to others underneath her command? The duplicity of the realization made the bile in her throat rise.

She kept her eyes closed as she tried to study all there was to the figure now standing in front of her.

Woman by the heaviness of the footsteps, by the lightness of the breathing. Her doubts turning into reality as she tugged hard on the chains bound to her wrists.

"You look miserable for someone that nearly succeeded in killing me a few months ago. No words?" It didn't help the fact that she knew the voice. A voice she'd least wanted to hear down there, in a place where not even the holiest of priests could expurgated from the devious deeds of the devil.

She licked her chapped lips, the stinging bringing her voice back to life. "I'm simply wondering how someone such as yourself waltzed inside here without being beheaded." Her own voiced sounded foreign as she struggled to get the accents right. It been the first time she'd spoken down there as a prisoner, and not as the investigator. She didn't know the life on the other side of the bars.

"Don't tell me you missed having your hands around by neck," Hellenia said, chains screaming as she forced Rosalynde to stand.

"Always a displeasure. If you've come here to gloat then I suggest—"

"They've decided on your sentence."

That made the latter crack her eyes open. Darkness swarmed around them as a single light flashed in a far distance. On her right? In front of her, maybe? She didn't know as her keen senses went on betraying her.

Hellenia kept staring as Rosalynde felt sweat coat her bare hands.

They'd stripped her of all clothing, giving her a modest mud-coloured chemise.

They'd stripped her of everything, including her gloves.

Now she couldn't bear looking at her hands, at how the scars ran all around her palms and fingers in a canvas of horror.

"You'll first be hanged, then your body will be burned in the middle of Reslow Plaza. Apparently people are already betting on how much time will it take for you to die." Hellenia gave an amused look as Rosalynde avoided her gaze, staring at the stone ceiling above their head.

"Fitting for someone who committed regicide," there was more she wanted to add, but there was no need.

She'd had enough. After everything that had happened. After all the time he'd had to tell her the truth. Ever since stepping inside the cell she'd wished she'd travelled back to the past, to when Lord Regulus – to when her father had saved her all those years ago.

But she knew it was wrong.

Because a father would have never abandoned his daughter like he had. A father would have never left his daughter under the care of a woman such as Vivian Hestor. That wasn't like fathers acted.

That, she knew.

Hellenia strode outside of the cell for a second, a muffled exchange heard before Rosalynde heard the footsteps of the guard on duty fade into silence.

"We have less than fifteen minutes before the change of guard." Hellenia said, briefly checking the time with her wristwatch, squinting her eyes under the feeble light as she figured out the correct time.

The only reply that came was the sound the blood made as

"We both know you did not kill the bastard."

That made Rosalynde's smile widened on instinct, like it always did, like it always had.

"Why do you think you received not a single visit except from me up until now? You may be a cunning bitch, but if there is one thing you're good is at surviving against the odds."

"She did say I was needed where I would not cause damage." Her heart tensed as she thought of the conversation she'd had with Katherine. It been the object of her thoughts since being thrown inside the cell.

How hadn't she noticed it? All those years passed together, suffering under the same implacable hand. All those quick smiles, all those sleepless nights passed close enough under the same blanket to resist to one of concoctions the elder Apostle kept coming up with. She'd never called Katherine a friend, believing the word had been improperly used when addressing their relationship. Comrades, brethren reunited under the same thundering insignia of the Des Reslows.

Katherine kept a small nightingale in her youth. A pretty little thing that chanted the most soave of all as she practiced with her harp just before the sun rose in early mornings and as it slowly disappeared across the horizon.

She still remembered her screams as they found it hanging, skin turned upside down as it dangled tied to a golden thread.

Could that death have been issued by Vivianne, or under the direct command of her majesty herself?

Hellenia had been the first visitor she'd had down there. Katherine hadn't even bothered checking on her, and of Pharah and Hector not a single whiff. She'd suspected they'd been kept from coming down there to meet her. Grey especially. If she closed her eyes enough she could make out the light beard that could only be spotted when he looked towards the sky, or when he held a torch in hand right under his chin.

"The apparent heir was forced to the countryside in preparation of her twin's funeral. If it makes you feel better I heard she demanded to let her see you before the guards too her away. Apparently – she kept on fighting for a chance to visit her personal attendant, detained unfairly and without any actual proof."

"What of Grey?"

She dared not call him by his name. Not in her presence. Never in the presence of a former lover.

"Moving in his own shadows as per usual. Even if I had to admit that I have no idea on what he's planning this time. Last time I'd talked to Nathaniel it seemed Hector was pretty busy with something regarding the Aterian lands."

She couldn't help herself. "His homeland?"

At those words Hellenia eyes doubled their size.

"I didn't think he'd tell you that. He must hold you in high regard if he let you on his land of origin."

For a brief moment her mind turned back to look at the moment she'd felt her soul soar high. The feeling of his warm lips over hers. How she'd wanted them to slowly slide down, under her chin as he kept her anchored to reality, all while temporarily allowed herself to become a mess of sweat and tears. Had she known the ending would have been so bittersweet, she would have invited him inside her bed months.

But that moment was lost, the present now barging against her door.

And finally, it came, the question the former Apostle had refrained from asking since Hellenia had stepped foot down there.

"Why are you here?"

Hellenia's dark skin glowered under the feeble light, her features quickly morphing into something more feline. A cat who after losing to huger had stopped playing with its prey before gulping it down in one go.

Her dark eyes settled briefly on Rosalynde's hands before fixating back on her face. Had the roles been reversed she wondered if Hellenia would have had the same look as she had while questioning her.

"I come here bearing an offer." A twitch of brows.

"That doesn't sound so tempting as you're trying to make it seem."

"In three days, you are to be hanged in public before your body is burned to dust. I believe you don't have the right to call out what interest you. Plus, I'm the acting messenger. Messengers are usually left alone."

"Exceptions can be made."

"Again, you have no power over that."

Hellenia strode forwards, making Rosalynde edge until her back scraped the grungy walls. She felt the chemise tear as she tried placing as much distance as possible between them. Had she been in the right state of body and mind, she would have tried using the thick iron chains to her advantage, but a simple pull had left a mark on her wrist that wouldn't have gone away before long.

The single thread of fabric was nearly difficult before something cold brushed between her fingers. She tore her eyes and watched as Hellenia played with her gun. With her father's gun.

Pursing her lips she waited, stalking the messenger with her glacial stare as the latter motioned her to show what was left of her hands.

Rosalynde flinched as Hellenia loaded a bullet, stifling a gaunt laughter before pulling the trigger against the chain.

The sordid sound the chain made as both ends fell to the ground would have been bought to wake up a sleeping devil.

"My contractor is a benevolent man." She states calmly. "You can choose. You can either stay here and wait for the next round of guards to come around before they realize your restrains have been taken off, or you can call in the debt you have with him."

Rosalynde felt her ears ring, a reminiscence of how the bullet had penetrated the iron, bending it until the breaking point had reached. Ice filled her bones as she shook of some pending tension.

Whatever Black Judge wanted from her meant trouble, a trouble in the shape of a beast where its claws would have drawn blood before letting her leave.

"What does he want?"

"In exchange of aide. Once the threat is taken care of you'll have to work exclusively for him. No more apostles, no more serving under her highness princess Pharah." Hellenia cursed as the shrieks of rats where heard down the hall. "After all, your name has already been released to the public. It will be impossible for you to continue working for her after this ends."

She was right. Nobody would like to know that the prime suspect of an imperial murder kept close to the apparent heir.

The silence that followed seemed to last eternally.

"What if I don't accept to call in the deal?" She already knew the answer the other was going to give. Her mind was whirling, it spun as a watermill fighting against the serenity of a serene lake.

Hellenia too knew she was scratching fractions of time, a luxury now more than ever. It slipped through her fingers like sand only to then get lost between folds of memory and space. Dark on white, ink spread on paper, like a bottle of wine breaking against the most exquisite of marbles.

"I'm afraid you'll have to come with me to find out."

Hellenia retreated into the light play of the shadows, throwing one last glance at the messy form of the other woman. Her footsteps steady and she slowly traced her way back towards the surface, towards the blue sky.

A scramble of iron clash was heard from behind. And as she turned around Hellenia nodded in approval as the former Apostle followed along the path.

"I believe this is going to be the start of a very successful business." Hellenia stated with a tight smile.

Steel said nothing as she followed her through the darkness. Down tunnels forgotten by man and gods alike.

With a gun in hand and vengeance in the other, a new sort of devil made its way back into the light. 

One that would have stopped only with death knocking at its door.