Dukaryn let go of Meenu’s hair and grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back.

     "Leave her alone!" Meenu heard her mother scream. But when she looked at her, behind the village gates, she saw her mother being held back by a few villagers. "My child!"

     Meenu's father stared in shock. “Leave her be, King Dukaryn. Please! Take me instead!”

     Meenu fought back but she felt his strong grasp crack her bone, forcing her to gasp in pain. But she could deal with it. Master Red had dealt her more pain in their training, so this was nothing.

     Blood’s hands balled up into fists, and for the first time in years his heart raced in fear.

     Though Seliaryn was frozen in shock, other knight’s kept coming. And Blood kicked down another one, annoyed that they kept coming though they knew they were no match for him.

     "Stop!" Dukaryn suddenly yelled.

     The knights froze in their place.

     Blood's shoulders dropped and he turned to his master, who had appeared behind Lord Kyrus, holding his hands up with the sword he used as a walking stick.

     "Do you think I'm stupid?" Dukaryn asked.

     Meenu was breathing heavily. The king held one of her arms behind her, her other one was broken now and she couldn't move it. She couldn’t figure out a way to get away.

     "You are my fiancée. And not only have you chose to be a traitor but you are having a relationship with another man?" He said loudly into her ear.

     Meenu was grinding her teeth together. "You said it yourself." She started. "There is no relationship between us. It’s completely political. So what is the problem?"

     Dukaryn looked like he was ready to hit her.

     "Let her go" Blood said, trying to keep his voice calm.

     The King looked up at the warrior. "How would you feel if I kill her, Blood?"

     Blood's eye twitched in anger, though no one could see it.

     "You must be a fool, to decide to play with the King's toy."

     "I'm not your toy!" Meenu growled.

     "Shut up, you bitch." Dukaryn responded as he twisted her other arm and made her wince.

     Blood stepped forward but when Dukaryn held the knife closer to her neck, he froze.

     "What's his real name?" He asked Meenu.

     "I don't know." She said.

     Dukaryn raised his eyebrows. “Tell me the truth.”

     “I don’t know. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

     "Stop lying!" Dukaryn yelled, twisting her arm some more.

     "I'm not lying!" Meenu yelled, gasping in pain.

     "Its true!" Blood growled. "She doesn't know!"

     Dukaryn looked at him and let out a laugh. "You don't love her." He said. "You two know nothing about each other."

     "Let me go.” Meenu said, angrily.

     “This is her fault, you know?" Dukaryn asked Blood, ignoring Meenu.

     Blood stood there without responding.

     "This unlucky-ness you feel, it all because of this girl."

     Blood's heartbeat sped up as his breathing got heavy.

     "That's not true!" Meenu yelled.

     "Oh, but Meenu doesn't know the truth as to why she was given such an honorable title, am I right?" He asked, looking over at her parents.

     "My king... please..." Meenu's father begged. "Don't..."

     Meenu's mother was crying, unable to make words.

     “Right, Mayor?”

     The Mayor, who was still trying to hold villager’s back, began to glare. “This is unnecessary!”

     “My King!” Seliaryn hissed. “Stop this. She’s just a girl.”

     “So what?” Dukaryn said, not even turning to look at him. But his conversation with Seliaryn months ago flashed through his head. For a moment, he hesitated. But then he shook the thought away. He wasn’t going to let his right hand man scare him.

     Seliaryn couldn’t hurt him. Not even if he wanted to.

     Seliaryn’s hands started to shake in anger, knowing that he wasn’t just trying to physically hurt her, he was trying to break her spirit.

     "Meenu, do you want to know why people hate you?" The king continued.

     Meenu was surprised when she was suddenly reminded of the dream Master Red had put her in.

     The one with Avaryn.

     "Leave her alone." Blood said.

     “Dukaryn!” Seliaryn growled. “Stop this now.”

     Dukaryn grinned. "Because you were the fiancée of Avaryn. Did you know that?"

     Meenu's eyes widened.

     “He wiped your memory of him away before he left.” Dukaryn snorted. “Trying to protect you, you little bitch. Like that helped.”

     If she had forgotten about that dream, she would have not believed it one bit.

     But something inside her made her believe what he was saying. “I… no…” She tried to pull back her memories, and when nothing came, she tried to convince herself that it was a lie.

     But she couldn’t.

     Deep down, she knew it was true.

     "Lord and Lady Kyrus... will you deny this?" Dukaryn asked. There was a tinge of humor in his voice.

     Meenu looked at her parents. Though her mother looked at her with pleading eyes, her father looked away, looking defeated.

     "No..." Meenu said. "That... that wasn't my fault!"

     Dukaryn looked over at Blood, who was frozen and shocked. "Do you still love her after hearing something like that?" He asked Blood.

     Blood didn't respond.

     "Avaryn may kill you for trying to take his woman."

     "Stop!" Meenu yelled. "That's not true! I'm..."

     Though she wanted more than anything to deny it... it was all starting to make sense. All the hinting that the villagers did and the rumors she heard.

     And that dream.

     It was her subconscious talking.

     It made sense.

     But how? How could she have once been engaged to Avaryn?

     How could her parents do that to her?

     "I know you want to run." Dukaryn said to Blood. "So I will help you look a little more noble."

     Blood narrowed his eyes.

     "I will let you run and if you choose to leave Meenu and never come back then I will forget you even existed and do whatever I please with Meenu." Dukaryn smiled, pleased to know he was going to break Meenu's heart.

     But Blood stood there, hearing this man out.

     "Or, you can stay. If you stay, however... I will only release Meenu if you take off your mask and show us all that hideous face you're hiding. If you don't, I will kill her."

     Blood watched as Dukaryn grinned. He knew that the King found pleasure in the fact that whatever option Blood chose, it would work in favor of the King.

     "So run." Dukaryn said. "Leave now and show Meenu what she really is. Simply a cursed bitch."

     Meenu started to tear up now. "Blood…” She called. "I didn't know I was engaged to Avaryn… it’s not my fault!"

     Blood watched her.

     "I don’t even know him!" Meenu yelled through her tears, trying her best to make sure that Blood wouldn't break her heart, just as so many others had. "He's a villain and I want him dead as much as everyone else does!"

     Blood looked over at his Master, who was watching with a strange amusement mixed with anger.

     Blood knew very well that Master Red saw this coming.

     What he didn’t know was why he allowed it.

     "Blood… don’t believe what he’s saying… Don’t judge me for who he says I am! Judge me for what you know. You know me! Pl–” She cut herself off when she realized what she was saying.

     Avaryn had said that to her. In her dream.

     Blood released the breath he was holding.

     Meenu shook her head, trying to get the cloaked man’s image out of her head.

     "That's enough." Dukaryn said. "Hurry up and leave or I'll take it all back."

     Blood let out a small laugh. "I'm not leaving."

     Meenu looked at him, eyes wide with happiness. "Blood..."

     "My father didn't raise me to be a coward. Whether it came to being a warrior or a lover, I was not raised to be a coward."

     The King was shocked, but kept his cocky grin on his face. "Alright then. You can now either take off your mask or let me kill her."

     Blood looked at Dukaryn. He was still giving everything he could to hold back his anger. He knew he had no other option at this point.

     Because though he was fast, he wouldn't be fast enough to save Meenu.

     His only option was to remove his mask and let the shock slow Dukaryn down.

     "What is your real name, Blood?" He asked.

     The whole village was watching. The whole village and a good chunk of the King’s Army. And Blood hesitated.

     "Tell me what your real name is, and remove the mask. Show the world the face you are hiding."

     "Blood." Meenu called. “You don’t have to do it.”

     Meenu was satisfied. She was satisfied in knowing that he was willing to stay for her, even after knowing whatever the truth about her was.

     But she didn’t want him to go as far as sacrificing his secret. “Don’t do it.”

     "Stop making me wait! What is your real name?" Dukaryn asked again, getting angry.

     Blood ignored Meenu and placed his hand on his mask. "You know my real name, Duke." He said.

     Dukaryn flinched. No one was allowed to call him that.

     "Why so silent suddenly?" Blood asked as he removed his mask. "Did I trigger a memory?"

     Meenu's eyes widened as she watched Blood remove his mask.

     There was a strange darkness in his eyes that Meenu noticed. A darkness that she had never seen on his face before.

     Dukaryn froze, his mouth opening slightly.

     Things started to slow down around her.

     Her mind silenced the gasps and shouts and curses.

     And a thought flashed through her mind.
     She tried to block out the thoughts, since now wasn’t the time. But she couldn’t. And all she could suddenly think of was that Blood had done for her what Avaryn had asked her to do for him.

     To judge someone not by what others say, but by what one knows about that person.

     She stared at Blood’s eyes and heard Avaryn’s voice from that dream. “Judge me yourself for who I really am. Not for who they say I am.”

     How could she judge him when she knew nothing about him?

     Nothing about him.

     She then heard it. She heard them say it.

     Avaryn, they said.

     Then, she realized, she really knew nothing about him.

     And suddenly, she heard a whisper in her ear. It was a voice she didn’t recognize and it said something she couldn’t understand. But just as the voice faded, a white light flashed before her eyes.

     The door to her locked up memories opened.

     Everything came back to her. Years of memories that Avaryn had locked up came back to her.

     And when her vision came back, she looked up in tears, confused, disoriented and heartbroken.

     She loved him too.

     She loved a killer.

     The gasps and shouts had faded, everyone was silently staring at Blood.

     Everyone except Master Red.

     Master Red was staring at Meenu, who was now in the arms of Blood.

     “If you think about it hard enough, the memories will return.” Master Red said. It sounded like he was talking to himself, but the field was silenced so his voice was heard by most of the people there.

     People turned to look at him for a moment, before they looked at Meenu.

     “That was the weakness of the memory spell.” Master Red said. “The memories weren’t protected by a stone wall with a golden key. They were protected by a house of sticks. Hit it hard enough and it will come tumbling down. Am I right, Meenu?”

     Meenu didn’t hear him.

     She didn’t know how she got into Blood’s arms, but she didn’t care.

     She pushed herself away from him and fell down onto the floor, unable to hold herself up.

     Throwing her hands onto her head, she pulled her own hair, trying to stop the aching pain and praying that all of this was just a dream.

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=O 

Hehe! I hope this was an entertaining chapter xD

Sorry for the late update! I'm currently in Denmark! =D 

Thankfully I was able to get a chapter up!! HEHE! Hope you all enjoyed!!

Take care,

Luckycharms! <3