Author's note: WARNING FOR VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER!

(Good luck, I suppose. To you and me both.)

***

"My father gave me the sundial too."

He froze. His face reflected every single thing that was on his mind. I noticed his hands in the space between his knees turning a large silvery ring of his right hand with his left, his eyes clouded with thoughts. And he slowly turned his head to me.

He finally got it.

Lord Ralph might never have expected something like this to be brought to light, when he had come to Prince Nova, asking merely for the little spy who had a glowing sundial.

We did not speak; we did not move. The burden of the revelation hung loose in the air between us.

I took a quick glance at his face, his eyes danced with theories and thoughts, and body rigid as an old withered tree.

His eyes met mine again, and I lowered my gaze.

"He never returned because he had you." He whispered; his fists clenched.

Guilt overpowered me, followed by fear. He was going to hate me. Already did.

"So, how is he?" his pretentious stoic tone was not lost on me.

"I saw him last when I was just seven."

"Is he..."

Without thinking even for a heartbeat, I said, "Yes." Dead.

He put his head in his hands. "Are you sure?" He asked cautiously. Hopefully.

I did not react.

Finally, someone was feeling what I felt on a daily basis.

"He eloped with an Earth Elemental, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"I want to meet her, the woman, y-your mother," he said urgently, suddenly turning in his seat. The edge in his voice, a little too obvious.

I did not look at him as I said, "She is dead too. Both are dead to me."

His gaze did not waver from me, from my coldness. His unasked questions radiated off him. I knew he had connected the dots.

"You are a Luesha." He whisper-screamed.

"Yes," I agreed without looking at him, without thinking of the consequence.

A profanity escaped the Summer Defensor's lips and I clenched my fists on my lap, staring at a flower-vase right in my line of vision.

"Both Fire and Earth." He said to himself, his surprise bounced off me and I shivered. For a long moment, we stayed still.

"So, you are a spy for the Spring Realm?" he asked.

"No. I am a Corresponder. Liberan." I found myself, for some reason, unable to lie to him. Without having to look at Lord Ralph, I knew his face must have contorted with doubts.

"But Nova confirmed..." He trailed off.

I took a long shuddering breath and turned my face to look at him. Words were unnecessary.

"The Throne bless me, does Nova know about you?" He whispered, leaning in a little. His flaming eyes shone and forehead furrowed.

I blinked my eyes, trying to hold in the tears. I needed help. Anybody's. It was getting difficult to hold the fort down on my own. And I had finally told someone, confided into someone - confided to a stranger, but it only weighed me down some more. I clutched the string of my satchel tighter.

Coming out of a trance, the reality hit me like a thunderstorm on a summer's day - I had admitted being a Luesha to no one other than Lord Ralph. He was after the Eclipses too. Fear settled into my stomach.

What had I done?

I cursed myself as I looked into... into the eyes of my father's son.

Right then, the door opened, and Prince Nova walked in, throwing water over the burning fire in the room.

"So, what's the verdict?" Prince Nova asked with his signature polite smile.

The Fire Defensor looked up at him and my heart missed a beat. His eyes danced with an emotion unknown.

Would these two team up against me?

Lord Ralph had all the reasons to hate me, to put me in shackles - after all, he had lost his father because of me.

He never returned because he had you.

But suddenly, to my extreme astonishment, Lord Ralph stood up and smiled, highlighting his dimple, "Turns out I was wrong. The sundial is a replica after all."

Prince Nova raised a brow at him and then looked at me, "Really?"

"Your spy is innocent, so all's good. Sorry for the trouble, miss." The red-eyed warrior, peered down at me and I felt a different kind of warmth engulfing me. I tried to hold in my surprised expression.

"That's good to hear," Prince Nova said with a tight-lipped smile.

Both the Defensors stared down at each other. A cold breeze brushed on my skin, and in the next moment, the temperature of the room turned warmer.

What were they doing?

"See you in the Ring then," Prince Nova said, donning his usual mask of a glory and grace.

"Of course."

I watched Lord Ralph go and it suddenly felt scary without him - alone with Prince Nova. I did not move, as I felt Lord Ralph's wary yet hesitant gaze leaving me for good. The door shut and something in me snapped.

Prince Nova made to sit on his chair behind the table, the muscles of his arms flexed and hands clutched behind his back.

As he sat down, I remembered why I had actually come here in the first place. Springing up from my seat, I stood up, "I saw you at the library, you know."

He raised his head slowly to look up at my seething face.

"Did you now?"

I huffed loudly in affirmation.

He clutched the fingers of his hands together and rested his head on it, "What did you see?"

"The guards - your guards were commanding you to leave the library."

He leaned forward, tilting his head to a side, "Are you sure that's what you saw?" The golden curl of his hair dangled dangerously over his eye.

"Your Highness," I said with a clenched jaw, "You... I...I clearly saw you being threatened. One of the guards told you to stay silent, the other guard, poked you in the back to start walking. I saw it all. And I need to know what in the name of Heaven is going on? Why are you being like this?"

Prince Nova reclined back in his seat and let out a noisy breath. And as if making up a decision, rose up and narrowed his eyes at me, "You're right. The guards indeed crossed a line that day."

He walked over to a huge tapestry on the wall behind him and moved it aside, revealing a door. He pushed open the door and I saw a silhouette of a guard standing in the secret passageway. My fear pulsed with a heart of its own.

The prince whispered something to him and I watched the guard bowing low from the waist and made his way into the deep of the passage. It was too dark and I lost sight of him, but I didn't need to wait any long as I heard a dozen footsteps approaching from the darkness.

Prince Nova moved out of the way and let the six guards emerge out of the passage into the study. It suddenly felt cramped, with masculine smell lingering in the huge room. I retreated a few steps back.

The prince came to stand beside me and I tucked my arms closer to my body. This was all extremely strange. If only I could read his damn mind.

"These were the guards, right?" he asked leaning sideways to me.

I looked over the faces of the guards, and I recognized three of them from the day at the library. "Yes, I suppose."

"Hmm," Prince Nova moved away from me and I watched in horror as he pulled out a sword from a mount perched on the wall adjacent to where we stood.

"Now remind me," he smiled sweetly at me, "which one silenced me?"

My eyes went wide, the realization washing over me. I shook my head at him, unable to speak.

"Oh, come on, Eleni," he went past me, rolling up the sleeves of his doublet.

The guard, whom the prince had approached first, shook visibly.

"I think it was you. Shouldn't have silenced me, boy," Prince Nova's voice cut through the surrounding and he thrust his arm out.

The blade of the sword pierced through the guard's neck. Blood splattered in a wild design on the wall behind them. The deep gash became visible, a heartbeat later - and the redness of his blood poured out. His cut-open throat made a gurgling sound and I felt the room swaying around me.

The guard spasmed in pain and I watched him staggering on his feet. He dropped to the floor on his knees, hands clutched at his now open throat, drenching with his own blood. Groanings that were emanating from him clenched my insides. As the river of his blood pooled at his feet, I felt like throwing up.

The other five guards quickly moved away from their dying companion, horror etched on their faces, death looming over their heads.

I had not noticed Prince Nova looking at me with a smug face. I reflexively took a few more steps back, my back hitting a wall. I had never seen anything like this, never intended to, never expected to.

"Don't," I pleaded, tears flowing down my cheeks.

"But I have just begun, haven't I?" he laughed before adding, "And what did you say - the other guard did what exactly?"

My breathing haphazard, I looked at the now dead guard, who had fallen with a thud in the scarlet pool of his own blood. His dead eyes wide open and head lying in a disturbing angle. A metallic smell spread around the study and I realized it was the smell of gore and death.

Prince Nova moved behind another guard, in a manner as though he had all the time in the world. His boots made a soggy sound as he stepped over the spilled blood. And as he raised his blood-laden sword again, I screamed, "Stop!"

But my words fell on deaf ears. With horror and tear-filled eyes, I watched as the guard who was mumbling for mercy, suddenly went limp. The blade of the prince's sword tore through his back, and protruded out of his stomach. His guts made a squelching sound and my body squirmed with anguish. I screamed again and it was indistinguishable from the painful scream, that the guard had let out.

"Should've thought before ordering me around, my boy." Prince Nova said feigning sadness, but I could see the subtle delight dancing in his eyes.

My legs gave way and I collapsed onto the floor, back pressed to the wall, hugging my knees tightly. This was too much. Too much evil. Too much blood. My stomach was twisting and vision, blurring. I trembled from inside out.

The two dead guards lay on the floor, drowning in a river of red, in front of my eyes. I had watched them die.

I wanted to disappear as the evil prince dropped his sword and it fell down with a loud clank, the sound reverberating in the silence. He hurriedly walked over to me, wiping the drops of blood that were scattered on his face.

He crouched down in front of me. "Didn't you want them to be punished? Didn't you want to see what I do to people who cross me?" he asked, his voice suddenly gentler but the threat intact. He had put on a demonstration for me.

With a blood-stained finger, he grazed my cheek lightly. My body shuddered at his touch, as he painted a bloody trail from my cheek to collarbone and I swatted his hand away. 

"This is not punishment," I spoke through clenched teeth, that sounded like a plea, "this is murder."

He chuckled, "You are so naïve, dear Eleni." His hazel eyes bore into mine and I knew that color would always terrify me from there on.

My body flinched on its own accord as he held my elbow and made me stand up.

"If this scares you, I don't know what you will do, when I... gauge the third one's eye out?"

I snapped my head at him, my body freezing up.

He walked over behind his table and flung open a drawer and withdrew a small pointy dagger.

"You don't have to, please," I begged as I looked at the terrified guards' faces bent low, already submitted to their brutal destiny. "Please," A stream of tears blurring my sight.

"Will you relax?" Prince Nova said in a nonchalance gesture.

There was no other way. Not a damn way. I could not and would not let one more person die by his hands.

I slid my right hand inside my satchel that hung across my body and curled my fingers, around one of my twin daggers' hilt.

With tear-stricken eyes, I watched him make his way to the next guard on his hitlist.

I had to stop this massacre.

"You are evil," I shouted.

And that got his attention, he turned around to face me. Without missing a beat, I withdrew my hand from the satchel and threw the dagger at his chest, not stopping to aim. I knew it'd hit.

And hit, it did.

Blood gushed from the spot between his right shoulder and heart, his white doublet soaking from inside. He howled in pain as the drops of his blood started drizzling down, mingling with the blood of the two unmoving guards. His eyes fueled up with anger and agony.

My daggers never betrayed me - even after all these years. All the training converged onto this exact moment. 

Emboldened now, I called onto my powers, but I realized he still had those wards up. I huffed in frustration.

Now might have been a good time to burn this whole place down.

Prince Nova screamed in pain, dropping on his knees.

I watched as he removed the dagger stuck at his chest and even more blood came flying out of his wound. The four remaining guards stood frozen. Prince Nova threw me a look of pure fury, looking up from his lashes and I feared for my life.

I ran to the door.

"This isn't over," a chill-inducing voice made me stop and I turned around, my fingers clasped around the door-handle. He had managed to stand up, a hand clutched at his wound, and the other holding my dagger. The hazel of his eyes, tinted with red of rage. Red of revenge.

I gulped. He gestured the remaining guards with a jerk of his chin, and they hurriedly scampered inside the tapestry door.

He took a step closer to me, like a wounded lion sizing up its hunter.

"Have you stopped to think," he rumbled from his throat, "what this will look like to others?"

"Like me stopping you from committing a massacre," I hissed, fresh tears spilling out.

He laughed through his obvious pain, and I realized that he could heal himself, only if he dropped the protective wards, that restricted anyone to use magic. But he won't.

Because he is scared of me, scared of my magic, scared of what I could do to him, scared of what I could summon.

"And who will believe you over me? For them you will be one evil Luesha, and I-" he snorted, "and I, the one who stopped you."

I gasped involuntarily. He was right. I looked over his shoulder at the fallen guards. Prince Nova's reputation out in the world was untouchable. No one would believe.

No one would believe me.

No one would believe me over their handsome glorious prince.

"Now you're thinking, huh?" he took another step closer.

I glared at him and in one swift movement, which surprised myself more than it surprised him, I snatched my bloodied-dagger that he was holding loosely in his hands.

Not stopping to think, I quickly moved out of the study and slammed the door shut in his face.

Run. Run. Run.

***
OUR VILLAIN:
Thank you nusranathry for this amazing aesthetic ❤️✨ I love your book and you. You guys, should definitely check out her awesome profile.

(Not glorifying his acts tho)