---Carson's POV---

The journey was calm. No longer was there a need to rush, a sense of running out of time.

Nadir wasn't hurrying over to his next prey in order to escape retaliation from future masters. No, this was the last, final death.

But if I had come to understand him properly, Mercer, the last master that ever enslaved Nadir... was actually his first kill.

It was still weird to try and wrap my mind around it. After all, as far as I knew, Mercer would have to be highly wary of anything out of place.

Even if Ishtar, his childhood crush, was slowly poisoning him, there must be some suspicion. After all, she would need an antidote for herself in order to not succumb to the same poison that was killing Mercer.

When I posed this question to Nadir, he grinned widely and nodded. "Indeed. Most poisons can be counteracted with an antidote. And usually, poisons that don't have an antidote, work very quickly."

"However, there are also poisons that work very slowly if given trace amounts. Poisons that don't have a smell, flavor or color." Nadir said, tapping on his saddle while mentioning the aspects.

"Which is why I started with Mercer. If I had waited until now, killing him would be virtually impossible, unless I were to sacrifice my own life for it."

He sighed, curls dancing around his head when he shook it. "I waited before going after my first quarry, simply so Ishtar had enough time to guarantee her loyalty in his eyes. If I had started killing mere weeks after Ishtar suddenly accepted Mercer's proposal..."

I nodded, understanding fully. "He would've known she was a traitor from the start, or at least heavily suspected it." Nor did I need to add that Mercer would've most likely retaliated in brutal fashion.

Nadir nodded, confirming my unspoken words. "Thanks to careful planning, Mercer is now instead protecting Ishtar and keeping her close to his side." He clacked his tongue in disgust, "He probably assumed I'd try and attack her, seeing how she's highly valuable to him."

"Would you, if things had been different?" Mord'U questioned curiously, my own brows rising as I turned towards Nadir.

He scoffed, shaking his head. "Of course not. I know Mercer well enough, served under his thumb so long that I know how that bastard thinks."

"If it wasn't for finding me in the dessert, finding the bodies of their fellow tribesmen and the details in my recount, Ishtar would never have believed me." Nadir sighed, shaking his head. "It's how Mercer works."

I hummed thoughtfully, expression grim as silence fell between us. Understanding exactly who Mercer was.

A handsome man, using honeyed words and kind gestures to trick others into thinking he was anything but what he was. A monster in disguise.

It made sense, in a twisted, perverse way. Slaves meant nothing to Mercer, so why would he treat them with kindness if they could easily be replaced?

However, the people under his care within the city, the people who gave him power. Those were the ones he kept close.

After all, people were more likely to serve and be loyal to a good, honest man that helped them. If Mercer had shown his true nature to the inhabitants of his city, they would've tried to remove him from his powerful position a long time ago.

Instead, because of Mercer's feigned kindness and warmth, they were drawn to him like flies to honey. Swarming around him, hoping to get a fraction of approval.

If that approval came into capturing his fled slaves and turning them in, they'd gladly would.

No matter how sickening it may be, this herd mentality of people wasn't new. I've seen it happen countless times before and didn't even need to think too hard to come up with examples.

In fact, Nadir was a living breathing example of such a herd mentality. Slaves were not seen as humans but as property, all because people would rather deny a slave's humanity than be faced with their own cruel actions.

Plus, if a religious head stated that enslavement of the non-religious was condoned, who was going to say otherwise?

Humans were known to look the other way. To stick their head in the dirt and avoid acknowledging their own misdoings. Instead, they'd think "Rather them than me." And move on with their lives, not caring that someone else's was being utterly ruined.

Too many people bleated like sheep and followed the masses. Denying someone's humanity under the guise of religion, skin color and wealth. Yet they all forgot what all humans have in common.

We all bleed in the same manner. We live, love and die in the same manner.

Even if we were a different gender, skin color, cultural group or ethnicity. We were all human.

"What were you going to do if Ishtar hadn't believed you?" I slowly questioned, observing how effortlessly Nadir rode on his steed.

He sighed, brushing a hand through his thick curls. "Same plan, different outcome." Nadir slightly pulled on the reigns, slowing his horse down as he thought.

"I probably would've went about it in the same way. Killed the slavers first and end with Mercer." He shrugged, the gentle smile belying his words as he added "I would've let myself get captured and took him out with me."

Dipping his fingers into his pockets, he produced a small black bead. "This is a safety measure for if I ever were to be captured by my enemies with no way out. Biting down on it will release the toxins inside, giving me a single trip to Hell."

Tucking it back away, he then pointed to his mouth. "It'd be child's play to tuck it under my tongue or in my cheek. I know how Mercer works; he would come over to gloat at my bound form, kneeling on the ground. Abuse me one last time and taunt me of all the things he'd do to my corpse."

The hairs in my nape stood up at the calm, collected manner in which he spoke. The way he carried himself, the toxic bead prepared only showed that he was ready to die, if need be.

And then it clicked.

"You'd bite down on the bead, mix your saliva with the toxins and would've spat in Mercer's face." I gaped along with Mord'U as Nadir chuckled.

"Yup." He shook his head with a tired snicker. "I'd know just the words to say that would've pissed him off. Would've made him lean in to my face to shout and rant like he always did."

Mord'U ' eyes flitted to Nadir's pocket. "I'm assuming it's a quick poison without a cure?" He questioned, gaining a nod in reply.

I shuddered, thinking of that possibility. If Ishtar hadn't believed in Nadir's truth, hadn't decided to aid him.

This entire thing would've been a suicide mission.

"You know, some days I even wonder if it wasn't better if Ishtar hadn't believed me." Nadir murmured, eyes on the horizon as the horses nickered, swishing their tails while following the path ahead.

I didn't even want to question Nadir about his statement, but I didn't even need to ask. He continued on his own accord, saying "Most of my life was spent as a slave. Being deemed as a lesser creature, worthless basically. Easy replaced and easy to forget."

Letting his fingers reach for his pocket and tracing the outline of the bead, he added, "Even now, I don't see any purpose to my existence. After I kill the last of my former slave masters, what then? I have no goals, no future, nothing."

"The thirst for revenge has kept me alive for this long. Has eaten away at me, changed me from the innocent, sweet boy I used to be." A bitter sweet smile crawled on Nadir's lips as he snorted, "Hell, there are times where I don't recognize myself. I know for a fact that my parents would've been heartbroken to see me like this."

The wind picked up, sending a chill over our spines as Nadir sighed deeply, like an old man who was exhausted, tired of living. "I never thought of the future, never thought I could have one to begin with."

"Slaves don't have futures. They have the present, where they survive and pray that they can outlive their master's cruelty. They have hope that perhaps, they can buy themselves out."

Making a gesture to their surroundings, the man finished, "Yet here I am. Former slave, current assassin. Feeling strangely melancholic that this is all going to end today, one way or another."

My men kept quiet as we road, listening in silence to Nadir's story while keeping watch of our surroundings. In turn, I motioned behind me to a few of my most loyal.

"Devon and Aegon were twin slaves before they freed themselves. Made it their goal to fight against slavers whenever they can and any gold they make, is sent off to former slaves."

Pointing at the few master thieves, they were quick to provide their own stories. "I was abandoned at a young age. Parents couldn't afford to feed everyone in the house and seeing how I was the youngest, and weakest. Well...I survived."

"Barely." The man beside him snickered before jabbing at his own chest. "Grew up in a brothel as a bastard son to an unknown man. Avoided slavery and brothel life by the skin of my teeth and ventured out into the world."

The entire gang perked up, sharing their own stories. And while some were grimmer than the others, all of my men showed exactly what I wanted Nadir to see.

Even if the world kicked you down, spat on your face and left you to die, it was far more satisfying to retaliate by living life to the fullest.

And if Nadir couldn't find a purpose to his life, I was more than ready to help him find at least a few reasons to keep living.