@Skwint [Just FYI, I foresee the possibility of this thread maybe getting pretty dark, so I figured I'd throw and "M" up to be safe]
He was surprised no one had realized it yet, that there was a monster living under the roof of such a quaint, lovely family. He'd suspected for some time, but after that last "fainting spell"- now he was sure.
And he knew he had to do something about it. She had to be stopped. She didn't even realize
what she was, which almost made it worse. It certainly made things more difficult. She just couldn't control it, one day it would consume her.
He had to end her.
Well, not him
personally. It shouldn't be too difficult to find someone to get the job done.
Lily winced as the steps creaked beneath her bare feet and glanced back up the stairwell. It seemed no one had heard the noise, so she gave a soft breath of relief and continued tiptoeing down the stairs.
Another nightmare had woken her, and she couldn't go back to sleep. She'd decided some tea might help soothe her, but she didn't want to bother any of the kitchen staff so late- well, early now, she supposed.
She made her way into the kitchens and set a pot over the stove. Her eyes flickered to the window and she sighed. It looked like a storm had passed by while she slept; the gardens glistened with fresh droplets of water in the moonlight.
While she waited for her water to boil, she slipped to the door that led from the kitchen out into the manor's gardens and leaned against the frame, breathing deep to soak in the fresh scent of the newly watered land.
Black Skull looked upon the house of his target. Judging by its size and opulence, this target was undoubtedly of at least minor noble blood. Actually, most likely minor noble, because he had seen other nobles with houses larger than even this one.
Absolutely none of that mattered, however. Black Skull had been hired by an employer who had put way too much effort into anonymity. There was a young woman who lived in this house that he had said was a menace and needed to be dealt with. The man hadn't given specifics, but no one hardly ever did.
After having to begrudgingly sit through a sudden and unexpected storm, Black Skull experienced a stroke of luck. A young woman matching the description of his target had simply wandered outside into the garden. Well, this would be easy.
Black Skull slipped silently into the garden, a throwing spike poised between his fingers. As fate would have it, however, Black Skull wasn't entitled to streaks of food fortune. A stray cat emerged from the garden and brushed up against Liliy's leg. If she turned to look at the cat he would undoubtedly be noticed.
"Oh." Lily started slightly, then glanced down at the cat with a small smile. "Hello there." She bent to stroke the animal, who purred and rubbed back and forth, shifting the skirt of her nightdress. "I'm afraid we don't have any scraps for you at the moment," she murmured, lifting her head to glance back over her shoulder into the kitchen.
As she did, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. Her attention snapped to the shadowy figure and an instinctive thrill of fear ran up her spine. "Who's there?" she demanded, snapping upright. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat as she took a step back.
"Reveal yourself, or I'll call for the guards!"
Well shit. The threat of calling guards definitely confirmed the she was nobility. They always called their guards, but it never helped. Still, the were always extremely bothersome. More of a nuisance than anything. As long as they weren't professionally trained anyway.
"They would only add to the body count," Black Skull said stepping out into the moonlight. "Besides, I'm not here for them."
The cat at her feet hissed, back arched, then streaked away into the darkness.
Lily took another step back into the kitchen, groping behind her for the door so she could slam it.
Body count did not bode well.
An assassin then, but here for who? Her father? Carlton had been careful not to anger anyone too important for the last thirty years. Jorris, maybe? Her brother had been so secretive lately...
She had to do something. In a lightning quick movement, she grabbed for the now almost boiling kettle- crying out as the metal burned her hand- and flung it wildly out into the garden as she tried to slam the door.
"Father! Guard! Intruder, someone help!"
Black Skull sighed. Nothing could ever be easy. Deciding that confrontation would be unwise, Black Skull vanished into the darkness. Help would come, but they wouldn't see him and hopefully just dismiss it as paranoia. As soon as everything calmed down he would make another approach. Any precautionary guards could be dealt with swiftly and silently.
Two guards came running at Lily's call, and soon enough the entire household was roused. It took some few hours before the grounds had been properly checked, but no one found so much as a trace of the young lady's "intruder". No matter what she said, gradually her family decided she must have had some sort f walking nightmare.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" her mother murmured as she ushered her back to bed while the house settled down. "Perhaps this is a new symptom of your ailment."
"It's not- I don't have any ailments, Mother!" Lily protested. "I'm telling you, there was a man in the garden, and I think he was sent to- to kill someone. Please, you have to tell father to double the guards-"
"Lily, you must rest, my dear." Lydia shook her head as she shook the younger woman back into her room.
"You have to believe me!"
"Mother." Jorris was suddenly at their mother's side, laying a hand on her arm. "Let me," he murmured. Lydia sighed and nodded, casting a last worried glance at her daughter before turning to make her way back to her chambers.
Lily whirled on her brother, grabbing his arms. He flinched slightly, blinking down at her. "Jorris, please listen, we're in danger, you have to-"
"Lily." He pulled her into his chest, stroking her hair gently. "Shh, sister. I believe you, I do." He kissed the top of her head and sheperded her to the bed. "I'll talk to them, but you must rest."
Slowly, she nodded, climbing into bed and pulling the blankets up to her head.
It took a while, but finally she managed to slip into sleep.
Well that was a huge waste of time. There wasn't much night left. He would have to get this done. This time he would have to sneak up to the house and try to fins her bedroom which was undoubtedly on the second floor.
After a bit of searching he finally found it. He slipped through her window as best as he could manage with only one arm. It was time to just get this over with.
Already restless from her earlier nightmare, and now thoroughly on edge from the scare she'd received in the garden, Lily jolted awake at every slight sound in her room.
The fourth time this happened, she felt an odd procklenat the back of her neck, as though she was being watched. She sat up slowly in bed, holding her breath. Her fingers curled tightly into the sheets, small shivers wracking her slight frame.
Black Skull froze when she sat up. She was awake. It didn't seem like she had noticed him yet though. He crept silently across the room. Once he reached her bed he extended his armblade and raised his arm. From what he had been told about this woman, this seemed a bit too easy.
The shift in the shadows caught her attention and she snapped around, but too late.
Lily had trained in militant skills nearly as much as her brothers, but she was by no means a fighter. She was defenseless as the shadowy figure extended a blade toward her, the aunt starlight the glinted off the metal unmistakeable..
She opened her mouth to scream, to call for help, do something, futile as it may be, but before she could her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed back into the bed.
There was a beat of perfect stillness, then a pulse in the air around her. Suddenly, the wind around her began to whip into a miniature cyclone, lifting her from the bed and wrapping her in a protective barrier of wind. Hair and nightgown billowing around her, her eyes snapped open, changed from a cloudy gray to glowing silver.
Black Skull paused. Did she really just faint? Did he have the wrong room? This woman was nothing like what his employer had described.
Then he felt a breeze. He looked at the window behind him and saw that the curtains weren't billowing. How are the curtains not being affected? The breeze then escalated almost immediately to a cyclone surrounding the young woman. Well, this seemed a bit more accurate.
Black Skull retracted his armblade and hurled a throwing spike. The projectile was merely caught the high winds and flung aside, burying itself into the wall. Okay then. There was no way he would be getting close to her now. Oddly enough, she wasn't attacking him. What she was doing seemed purely defensive in nature.
"Aren't you going to do anything," Black Skull asked.
Lily's gaze had been fixed vacantly over the assassin's shoulder, but when he spoke her eyes suddenly snapped to his.
She didn't speak, but her magic gave a little pulse as though warning him back. Her eyes narrowed. For a moment the wind grew stronger, and outside a distant rumble of thunder could be heard.
Then, all of the sudden, it stopped. The cyclone vanished as though it had never been and Lilly collapsed back into her mattress. She took a deep breath, then another, eyes closed.
Without conscious control of her magic, it was all too easy for the power to exhaust her.
By the third breath, her eyes opened again. She suddenly bolted upright as scrambled away from the masked figure, nearly falling off the bed in her haste. How was she not dead? Had she fainted? Why hadn't he taken the opportunity to just end her then?
"Don't- don't hurt me," she gasped, eyes wide and frightened and once again misty gray. "Please, whatever you think I or my family have done, I promise it doesn't call for this. Please don't hurt them, please..."
Her eyes flickered wildly around the room, searching for her practice blade.
Now Black Skull was confused. What was going on? Was she toying with him? Did she not know what just happened? None of this was adding up.
Black Skull approached Lily and then simply just lookes down at her. This was the monster? She was the threat to public safety?
Black Skull jerked his head toward the throwing spike embedded in the wall.
"Do you recall me throwing that at you?"
Her eyes followed the movement of his head and her already fair skin paled another shade. He'd attacked with that? She shook her head quickly, mute, and her eyes flickered to the door.
If she yelled for help, he would cut her down before anyone could arrive. And then she'd just be putting more people in danger.
Swallowing thickly, she looked up at his face again- mask, she realized, as her eyes finally began to properly adjust to the darkness. "Please, what do you want with us? If- if you spare my family, I'll do anything you want, I promise. I won't fight you, just please, please leave them be."
"You were just floating in the air surrounded by a barrier of wind," Black Skull told her. "You remember none of that?"
This was a joke. This had to be a joke.
"Is you're name not Lily? Are you the only one in this house with that name?"
...What?
"I- I am Lily." She backed up another few steps. Why wasn't he attacking? Not that she wanted him to- but at least an attack she could understand! Sort of. His questions just...confused her. "Lily Hartnet. I'm the first of my name, there are no others- please, just tell me what you want!"
She couldn't process what he said about her floating above her bed. She just didn't have the capacity, as frightened and desperate as she was.
There was no mistaking it now. This young woman was indeed his intended target. But why? It made no sense. Then again, she was a mage and this was Connlaoth.
"You've never hurt anyone, have you," Black Skull asked.
Well, she might have seeing as it didn't seem she bad any control over her abilities. They only triggered when she felt threatened, however, so if she did hurt someone they probably had it coming.
Now completely and utterly lost, Lily shook her head quickly for a moment before she remembered how to make words. "No. I haven't, truly I haven't, I swear it."
She thought that was true- perhaps she had inadvertently disrespected some noblewoman or another at a small party, or wounded a suitor's pride when she proved to be a stronger rider than he, but she'd never intentionally harmed someone. Which was what she thought he was asking.
"My lady?" The knock at the door made her start and snap almost rigidly straight. Her eyes flicked from the masked man to the door, panicked. "I thought I heard a sound, are you alright?"
Her mother must have put an extra guard on watch after all. Relief swamped through her, followed quickly by another rush of fear. The guard probably thought she'd fainted again, that the noise he'd heard was just her coming to or perhaps falling from the bed- if the intruder moved now, she'd be dead before he got the door open.
Black Skull sighed. Of course she hadn't. She wasn't even aware of what she was capable of. It seemed that her abilities only triggered when threatened, so if she had hurt anyone they were probably asking for it.
When the guard came to the door Black Skull cursed under his breath. Black Skull turned and made for the window. He and his employer had designated a location at which to meet when the job was done. Black Skull was going to get some answers.
He climbed out the window and disappeared into the night. The throwing spike was still stuck in the wall, intentionally left behind so that the young woman's story would now be believed.
Lily felt her knees shake as the assassin climbed through the window, and once he was gone she collapsed beside her bed, a powerful relief pounded through her.
"In- in here!"
The guard burst into her room, probably alerted by the panic in her voice. He saw her kneeling beside her bed, clutching at it for support, and his eyes widened. "My lady, what-"
She pointed to the window and he looked. His eyes widened when he saw the spike still lodged in the wall.
A very tiny flash of vindictive satisfaction pulsed through her. "Do you believe me now?
The contact who'd been sent to hire the assassin was waiting, pacing anxiously around the tiny room where he'd been told to meet with the man once the job was done. What was taking so long? One defenseless girl shouldn't be that hard to kill, surely?
Black Skull burst into the room where he was to meet his contact and immediately zeroed in on him.
"You have some explaining to do," Black Skull growled. "You sent me to kill a monster. That's not what I found. What did that woman do that she is to be killed?"
Vareth was a seedy little man quite used to angry, larger men bearing down on him. But Black Skull was...something else. Even he was unsettled.
"Hey, I didn't send you to kill anyone," he protested, raising his hands. "People tell me who they want dead, and I find people like you to get the job done. You have a problem, you have to take it up with the guy that ordered the hit!"
"Then tell me who ordered the hit," Black Skull demanded taking a step towards the man.
This man better have a damn good answer, because Black Skull had already made up his mind on killing him where he stood.
Vareth took a few steps back. "Look, I don't take names! You do stuff like that in my business, you wind up dead! B-but I can set up a meeting- you just have to promise I walk out of here alive."
"Mother, truly, I'm alright."
Lily had been moved to her parents room- despite her protests that she didn't need to be babied, she just needed someone to actually try to figure out why an assassin had been sent into her room! Still, she was a little shaky, but she didn't like showing it now that the fear had somewhat abated.
"Oh, my darling, I'm so sorry," Lydia was whispering, continuously petting her hair as she sat on the bed beside her. "We all thought- with your condition, it just seemed that-"
Lily side and resisted the urge to brush her mother's hand away. "I know, Mother, I understand. It's alright, I'm safe. Father's talking to the guards, that- that man won't get in again."
There was a quiet knock at the door, then Jorris poked his head in. His mouth was drawn in a tight line, brow furrowed with worry. "It's nearly dawn. Have you two not slept at all?"
Both women shook their heads and he sighed, coming into the room. "Mother, Father is nearly finished giving his orders; if you rest here, I'll send him up to you." He smiled softly and touched Lily's shoulder almost hesitantly. "I can take Lily to my room to rest. She'll be safe there, I'll even post an extra guard."
It took some convincing, but eventually Lydia agreed and Lily followed her brother back to his quarters. "I just wish I understood why," she whispered as she slipped into the room after him. She started to move toward the chaise, but he stopped her and nodded toward the bed.
"I can sleep on the chaise, you need a real bed." He smiled and kissed her forehead. "I don't know why this is happening to you, sister, but I promise I'll watch over you, alright?"
She offered a small, rather wan smile and hugged him. "Thank you."
"Well, you're going to have to be alive to set up a meeting," Black Skull replied. "Get back to me with a place and time, and it better be legit. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if I need to find you again."
He nodded quickly as he backed up another step. "I understand, believe me. I'll contact you when I've got something."
The next few days were tense. No amount of questioning or threatening any of the likely suspects yielded information as to who may have put a hit out on Lily. And her family was more hyper protective than ever- she wasn't even allowed to leave the manor, let alone the estate grounds!
As terrified as she had been during the experience, she was starting to get very tired of their fussing, very quickly. She wanted to know what exactly had happened more than any of them, but she didn't want one night to control the rest of her life! They already treated her like some fragile little doll due to the fainting spells, this was just...overkill.
Not to mention she couldn't get the man's words from that night out of her head. He'd talked like she'd...done something. Like something had happened when she lost consciousness that actually prevented him from killing her. But she had no idea what.
It was a rather terrifying thought.
To her surprise, Jorris was the clingiest of her family. Her older brother had begun to sort of pull away from her in recent months, and where once they had been close she had felt a growing distance. But now there was hardly a moment when she didn't turn to find him right behind or beside her, constantly hovering and...watching.
It was starting to get unsettling, actually.
So when one day almost a week after the attempted assassination he seemed to just disappear from the manor, she noticed immediately. It was early, barely dawn, but she had been up for an hour or so, retrieving a cup of tea from the kitchen and considering sitting in the library with a favorite book until her family woke.
She hadn't seen Jorris almost all day, so when she caught sight of him slipping down the hall toward the back door to the manor, it certainly caught her attention. She started to call out to him, then saw the way he glanced furtively over his shoulder and realized he was...sneaking.
Instinctively she tucked herself into an alcove, watching him. She didn't know why, but something was urging her not to make her presence known, to see what he was up to. Perhaps it would explain some of his strange behavior...
Slipping out of the manor after Jorris unnoticed was difficult, but not impossible. Though she did wish she'd had the chance to change into something a little more practical than her walking gown before she'd left- the skirt rustled annoyingly, and she was constantly pausing to catch her breath as the corset constricted her ribs.
Still, years of sneaking off after her brothers to watch them practice swordplay or arching and learning from observation had paid off. Jorris headed northeast, off of the estate grounds and into the rather ramshackle part of town, where most of the building seemed to be deserted, if not entirely unlivable.
What in God's name was he doing here, of all places? When her brother paused again to check for pursuit- truly, he was one of the least observant people she'd ever known, it's not like she was particularly stealthy and he still hadn't noticed her- she tucked herself into a small alley between two houses and watched as he slipped inside what might have once been some sort of cottage.
As soon as Jorris entered the cottage the door shut behind him revealing Black Skull.
"I've killed a lot of people for a lot of different reasons," he began. "But I don't commit hate crimes. I don't kill to satisfy anyone's petty bigotry."
Black Skull took a step towards Jorris, his fist clenching.
"You want her dead just because she's a mage, don't you?"
In all actuality, this was one big bluff. Black Skull had no idea if he was right, but this man's reaction would reveal the truth. Black Skull lost everything to people like him. People who hated mages for no good reason. They were some of the worst kinds of people, and that was coming from someone who killed for a living.
Jorris started violently as the man sort of appeared from no where- at least it seemed that way, to one who wasn't very observant.
At Black Skull's words, he paled. Rage burned in his eyes for a moment, flaring bright, then suddenly faded. He shook his head, but it wasn't so much a denial as a sign of helplessness.
"She's dangerous," he said softly, clenching his hands into fists as he stared down at his feet. "I don't know what happened in that room, but you must have seen it for yourself- she doesn't even know what she is, she had no control."
His voice rose steadily as he spoke, anger and something like grief lacing his tone. "I tried so hard to ignore it, but I knew what she was becoming. I knew if someone didn't act, one day that unholy power would be more than she could handle. She would kill someone, it was inevitable!"
He took a sharp breath, eye over bright. "If I- if I hadn't- the choice was you, or the mage camps. They'd collar her, break her." He shook his head again. "I couldn't watch that happen. No matter what you think, she's my sister. And I love her. I love her too much to see what they would turn her into. She'd be better off dead." A shaky sigh escaped him. "At least then our parents would never know this shame. They could grieve her as they should."
Without thinking, Lily had moved forward as she heard her brother speaking. She didn't quite make out what the man he was speaking to said at first, but she was close enough by the time Jorris started speaking that she heard every word.
Jorris. It had been Jorris, her own brother. How could he? Why? Why?!
She wasn't a mage, she wasn't! She would have known, she would have...
A choked, whimpering sound caught in her throat and Jorris whirled around at the noise to see her standing in the doorway. She wasn't even entirely sure when she'd gotten there.
His eyes widened. "Lily..." He took a step toward her, reaching out, and she staggered back.
"St-stay away from me!"
Black Skull stepped forward and punched Jorris square in the face.
"Bastard," Black Skull roared. "You narrow-minded piece of shit! It's people like you that started this damn war! It's people like you that created those mage camps! It's people like you that took everything from me!"
Black Skull was usually pretty good at keeping it cool, but he had lost it now.
"You think mages are dangerous? I'll show you dangerous!"
Black Skull extended his armblade.
"It won't be her your parents will be mourning. "
Jorris reeled back, his hand flying to his hip where he must have sheathed a dagger, but even in her pain and confusion Lily could see that he would be too slow.
"Wait. Wait! Stop!"
Without thinking, she threw herself forward into the path of the blade, her slight form a pitiful shield between the assassin and her brother.
Because he was her brother, and even after this she couldn't just watch him die.
"Please don't hurt him, please," she gasped, holding her hands out to Black Skull in supplication. Jorris was frozen behind her, eyes wide.
Black Skull froze when Lily jumped in front of him. Even after he tried to have her killed she jumped to his rescue. Black Skull's eyes locked onto Jorris.
"She saved you even though you tried to kill her," Black Skull told him as he lowere his arm. "Remember that."
Black Skull turned and began making his way towards the door. Let him live with that burden on his conscience.
Jorris gave a choked sound and Lily turned to watch the masked man go, letting out a long breath.
She started to turn to her brother, to shout, to cry, to demand an explanation, to do something- but as she did an icy pain pierced her side and she gasped, eyes going wide.
Jorris was crying, one arm circling her waist as she turned into him, the other hand sliding his dagger between her ribs. "I'm sorry," he whispered, kissing her brow the way he had since she was a little girl, as though she was that same child chasing after him and scuffing her knee. "I'm so sorry, Lily. I love you."
He pulled away from her and ran. She didn't see where. Her vision swam and pain took over, cold creeping up her fingers as her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground. Magic crackled in her veins, searching desperately for some sort of anchor to save her, but she was quickly losing consciousness and her power was not one of healing.
Black Skull hadn't gotten very far when he heard somebody leave in a hurry. He turned and saw Jorries making a run for it, in his hand was unmistakable glint of steel in the moonlight. Black Skull was about to run him down when he remembered Lily. He ran back inside the cottage and found her bleeding out on the floor. A flashback from his past arose from the depths of his mind where it had long been suppressed. This was how he had found his mother.
Black Skull went to her side. What could he do? Everything that needed to be done required two hands, and he only had one. Then he remembered that he knew where she lived.
Looping his arm under one arm, across her chest, and then under her other arm. He picked her up as best he could like that and began taking her back to her house. Hopefully he would make it in time.
Pain seemed to have become the center of her world and Lily groaned as she felt someone lifting her. "Who...what-?"
She coughed, tasting blood on her tongue and forced herself to keep her eyes opened. She was fairly sure she had her brother's nerves and shaky hands to thank for being alive; the wound wasn't as deep as it could have been, and it slid along between her ribs rather than cutting straight through to her lungs.
She hoped.
Still, consciousness was difficult to maintain, and her magic pulsed through the air around her as she hovered between sleeping and waking.
This was all too familiar. First, finding her on the floor and now carrying her through the woods just liked he had dragged his mother through the woods. He was being bombarded by flashbacks and bad memories. He would not fail this time.
After what seemed like forever he finally came upon the estate at which she lived. There was no time for subtlety. He approached the front door, gently laid Lily down, and kicked the door in. Then he ran. He just turned and ran to the treeline until he was certain he wouldn't be spotted and then watched to make sure she was found.
People were shouting, someone was crying, pain like ice stabbed at her ribs with every breath. Someone was lifting her up, holding her in her lap, the scent of lavender and rosewater- her mother's favorite perfume.
Voices. So many voices. She could hardly make sense of them.
"I did what I had to do! They would have killed her anyway!"
"Your sister is dying on our doorstep!"
"Lydia, hush! I don't- he was rash, but we cannot ignore what she-"
"I don't care what she is! She's my daughter!"
The world went black.
When she woke, the walls around her were unfamiliar. Lily blinked, staring at a wooden ceiling lit with cheery candlelight, then tried to sit up.
She fell back onto the rather hard cot with a groan and closed her eyes. "What- where am I?" Her side ached, but the wound had been stitched and bandaged, she realized when she checked it.
"Safe." The unfamiliar voice had her eyes snapping open and she turned her head to stare at the woman who had entered the small room. She approached the bed and knelt by Lily's side. "Here, you should drink this." She pressed a glass of water into the younger woman's hand she Lily took it cautiously.
"What...happened?" she asked slowly.
"I can't say I rightly know," the healer- at least Lily assumed she was a healer- replied. "I was given some coin to patch you up and keep my mouth shut about it. There's a letter there, on the bedside. The man who brought you here left it." She stood. "I'll be back in a few moments to change your bandages."
Lily blinked as she watched her go, desperately trying to process what was happening. Carefully, wincing all the while, she twisted and reached for the letter the healer had mentioned.
"It's not from me," Black Skull told her suddenly appearing in the window after the healer had left. "It looks like your brother's lack of a spine worked in your favor. He didn't have the guts to finish the job."
"My God!" Lily flinched back from the window, wide eyed as she stared at her almost-assassin. "You- how did you- when did you? What the hell are you doing here?!"
She winced as her shouting and attempting to scramble back pulled at her wound painfully.
"I'm very good at what I do," Black Skull replied. "I was just checking up on you. I wasn't sure if I had gotten you home in time."
"You..." She blinked and allowed herself to relax just slightly. "You brought me home?"
"Well, it sure as hell wasn't your brother," Black Skull told her. "You already heard how I feel about hate killings. I don't think I need to say all of it again."
Lily stared at him, then nodded slowly. "I...suppose I should thank you," she murmured. "It seems you saved my life."
She dipped her head to him, then added quietly, "If there's anything you'd ask of me, I'll grant it if I can."
"You don't have anything I would want," Black Skull told. "At least not anything that would be within your capacity to acquire."
Black Skull idly scratched the stub that had been his left arm. He couldn't remember the last time he had held a somewhat normal conversation for this long. It was an awkward affair.
She shook her head. "Nevertheless, I am in your debt...sir." She stumbled a bit trying to figure out how to address him, but persevered. "It doesn't need to be material goods- if you would ask a favor of me, were it within my abilities, I would gladly grant it."
She paused a moment, her eyes flickering to the letter, then back to him. "And I- I have some questions. If you would indulge me."
Even in this admittedly bizarre scenario, she managed to keep up decorum. It was more a reflex than anything else, honestly.
Black Skull pondered this for a moment.
"You may ask," he said. "But I will answer at my discretion."
"When you...came to my room." She tried to avoid using the words "tried to assassinate me". "Back at the manor. You said I... Was there really magic involved? What happened, exactly?"
She had to know. If this- this whatever it was had spurred her own brother to believe he needed to end her life, she had to know what it really was.
"First, you fainted," Black Skull began. "Then you began to levitate and became surrounded by some kind of barrier of wind. It didn't last long, but you were practically untouchable while it did. It was definitely some sort of air magic."
"Oh God." She dropped her head into her hands and just breathed deeply for a few moments. "God please no..."
A few tears trickled down her cheeks and she drew in a shuddering breath. No. No, she had to get a hold of herself. She lifted her head and swiped at her eyes. "F-forgive me. I can't imagine how I must seem to you."
"You seem like someone who defended yourself," he told her. "Why are you sorry?"
She couldn't speak for a few moments, throat tight. "I'm a monster," she whispered finally, staring at her shaking hands as they rested in her lap."
She shook her head quickly. "Maybe you should have just left me there..."
There was something so wrong with her that her own family knew she needed to die for it. That penne shipped off to the mage camps, which could be an even worse fate.
Once more she looked to the letter. Did she even want to know what it said?
"No you're not," Black Skull said sternly. "What you are doesn't make you a monster. It's what you do."
Black Skull thought for a bit.
"My mother was a mage. She was a water mage and healer. Was she a monster for being a mage?"
Lily just shook her head again, wordless. What could she say? She didn't know what to think, how to feel. This was impossible, how could she not have known...
But she had known. Deep inside herself, somewhere, she realized she must have known, must have understood that her fainting spells had always been more than just that, the flashes of power she felt when she was angry or scared was more than just adrenaline.
She must have known, but she couldn't let herself know. Because if she admitted it, then she'd be...right where she was, pretty much.
"I need to be turned over to the mordecai," she whispered. "If- if I can't control my power, I'm a danger." She said it sort of woodenly- she honestly didn't know if she really believed it, she just knew it was what a good Connlaothian woman would have been expected to say.
"No you don't," he told her. "The mordecai are the worst ones. Mindless mage hunters, all of them. If you really want to learn how to control your magic, then go to Serendipity."
"I can't just-" She stopped and took a breath. "I may not have a choice. My family is required by law to report my...aberration."
Her head turned slightly to eye the letter that still sat so innocently at her bedside. Carefully, she reached out to take it. She winced as she stretched her stitches.
It seemed a little strange to her that the healer had yet to return to the room. She glanced back at the stranger who'd saved her live as she held the letter to her chest. "Does she know you're here?" She nodded toward the door to indicate the direction the healer had gone.
"You always have a choice. What your family does has nothing to do with you. Your life. Your choice."
When Lily asked about the whereabouts of the healer he simply shrugged.
"She didn't see me come in, no. She probably has her hands full with the guy that did see me."
Perhaps he just didn't understand. If her family had reported her, the mordecai would be coming. And she had no doubt that they'd find her, and probably quickly.
She frowned, looking up at him. "Who saw you?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Some guy. I had to be sure he wouldn't remember seeing me, so I hit him pretty damn hard."
She blinked.
Oookaaaay...
"Well. Ahem." Lily frowned slightly, still clutching the letter. "Did you just...come to check on me? There was nothing else you wanted?"
"No. That was it," he replied simply. "Should I leave?"
"I...see no reason to keep you here," she replied slowly.
She still wanted to thank him- despite the fact that yes, he had been hired to kill her originally- but she didn't know how.
"If you think of any reward you'd like for your services, is like you to know that you can contact me," she said eventually, unable to come up with anything better.
Black Skull turned and stepped up to the window. She had suggested thay his reward be the ability to contact her, but he could already do that whenever he wanted. He decided not to rain on her parade.
"You should seriously consider Serendipity," he told her.
Then he hopped out the window and was gone.
Lily watched him go, not sure what to say. Then the healer was bustling back into the room, apologizing for taking so long, and she had to act as though she'd simply been waiting for her.
Once her bandages had been changed and she was told to rest, Lily turned her attention once more to the letter. Slowly, shakily, she opened it.
Lily Hartnet had been stricken from the records of the house, disowned and disavowed.
The letter was written in her father's hand, and said that they would work to give her at least a week to leave the country, they would attempt to stall the mordecai until then. After that, they could not risk working to protect a mage.
The letter said that they were sorry for this, and that they loved her, despite her affliction. They believed she hadn't been aware of what she was, and they hoped she would find happiness away from Connlaoth.
And that Jorris was sorry, and he loved her.
She ripped the letter apart.