1. Mira #4
Neressa’s back presses against mine, steady and familiar, as we fend off a group of drunken bastards, men easily a foot taller than either of us.
But size doesn’t matter when you’re fighting like we do, furious and precise, shaped by a life balanced on the blade of violence.
She lands a swift kick to a man’s gut, sending him crashing down with a satisfying thud.
This is nothing more than a warm-up for her.
“You couldn’t have told me he was here?” I grunt, deflecting a wild swing from a thick-armed brute.
“He wasn’t here when I left to find you,” she says, calm as ever, knocking another man out cold.
“But I heard rumors he was in town. Follow me.” Without hesitation, Neressa grabs my wrist and pulls me toward a narrow hallway, cutting through the fight with practiced ease.
The chaos fades behind us, swallowed by distance and shadows, as we move deeper into the dark hallway.
“What the fuck, Neressa?” My voice is low.
Dangerous. “Hiding something like that could’ve gotten me killed.
Do you even understand that?” She smirks like she has no remorse.
She never has. Neressa kills for a living.
Buries her guilt six feet under and pours herself a drink over it.
And I know that, I always have. Even though everyone tries to keep information hidden from me.
Still, the fire in my chest is spreading fast. I narrow my eyes.
“What’s going on with your face?” She bursts out laughing.
That laugh, like we’re in the middle of some joke I haven’t been let in on, only makes my face flush more.
“Do you really think he’d kill you?” she teases, grinning like the devil herself. “Did you not see the yearning in his eyes?” She leans in, voice sing-song and deadly. “My sweet Mira, men aren’t just for a crew.”
I shove her. Hard. She hits the wall with a thud, not because I’m strong enough to throw her like that, but because she allows me to.
I put distance between us, just in case she tries to grab me again.
Her laughter echoes down the hallway, unapologetic and wild.
And I can’t tell if I’m angrier at her or at myself for not knowing which part of her is right.
I try to walk away, anger bubbling inside me like a storm waiting to break.
But before I can take more than a few steps, Neressa steps in front of me in a feline-like manner.
“There’s more than meets the eye, little sister.
Play your cards right. That man is the biggest Pirate Lord on the seas, the most cunning and lethal.
If you really think I was going to kick him out of my pub and get marked…
” She pauses, her eyes flicking toward the pub, where the brawl still rages on.
It’ll continue until either I leave or Kai does.
Her fog-colored eyes narrow, locking with mine. “Then you’re surely mistaken.” I don’t look away.
My gaze stays sharp. Unforgiving. I know she cares for her business and her title.
But choosing Kai's title over blood? Or is there something else she’s keeping to herself?
“His father killed my mother when I was a child. You knew that. She was like a mother to you, too.” I step closer.
“There was no yearning in his eyes. He wanted to kill me. Wanted my blood on his blade.” My voice turns razor-sharp.
“For someone who kills for a living, I’d expect you to be able to recognize bloodlust.”
I hold her stare, letting the venom in my words settle like poison.
For just a moment, something flickers behind her eyes.
“I don't kill without intent,” she slickly says, then whispers under her breath the number thirteen.
I know her past with killing hasn't been easy. Being trained as a slayer is some of the most brutal training you can endure. And starting at such a young age? It's inhumane. In a selfish way, I’m glad my father didn’t train me like he did her.
The lantern light catches her irises, igniting her usual icy calm with a flickering flame of something else.
It unsettles me that death is her trade.
Rich beyond measure, still she commands the deadliest slayers in the world.
She’s unmatched, unstoppable, yet she never seems to rest her blade, only bury it in another body.
I think she's scared to put her blade down. Maybe it’s the quiet that terrifies her the most. The way she does it without a flicker of hesitation, without even a blink.
She’ll slit a throat while holding their gaze, steady as steel.
I resent her for it, even knowing it’s all she’s ever known.
She’s stopped slaughtering the innocent, but the truth is, Neressa is as hard as diamond.
Beautiful, yes, but it’s the flaws that cut, the imperfections that make her dangerous and stunning.
I could never hate her for what she is. Neressa is the dark to my light, the shadow I will always need. She doesn’t unmake me; she balances me.
I don't say another word. I walk past her. She leans back against the wall, cutlass still in hand, relaxed, but watchful. If she had more to say, she would’ve stopped me.
Even as I leave her behind, it isn’t Neressa I can’t shake, it’s Kai. And if he finds the fountain before I do, gods help us all.