ravaged hearts

CHAPTER ONE,

RAVAGED HEARTS | CHAPTER ONE

THEN, SEVEN YEARS AGO

WHEN IT STARTED, she never thought it'd end like this. It began with the two of them in a reclusive manor playing a deadly round of cat and mouse, just two children playing games too big for their innocent eyes. It ended with her lying on the cold marble ground of a palace long past its glory, slowly bleeding out, staring at the ceiling with blank eyes and a heart full of hatred.

It wasn't meant to be like this. She hadn't expected it to be like this. Maybe part of her was still too naive, still too trusting. Maybe she never learnt her lessons, maybe she was just stupid.

They'd warned her about this, hadn't they?

She hadn't listened, because why would she? She wasn't famous for being a good listener. In her eighteen years of life, stubborn was the word most used to describe her. Willful a close second maybe, if the speaker was feeling particularly eloquent or nice.

They usually weren't. Especially not when the speakers were most frequently exasperated school teachers or parental figures on their last rope.

She pressed her hand against her wound in some desperate attempt to stop the blood from gushing out. Bitch, she thought to herself. I should have god fucking known it was her.

Her activity had been so suspicious from the start. She would pop out of nowhere. She said the most suspicious thing. Io had just been too clouded by emotions and her thoughts to have noticed. Or at least, realised the true extent of threat the woman was.

She'd been played. Completely and utterly played like a puppet on a stage. She hated it when that happened, absolutely loathed it. It wasn't a nice feeling, being played for a fool, especially as someone generally appreciated for her intelligence and quick thinking. Though remaining calm had never been one of her strong suits.

Slowly, she pushed herself upwards. They'd made one mistake, though. They assumed she was dead. But the wound, while deep, wasn't fatal. Not if she could deal with this soon enough.

The safehouse. Then what? Ovienada? To Danna? That was so far away. She wasn't sure she could make it.

You have to make it. She wasn't ready to die yet. She just wasn't. She had a long time to live, a lot to see and a lot to do. She didn't want to die.

Oh, Louis, Louis. If only I'd never fallen for you. If only I'd never seen you as anything more than a friend. This was all my fault, wasn't it?

It was. You don't need to lie.

-♡-

NOW,

RUNNING AWAY, TECHNICALLY speaking, was rarely the best course of action. She'd say the opposite, really, it was usually the worst thing a person could do, and Io had never been fond of it. But sometimes, it was the only choice. Desperation could make a person break any oath.

It had been nine months and seven days since she'd vanished clean off the face of the earth. If any of her friends had actually managed to locate her, no one uttered a word. She heard nothing from them as well. Maybe they recognised the need for her to be with herself and no one else for a while.

The last time she'd done this, her seclusion had lasted a month. She'd been forced out of it. This one had lasted longer than even she'd expected.

But what was there for her to do? She'd spent her entire life fighting one war. One. Her entire life, she'd been an agent for the Saian crown. Its enemies were hers. And now that the weapons had been laid down, both sides retreating back into their own borders and the future seeming so bright...