Oath of Steel

24 |And They Became Four|

No Apostle had ever met the Seekers in person, nor had ever exchanged any form of contact with any of them first. Nobody couldn't find them, they were the ones that found you first. They crept out of the Underworld only after the sun went down, with their ominous deals the only trace left in their wake.

People couldn't hide from them, like rats they waited inside their holes for the day they would have knocked on their home's door, ready to collect what had been promised to them.

Could be money, could be a soul, or could be that last sparkle of hope.

The only Apostle who'd been connected prior had been Apostle I. And for what Rosalynde seemed to recall, his lordship didn't seem to possess any semblance of pleasant memories of them.

There had been times when Lord Regulus had exchanged correspondence with one of them - a certain Black Jack, or that was how he signed itself. She'd never read those letters, her young and curious eyes only finding the black lacquer wax with which the letters had been sealed before the delivery.

Black Jack, Crimson Marionette, Viridian Judge, and Azure Admiral.

And she'd received an invitation from one of them.

Rosalynde couldn't decide if to consider it a once-in-a-lifetime honor or an unofficial death sentence pending over her head.

She still had a few hours before Katherine's ointment would have started wearing off, meaning that she would have very little time to do everything.

A shadow suddenly reached her at the end of the staircase, engulfing her body as a husked voice dangerously whispered to her ear. "And where do you think you're going all alone?"

She turned around, raising her chin enough to make their eyes meet. "Still here?" She replied, her smile coated with poisonous honey.

"Talks the woman who didn't tell me she got poisoned last night," his partner didn't even bother asking how he'd found out.

"It didn't seem so bad yesterday night," she muttered, applying some more weight to test how much was left of the mobility.

The only reaction her body gave in reply was a spasm of pain quickly followed by a singular chill cutting her spine in two perfect halves.

She staggered, hands shooting forward, gripping the railing. Steadying her body as best as she could. She knew her pale face hadn't dropped to a paler shade, competing with the apparition of death itself.

Sometimes she wondered if her cheeks would have been stained sweet red only after her death. Surely not in her dreams, those had been from time immemorial in black and white.

"For someone who just got poisoned you sound too lively," Gray commented as he caught up with her.

All he got as reply was an annoyed grunt from Steel. Who, schooling her wounded smile into a tender one, went to pat Gray's covered shoulder. Her gloved hand slowly sliding down his back as he eyed her with a look filled with nothing but uncertainty.

She continued tapping his back, with him taking a step forward to escape that silent torture.

"Stop," He spelled out, word veiled with a subtle tone of tease combined with what Rosalynde could detect as his finest form of mockery.

She briefly halted her movement, pale eyes narrowing as she huffed in amusement, waiting for another reaction to come out of him.

Her mind still struggled to keep track with what had happened mere minutes before, and she wanted to see what reaction he was going to show her.