LIRO || completed

• 4.2 •

Liro was wrapped in blankets, thought they did little to hide her shaking. She simply sat there, staring into the abyss. For all the world, she looked like a woman traumatized.

But that's all it was.

A  look from the outside. No one could see the way her lips twisted as victorious. A man was dead. To everyone else, she had stumbled upon him that way. 

They're all fools. They know nothing of his madness, know nothing of his crimes. His cruelty. I did them a great service, if what words reached my ears were right.

She dearly hoped that they hadn't simply been rumours. She hoped that he deserved it.

"Are you well to walk?" Olenna asked, crouching beside her. "The Queen has requested an audience."

Worry wrinkled the woman's face, and Liro wanted to lash out that she wasn't some fool, frightened at the sight of blood. But the way that Olenna was pale, her eyes wide with fear, she remembered. A man was dead. 

And she was the only one who knew the truth.

Liro nodded, getting to her feet. They exited the room, walking along the marble hallways. The quiet was as lethal as a knife, and Liro kept her voice measured as she spoke.

"Did he deserve it? Were the maids speaking true last night?" She held her breath, wishing and hoping the Olenna would say the words that she desperately needed to hear.

Olenna paused. "He was a ... wicked man, if I'm to be honest with you. He did everything the maids claimed and more. And yet I wonder, was he cruel enough to be put down?" There was silence. "I suppose we will never know if he could have made something better of himself."

A fist clenched Liro's heart. It isn't for me to pass judgement on wether someone lives or dies. It is not my blow to strike. It was the only part of her sisterhood that had stayed with her past the cruelty of her sisters.

Yet a small voice wormed its way past her defences. You are a Sister no longer. You do not abide by their rules.

It wasn't as if she had not wreaked havoc before. Plenty of times, she had relished in the coldness of her heart. But the salvation of her innocence became more like a chant as she found her way to the Queen's chambers, Olenna unaware of the monster that strode beside her. 

He deserved it, he deserved it, he deserved it.

As she gazed upon the Queen, she knew now what she was, who she was, more than she ever had before.

I am a monster.

"I'll be leaving you to your privacy, Your Majesty," Olenna murmured, leaving Liro alone with the Queen. The door shut behind her with a sad sort of finality.

"I am sorry you had to bear witness firsthand to such cruelty." The Queen did not turn away from her mirror to gaze upon her. "We generally present a much kinder household."

"It was not your fault, Your Majesty, but the wicked person who put him down." It was an effort not to scream and confess. Even a woman as cold and practical as the Queen had labelled this blatant cruelty.

The Queen turned. She was splendid in her robes, hair curled and adorned with pearls. It was shocking that someone could be so indifferent to a death of a close one that they carried on.

"Your name is Liro, isn't it?" 

Liro nodded submissively.

"Well, Liro, I do believe you are faced with a predicament."

The girls eyes shot to the Queen's. "I am, Your Majesty?"

The Queen sat. "Rather." Two dabs of perfume were placed, one behind each ear. Liro could smell the lavender from across the room. "We both know who put poor Hexley down. And it would seem we are both at fault for a hideous crime. Should you walk free, I have let a killer loose in my kingdom. And that cannot be done."

A small, strangled sound escaped Liro's lips.

"Yet if you confess, I may be able to find a form of employment that is more ... suited to you." The Queen regarded her with a false smile plastered on her heart shaped face. "Pledge me your service, and you will live. Deny these accusations, and you will be cut down."

Liro found her voice. "I'm not -"

The Queen tutted softly. "You cannot claim you are not a murderer this time. If you refuse, I will bring up your dismissed case. You will suffer for killing a Lord and harming one of my huntsmen." Her eyes darkened. "Or you may put your skill set to use under my command."

Liro swallowed. "I'm to be royal assassin." She shook slightly as she added, "Your Majesty."

"Not quite." The Queen stood and walked towards Liro carefully, calmly. "You are handy with weapons, that cannot be denied. But I need someone with cunning and a ruthless heart to be my scout. My spy." 

"You need someone who will fall on their blade if given the command, My Queen."

"And you won't?"

Liro had been given a second chance at her life. Her power of heat seemed useless on humans; only her sisters were wounded by it. That took something priceless out of her arsenal. And she had been determined to take this second shot and make her sisters the sole duo that would suffer. But turn down the Queen, and both of her lives would be wasted.

And her sisters would never pay.

"I don't fully understand your meaning, Your Majesty," Liro stalled.

"You will be a huntsman, paired with someone of your likeness, though they won't know it. You will put food on mine and my husbands table. And if the need should arise, you will serve other purposes," the Queen continued. "Are we in agreement that this is more generous than death?"

Liro knew her answer before her hand extended. "I suppose I am in your service, Your Majesty."

The Queen smiled wickedly. "Excellent. I will have you inform Olenna of your new station, and the Captain of Guard will escort you to your new rooms." 

Liro was walking towards the door when the Queen spoke again. "Oh, and best not to mention this to anyone. I doubt Lord Hexley would like to see you all too soon."

Liro did not miss the threat. She only thing she mourned was her innocence and the life of Lord Hexley. 

One wicked man in the world might have been better than the hell she could unleash.

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