Waterfalls

Chapter Seventy-Eight

"Where is the NightShade King hiding?" I ask his assassin as I stand in the cave. He stands straight, the chains of ice still around his wrists. He doesn't struggle anymore, he just looks at me intensely.

"Let me out and maybe I'll tell you," he grins darkly as his eyes rake over me. The piercing blue glowing with dark amusement.

"That isn't going to happen," I tell him as I sit on a rock in front of him.

"Well, I guess you aren't going to find out," he sighs. I shrug.

"I'll find out, whether you help me or not is another question," I sigh. "Because if I find him, that means you no longer become useful." His laugh fills the cavern.

"You don't have it in you to kill me," he taunts. My eyes scan his beautiful, striking features. I close my eyes.

"Things have changed," I whisper, standing up. His smile fades and his eyes dart down to my hand with the two missing fingers. He knows something happened yesterday. Something worse than my two missing digits.

"What happened, little dragon? Your people may not have heard you last night, but I did. I heard your scream. I felt it," he tells me. My head snaps up and turns back to him, anger burning through my veins.

"You don't know what you are talking about," I snarl standing up. He only smiles, happy to have got a reaction from me. He takes a deep breath, sniffing at the air.

"I can feel your pain Isla, I can smell it." My heart races as his eyes fall on mine. He struggles in the ice chains again, trying to lunge toward me. I don't flinch as he appears in front of me, the chains stopping him only inches from my face. His smile is seductive almost as he looks down at me with his wild eyes. His handsome face catching the blue light of the glowing clear pool. I can't help but stare up at him.

"I can see it in your eyes," he whispers. "So what has changed? What has happened to make you so cold now?" he asks a sudden sadness falling over his features. I take a step backwards and look into the water.

"The only thing you need to know," I say with an even voice, "is that I will kill you if I think it necessary." My heart does not beat faster and my eyes don't dart around with fear. He knows I am not lying. "The only reason you are alive right now is because you are of some use to me. As soon as you are no longer useful that's it. I will not risk your King getting back one of his most dangerous weapons that can be used against us," I tell him. Again, there are no traces of a lie in my voice. I mean it and he knows it. His eyes dart over me again and I can't read his expression.

"So," he finally says. "You have grown up now. No more games," he sighs. "It's a shame really. I enjoyed our fun together. But it seems the fire in your heart has been turned to ice. Your merciful kindness has turned to cold emotionless brutality."

"I've always had a heart of ice, assassin," I say to him, looking into his eyes. "I just had to be broken for it freeze fully," I say to him. His smile falls from his face.

"Perhaps you need the right person to thaw it," he says and again I can't read his expression.

"Perhaps," I say as I walk away.

Over the next few days, I am alone in the palace with everyone getting everything sorted back in their homelands. I am kept busy though with many jobs and paperwork to do. At night, I avoid my room, walking or running across the mountain tops instead. I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see Serenity being killed in front of my eyes. I visit him a few times and we always have the same conversation. I ask him where the King is hiding and he asks to be released. It is on the third day when a soldier rushes to see me.