Cursed Eyes

Chapter 24

Alinia sat in front of her vanity, her pink hair pinned up, make up lining her eyes, and a light shade of red on her lips. There was a knock on her door. "It's open," Alinia called out. Dracin came in, but stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. "Hot date," he asksd her with a slight smirk. Her face became redder than her lipstick, "Something like that." He smiled, "That's great. Care to share, with who?" "Um, the Guild Master from Dragon's Fortress," Alinia told him nervously.

Dracin nodded, "I've met him. He's a strange one. Frustrates Aqua to no end when he beats her in chess." It was Alinia's turn to raise an eyebrow at him, "You two getting really close?" It was his turn to blush, "Something like that." Alinia smiled, "That's good to hear."

"So what brings you here to see me," Alinia asked him. "The guys were wanting gather for drinks, but since you have a date tonight I guess it'll be just us men. Come find us afterwards to tell us if he deserves to be castrated," He told her. She rolled her eyes at him as he chuckled. He left the room and she sighed, looking back at the mirror.

She her clock chimed seven and she stood from her vanity. She had just grabbed her cloak and handbag when a servant informed her of Alfonzo's arrival.

Alfonzo stood patiently in the palace entrance talking with Queen Aqua. "You will not toy with her emotions like you do with those ladies from the brothels," Aqua warned him. "Had I wanted to toy around, I would be toying with one of your chamber maids," Alfonzo told her. Aqua knew the assassin enough to be able to tell when he was and wasn't telling the truth. "You've both been burned by your mates, I hope you two can find some form of peace and happiness with each other," Aqua said with a nod before walking away.

A few minutes later he saw Alinia coming towards him, wearing a red gown that hugged her body with a slit on the left side. The dress was more daring than he had seen any Lady wear. The dress had sleeves that stopped at her elbows and if he looked, he knew the dress would fully cover her back. She smiled softly, "I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long." He shook his head as he admired her, "Not at all. You look beautiful." Her face became a light shade of pink, "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself." She then noticed his hair was trimmed. It was still long to his neck, but it didn't look as shaggy as it did before. He smiled and offered her his arm. She took it and he lead her out to the coach he had waiting. He let her enter first before he followed. She sat across from him, feeling her nervousness settle in.

"I take it Aqua told you what the necklace was for," he said as he noticed she was wearing it. She nodded, "She did. Thank you." She smiled softly, "I find it a little unfair though. You know so much about me, yet I don't know much about you." He smirked, "And how would you like to learn things about me?" "Straight from you when you feel okay to tell me," she replied. He was absolutely baffled for a moment as he processed her reply.

He then gave her a charming lopsided smile that gave Alinia a glimpse of more than just the hard assassin front he wore. "You are full of surprises milady." She raised an eyebrow at him, "How so?" "In my life I've only ever known people who will say anything to be spared from death, as well as those silver tongued bastards who hired me in the first place. Liars and beggars all around me. Yet here you are, truthful and up front," he told her. She looked at her hands, "I've spent to much of my time throughout my life holding my tongue. So many years gone, and many regrets of things I didn't get to say. So I made a vow to say what I want. Lies and deceit are a waste of time if they're not being used to try and protect those you care about."

Their conversation ended when the coach pulled up to a large mansion. "I hope you don't mind, but I thought it would be best if we dined in tonight," Alfonzo told her. She smiled softly, "I don't mind at all." He stepped from the coach and offered her a hand. "What is this place," she asked him curiously. "It's what we make everyone think is our guild house. The reality is, our guild house is much further from here, allowing us privacy. We use this house for meetings with those who wish to hire us. Only the queen and members know of the house's location. I brought you here tonight because I wanted somewhere private to eat. I have enemies everywhere and although not seeing you would be best to keep you safe, I'm a selfish bastard. I promise to be smart with my selfishness though."

Alinia didn't know what to say, so she simply smiled. He lead her inside and she was greeted with a warm and inviting space. Sure the painted threat, done in elegant script, that greeted you when you first entered probably made some feel nervous, but Alinia paid it no attention. Alfonzo took her cloak and hung it up before removing his own. He then lead her down the corridor to a large dinning hall. The lighting was low and romantic. Dinner for two was set at the end near the large fire place. They sat across from each other and he admired how the fire light made her eyes sparkle and how streaks of gold and red reflected in her pink hair.

"To be honest, I didn't think you'd accept my offer to have dinner with me," he confessed to her. She smiled softly, "You didn't give me much choice." He nodded, "I know. I didn't want to give the pain you're in from your break up to make you reject me." She looked at the table, "So you know about Xon too." He nodded, "I do. I wanted to see what I would have to compete against." She sighed, "Now this is truly unfair. Do you go behind every woman's back to get to know about them instead of just waiting for them to tell you?" He sighed, "At first, gathering information on you was just a job. Then as I began to watch you, I didn't see it as a job anymore. I know this isn't giving you the best impression of me, but I'm trying to be up front with you on this, I'm just scared that if I voice what I have to say wrong, then it will blow any chance I have." He ran a nervous hand through his hair as he sighed. "What I'm trying to say, is that I wanted to learn about you. I wanted to get to know you. Once upon a time, I tried being a normal person and trying the whole, classic romance and such, and it came around and bit me in the ass. Had I done what I did, before approaching you, then I would've known what kind of person my mate was from the start."

His eyes were cold as he spoke of his mate. Wanting to keep him from going down that cold path, she steered it towards her. "So what did you learn about me," She asked him. The coldness in his eyes receded, but only a little, "That you are kind and accepting. You are also one of the strongest people I have ever met." She shook her head, "I'm not strong. I hid in a mountain for two centuries, and now I'm hiding in Kalos." He shook his head, "That doesn't make you weak. You escaped when the Red Assassins gave you that chance. A weak person would've let that opportunity pass because they were too scared to take that leap. You allowed yourself to fall in love with not only someone you saw romantically, but people you could trust and call family. That takes great strength Alinia."

She sighed, not wanting to argue any further. Thankfully a servant came out with a bottle of wine and their appetizer. "Although it's a little creepy to be stalked, I understand your reasoning behind it," she told him. It was obvious to her, his mate hurt him and he wanted to avoid getting hurt again. "Going forward though, just learn things about me like a normal person," she told him. He smiled, hoping shining in his eyes.

After that they turned the topics of conversation to getting to know each other's likes and dislikes. They talked through every course of their meal, laughing and enjoying each other's company. After desert, they sat in the parlor cuddled on the couch together, finishing off the bottle of wine. "If you could do anything, what would it be," he asked her curiously. "To learn how to fight," she told him. "I can shoot an arrow, and I can track animals thanks to the Red Assassins, but they refused to teach me how to fight, declaring I've had enough violence in my life, I don't need to learn how to cause it. Theo taught me some things, but that was so long ago and we haven't continued since then."

She had many reasons to want to learn. It's amazing to him that she already doesn't know how to fight. "I can teach you," he offered to her. She looked at him, hope in her eyes, "Really?" He nodded, "Yeah, I can. Just because I wants things to go right for us though, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you. There will be injuries and a lot of cursing." She nodded in understanding, "I understand that." He nodded, "Then we'll start next Sunday." She nodded, "Okay." She then smiled softly, "If you could do anything, what would it be?" "To wake up beside someone and be confident that they won't stab me in the back," he replied to her. His scars ran deep, as did hers. That much was obvious. "I hope that comes soon," she told him.

Not long after that, he took her back to the castle. "Good night my lady," he said before placing a kiss on her cheek outside the palace doors. "Good night Alfonzo," she said before going inside.

She walked down the hall, think how the night had gone. "Oh greatest Lady Alinia," Bryce said with an arm around Milo, Dracin and Gavin following behind, chuckling at the two. "Dracin had informed us that tonight you had a date," Milo said. "So, how did it go?" She nodded as she smiled, "It went really well."

They were happy to see she was telling the truth. She bid them a good night before going to her room, where she went to bed with a smile on her face.