As I was leaving, I stopped in the hallway.
"Ren..." I whispered; his name, my best friend's name, held too many sorrows for a single soul to bear.
"It's Emeran's fault you died. Aldergore used you as a bargaining chip, didn't he?"
I stood in silence, my hands clenched at my sides.
"No, old friend," Ren's voice whispered from behind me.
I turned around, and he stood in the hallway.
"Ren! No - it's illusions, it can't possibly be you - you're dead."
The illusion - Rennasin - dismissed my words with the wave of his hand.
"He used my dead body to fake Emeran's death; it was Emeran's idea, though, but Aldergore didn't say anything."
I said nothing.
"'Why give up my best assassin,' he said, 'when I can give up a lesser one?'" Ren narrated.
"You look good, by the way. As best as a half-beat demon can, anyways," he smirked.
"Ren..."
I held his ghostly body in my arms, unwilling to let go of him for fear he'd disappear altogether.
"You're better than him in every way."
"Then why'd he give me up?" Ren snarled, his voice animal-like. "I've done nothing but support him and benefit him!"
"Because he wanted Emeran to kill my parents so that I'd join his Guild."
"But why, Sharpclaw?" he said into my shirt.
"So that I could help him gain control of Aria," I realized out loud.
"He wanted to start an army."
"That can't happen," Ren protested quietly, his elongated ear pinned against my neck. "Not now, anyway."
"Well, what do you want to do about this situation?" I asked Ren then, still holding him in such a warm embrace. "About Emeran, I mean."
Ren Knifeborn looked at me, though his name was menacing, in the eyes.
"Don't cry, Ren."
His face disappeared once again into the depths of my cloak.
"I'll never cry again in front of you, Sharpclaw. I'd like to do something to Emeran, but no one can hurt him more than you can. I can settle for that."
His emerald-green eyes, a painful, perfect reminder of how he'd died, shone bright with emotion.
I still held him to me, my hand running through his light hair, the ghost of his touch wrapping tightly around my abdomen, never wanting to let go.
"Could we have been something more?"
He asked the question I'd been wondering.
"Than death? Maybe, but... I love you, Ren."
"I love you too, Sharpclaw."
YOU ARE READING
Underneath the Moon is Where My Secrets Lie
Mystery / ThrillerHe was the only remaining Sharpclaw... or so he thought. Suddenly, there's a reason behind his family's death, and he plans to unfold its messy secret for all to see. But he's not out for justice... ... he's out for blood.
