Chapter 13:

Red Wedding Finale

Tinker, Tailor, Tyrant, Traitor, Husband… Mine?!

"What do you mean we should wait?!" Pauline’s voice cracked through the room, sharp as steel, furious as wildfire. "I am here. Two humans in the Blac’hil estate."

Elisa exhaled, trying to keep steady. "There are other humans here—"

"Out of desperation for work!" Pauline snapped, stepping closer. "And if not, they’re turncoats who wanted to watch Highcliff burn anyway! Did I consume craze elixir?!"

Elisa clenched her jaw. "I just think it’s too rash. The situation developed—more than I could have ever hoped for. You don’t know what I’ve seen—there are humans in Middletown."

Pauline’s laugh was short, humorless. "What a stupid thing to say. Of course, I know there are humans in Midtown!" She pointed a finger at Elisa’s chest. "The big picture, Elisa! We talked about this! It’s the same pattern every. Single. Time."

A breath.

"A nation gets conquered by the redskins, what happens next? Their culture, exhaustively—becomes dissolved.

Elisa felt her pulse spike. "We’re making the best out of a bad situation. They are not going to go anywhere."

"Stop. Just stop, Elisa. I am tired of hearing all these excuses that you know are lame." Pauline took a step closer, voice dropping. "And how did you screw up so spectacularly, anyway?"

Elisa opened her mouth, but Pauline wasn’t done.

"Nobody knew but the three of us!"

"Stop screaming!"

"We can barely hear the guests mingling in the banquet. You think they'd be able to hear us? Nah, even if a few of them did, I'm too godsdamned mad to care."

Elisa's hands clenched into fists.

"I made the poison!" Pauline said. "I supplied the gold for the reagents! And now you’re telling me someone just found it—recently?!" Pauline shook her head, laughing bitterly. "After one, two years, nobody gives a shit about old weapons. Nobody cares about them after a war. And yet, somehow, after all that time, someone just happened to look through your things and find it?"

She scoffed.

"How would they even know what they were looking for?!" Her gaze locked onto Elisa’s. "It was you."

"You are being unreasonable." Elisa barely got the words out before Pauline let out a sharp, breathless laugh.

"Me? Unreasonable?"

Her hands clenched into fists, her shoulders rising and falling with the weight of barely contained rage.

Pauline exhaled sharply. "Oh, Gods."

"Whatever we do here sets a precedent," Elisa said.

Elisa’s voice was firm, but Pauline’s glare didn’t waver.

"You have to close up the wound that’s festering for the body to survive. Blac’hil and his family were that wound," Pauline seethed.

Elisa gestured around. "But the wound isn’t festering anymore—the host adapted. And now too many people rely on demonkin and their services. You rip the rug from under them halfway through only a decade of peace and see what happens. The situation’s changed."

Pauline’s breath hitched. "By displacing us, the natives. Nice."

Her voice wasn’t angry—yet. Just tired. Bitter.

"This is what you never got—your naïvety. Think long-term. Think—" Pauline clenched her jaw, exhaling sharply. "I, I am begging you."

Elisa didn’t flinch. "As if that was any different from the Concordant’s rule."

Pauline stared at her. Then—"Are… are you being serious? It was night and day. You know that."

Elisa’s lips pressed into a thin line. "The Concordant was going to turn on us eventually. It would’ve been a slow death instead of a rapid one like this. And with an Invasion upon us?"

Pauline’s hands trembled. "Yes, we debated this. They can fight. Highcliff natives can stay with the forest gods, as always was the plan! They will protect us, and the Tide will focus elsewhere. People don’t have to fight for this region to maintain. It frees up resources for them, AND us. It’s a win-win!"

"When was the last time the forest gods protected us?"

Pauline stilled.

Then, quietly—"You don’t get to say that."

Her voice was low.

"Not after what they gave you. Gave us. Not when they blessed your family so," Pauline said.

A new voice cut through the tension.

"I could hear this talk all the way from the hallway."

Elisa turned, heart stuttering.

Kael stood at the entrance, one hand resting lazily on his belt, the other tucked behind his back. "Servants were scared shitless. Could hear this rabble even over the ceremony."

"Bullshit. I checked." Pauline barely reacted—except to step slightly in front of Elisa. "Elisa, get away from him."

Kael’s brow quirked. He let out a soft, mocking hum. "Charming. But I think you’re getting ahead of yourself."

Pauline didn’t blink. "He’s here. Let’s do this. Come on."

A sharp shift in the air. The room felt tighter.

Kael took a single step forward, his shadow stretching long under the dim candlelight.

Pauline stilled. "…Elisa?"

She didn’t even attempt to say anything. Frozen in place like a glass menagerie figure.

Then—

"Ha… HAHAHA!"

It was disbelief in a few exhales of breath.

She threw another jab at Elisa. "No wonder it’s been nigh-on silence for five years. You rat. Can’t believe your dad died for this. What would he think of you?"

Kael could only scoff at such an accusation. “Another childish jab. My patience has waned, assassin. You are coming into custody. Now.”’

A small, incremental beat. Then—a breathless laugh.

"I figured it out." Pauline turned back to her, eyes manic and wild. She jabbed at Elisa in the air. "Your ego can’t handle the fact that you spent five years of your life sucking on the bosoms of Highcliff with nothing to show for it."

Elisa’s fingers twitched.

"You can’t say anything, because I know you liked being pampered!" Pauline pressed on, her breath sharp, her expression wild. "So you tell yourself everything is better. You say everything is going to be fine. Because if you admitted otherwise—if you dared to see it for what it really is—then the responsibility would be on you. And you can’t handle that."

She took a step closer, voice lowering to something more dangerous.

"You were too perfect for this job. I knew it. I’ve known you all my life, Elisa."

Elisa couldn’t speak.

Because the worst part?

Pauline wasn’t entirely wrong.

But then—

Kael’s tone was cool, almost amused. "Oh, can we please stop with this wah wah wah'ing. We get it, you are a Highcliff halfblood, a rebel, and a woman in a male-dominated field at that. Pick a struggle! No wonder you are acting out like a wounded dog."

Pauline’s nostrils flared.

Kael only smiled. "Ah, but human males love it when you put it on, don’t they? Always need a woman suffering for the cause. Only way to prove you have any worth to your owners. Good for troop morale."

Pauline moved before Elisa even had time to process it.

A flick of the wrist—a knife flashing in the dim light.

Kael barely tilted his head.

Now he had the knife.

Held between his fingers, as if it had simply appeared there.

His smile didn’t waver.

"Trick as old as time."

He twirled the blade once, lazy, effortless.

"You should know that as a seasoned commander, miss. Now, I am afraid it is time for your endangering of my life—and the lives of the people of Highcliff—has to come to an end."

Pauline stilled.

“WAIT!”

Kael turned, eyebrows raised, and so did Pauline.

Elisa stepped forward, hands raised.

"Please, gods—whatever you do, don’t hurt her. Oh, gods; be reasonable, Pauline. I can explain; we can talk this out."

Pauline let out a humorless chuckle, shaking her head. "You always did believe in talk over action." Her grip on the knife tightened. "You were the best dagger user in class, Elisa."

A sharp breath, frustration bleeding through. "And now it’s come to this."

Kael sighed—long, slow, irritated. Then, turning to Elisa, he smiled. "Frankly, darling, my patience has waned all night."

His gaze flicked back to Pauline, gesturing towards her. "You are defending her sacking of the bride and groom?"

Pauline stiffened. "…What sacking?"

Kael’s smile didn’t waver, but his tone turned razor-sharp.

"You don’t know?"

A pause.

Then, smoothly—"Let me enlighten all of us, Pauline. Attacking the carriage of the couple I was hosting really grates on my nerves. Attacking demonkin that had nothing to do with Highcliff’s invasion, even more so."

Pauline’s eyes widened just slightly.

Kael tilted his head. "Not only did you disrupt the peace—"

"WHAT SACKING?!"

Kael didn’t blink.

"Yes, yes. Sacking. You know, to plunder, to raze, to destroy."

Pauline’s face twisted violently. "Snakes… snakes are everywhere!"

She turned to Elisa now, her voice filled with disbelief, anger—betrayal.

"The Obsidian Tide, Elisa. The lot of you!"

Elisa’s stomach dropped.

Kael raised a brow, "You mean to say you didn’t know?"

Pauline’s breath was ragged now. "Why the hell would I give demonkin an even bigger reason to dig their claws into Highcliff than they already have?!"

She looked unhinged now.

"This isn’t how it was supposed to be. You were supposed to be with us, Elisa. We spent years planning this. Years!!"

Elisa tried to breathe evenly. "Pauline, I—"

"No." Pauline’s voice came out raw, hoarse. "You don't get to talk your way out of this."

"This is getting rather dramatic, even for me."

"You! You snake. You know your beloved wife, Elisa?" Pauline’s eyes flickered toward Kael. "She was on it the whole time. She was going to kill you."

Kael did not seem phased at all. Not at first. But Elisa knew subtle ticks the Count made when confronted like this.

She knew in her heart that his world tilted.

Everything—every quiet moment, every fight, every compromise, every look, every touch—

Pauline turned back to Elisa, eyes flooded with anger, grief, something more. "She probably tried to kill herself because she couldn’t bear the pain."

Elisa felt her throat tighten.

Pauline’s hands clenched, voice breaking apart at the seams. "Because you can’t control yourself and throw yourself at any man that woos you off your feet, you fucking whore!"

Elisa barely had time to react before—

Pauline moved.

One sharp breath, one shift of weight—

A blur of motion.

Over the railing. Out of the building.

The wind rushed in where she had stood.

Elisa’s heartbeat pounded in her ears.

Then—

A deafening crack.

A scream.

Elisa and Kael whipped their heads down toward the courtyard below.

Legion.