Page 57 of Taming Chaos

“Your female is quite a spirited one, Mardak.” Relahek twirled one bejeweled finger in the air before letting his hand drop to the floor.

“Shut up!” Seph and Torin spoke at the same time, their voices merging into a single chorus of frustration.

Then, silence.

Relahek’s dark lips curved into a smug smile. Still facing away from her, Torin sighed. His shoulders slumped ever-so-slightly, as if in resignation. In a single swift movement, he sheathed his sword. How the hell does he do that without looking? The obsidian blade slid directly into its sheath, finding the tiny opening without any difficulty, as if it were an extension of Torin’s arm.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Relahek drawled. “Are you having second thoughts, monster? I thought your kind were supposed to be merciless.”

“I thought I told you to be quiet.” Torin leaned on Relahek’s chest with his boot.

“Aargh!” The noble coughed and spluttered. “W-what are you waiting for, Mardak? End me already.”

Torin bent down, pulled Relahek up by the front of his robes, and delivered a swift punch to the noble’s jaw. Relahek slumped into unconsciousness.

“Typical maddening noble,” Torin muttered, stepping off the Kordolian’s limp body. “Just doesn’t know his place.” He looked to his left, then to his right, taking in the fallen bodies of Relahek’s guards.

He swore profusely in Kordolian, and Seph couldn’t miss the deep anger in his voice.

Why?

She followed the direction of his gaze. The guards had met a vicious end; one had a stab wound right through his chest, the other bleeding out from a cut to his neck.

Black blood pooled on the floor like liquid ink, running into the plush carpet. As Seph inhaled the bitter stench of Kordolian blood, she was overcome with lightheadedness. Her vision wavered, and for a moment she swayed on her feet.

Not now!

She might be exhausted, sleep-deprived, and running on the whiff of the fumes of her adrenaline, but she was not going to faint here.

Not here, not now, not when Torin was dealing with some sort of weird internal conflict.

He was angry, all right, but at who? Relahek? Her?

Himself?

He turned to her with a face full of thunder and fury, but when he captured her gaze, the storm slowly dissipated. “I told you to stay back there.” Although his expression was stern, his voice was tempered with softness.

Slowly, Seph walked toward him, fighting to remain steady. “I’m sorry. I heard you shout. You sounded… not your usual self. I was worried about you, that’s all. ”

Torin shook his head as he stared down at Relahek. “You follow your own mind to do what you think is right, even if it means you will sometimes put yourself in danger.” He seemed to be quoting someone. “I was on the verge of… You just saved his life, Persephone.”

“That’s… uh, I don’t know how I feel about that. He’s a nasty piece of work, isn’t he?”

“A Kordolian,” Torin muttered, as if that explained everything. “As were they.”

Just like you.

Something clicked in Seph’s mind. “You’re mad because you were forced to kill them. You didn’t want to, did you?” She searched his face for answers. His features had become a little sharper, a little more gaunt.

“They just don’t listen,” Torin hissed. “I warned them, and they ignored me, and now they’re dead, and he’s alive.”

Only just.

Torin’s savage punch had completely knocked out the noble. Relahek lay in repose like some sort of slumbering demon. Amazingly, his cruel face softened in sleep, giving him an ethereal appearance.

Beauty could be so deceptive.

“Let’s get out of here, Seph.” Torin bent down and effortlessly lifted Relahek’s limp body, throwing the noble over his shoulder. As the Kordolian’s head and arms swayed, his elaborate jewelry clinked and the voluminous sleeves of his black robes fluttered. Long white hair trailed across the floor. “It’s a good thing I didn’t kill this idiot, because we need him for questioning.” Torin made a face, his expression landing somewhere between awkwardness and irritation. “Interrogation has never been my strong point. I’d probably accidentally kill him. No, we have experts for that sort of thing. I’ll leave it to them.”

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