Kaeron had submerged under the heated waters of the, thankfully, empty, outdoor hot spring five minutes ago and had yet to come up for a breath. The memory of Lex's impaled back and her bloody cheek played, over and over in his head, like some kind of relentless nightmare, and what made it worse. Lex had seemed to have forgotten all about it. He had always been envious of his sisters ability to shrug off the bad stuff, living her life as if she hadn't experienced more than most people would ever at such a young age, and of course, he wouldn't want her to have to think about any of those bad things, but she could at least...
He scratched his head like doing so could stop the frustration building up inside. He didn't know what he wanted from his sister; it wasn't like he was the biggest feelings person in the world, but he thought he had taught her that she could talk to him about anything.
He would have ignored the sounds of the approaching person and continued to wallow in his misery if not for their footsteps having stopped so abruptly, and their heartbeat picking up in speed as if surprised. Did they think he was dead or something? He almost laughed at the thought, as if he could be taken out by a bit of water.
He had performed in the harshest of environments in high stake situations while under Draefin's thumb. Assassination missions during a blizzard, stealing top secret documents from high security vaults, and the more unspeakable things that he had done that he definitely didn't want to think about right now.
"You're either dead or a pervert." A female voice drifted down to him.
He almost rolled his eyes at the generic scene playing out. He must have entered the women's side on accident; he really wasn't in the mood to try explaining the mix-up.
He sighed, making air bubbles in the water that rose to the surface and then reluctantly, let himself rise as well, breaching the water and surfacing into the cool night air.
Kaeron wiped his face with a single brush of his hand and opened his eyes, looking in her direction and shot his notorious smile that had all manners of women swooning over him.
He wasn't in the mood to argue, so he'd seduce instead, but the woman in front of him penetrated his perfected mask of arrogance, and he couldn't help but to stare longer than he would have normally.
She was the most stunning person he had ever seen, and he had dated supermodels, tv stars, and Sierra Atriuem, the princess of this country.
She had smooth looking dark brown skin, sensuous brown lips that didn't seem to have a lick of lipstick on them, eyes the color of a storm, and hair that reminded him of the moon being reflected on ocean waters. He almost bit his tongue off, what the fuck did that even mean. She was only wearing a towel, but it hugged her form, exposing just enough of her small, but in a good way, tits.
She gave him a peonies smile after he had been staring for at least three minutes. "I'm flattered Mr, but only a lover or a pervert would stare so long at a woman's exposed skin." She eyed him, "And seeing as I... don't know you, that could only mean you're the ladder. Is that true, Mr? Are you a pervert."
His brain felt as if it had short circuited, his normal retorts dying on his tongue, but he felt almost compelled to answer her.
"Depends who you ask."
She frowned at this. "You know this isn't the men side?"
"I did not."
"So now that you know?"
He should go, he knew it, but his mouth moved on its own. "Now I've got a reason to stay."
She went quiet for a moment, considering, before taking two steps forward, and stopping at the edge of the spring.
"Then at least sit. Standing like that; I can see... all of you."
He looked down, surprised to feel a hint of embarrassment. He wasn't an exhibitionist, and despite the popular beliefs of his sister, he did feel shame, but he was confident in his length, and had never felt like hiding it while seducing a woman, actually the complete opposite, he had found there were benefits in not hiding it.
He lowered himself back into the waters, watching her intently.
Once she was satisfied with the sight, she slowly and methodically lowered herself to the edge, dipping her feet into the warm water. He noticed the half exposed tattoo on her neck, the towel she was clutching covering the exposed half just a bit, but he had seen it before.
She followed his gaze. "You're not from around here?"
He shook his head slowly. "I'm only passing by."
"Where are you headed?"
"The Pumi Desert."
She blinked. "Why would you ever go to a place like that?"
He bit his lip. He had to get control over himself; anybody could have knowledge of Lillian's bounty, and he knew plenty of pretty face assassins.
She didn't seem to mind when he didn't answer. She just stood up and looked at him. "Do you mind?"
"Of course." He turned his head, and he heard the towel hit the ground, followed by the sound of her entering the water.
"You can look now."
He looked her way, vision hardly affected in the steam. Her breasts were mostly submerged, so he focused on her face. She had thrown her head back, eyes closed, completely relaxed as if he wasn't even there, naked and staring.
A silence spread over them, and Kaeron wasn't sure how to break it when she finally put him out his misery and spoke.
"So, how are you enjoying our humble little town?
"No complaints so far." He lied. They didn't have a nightclub or a strip club, and it was tens of miles away from the nearest swimming hole, so there wasn't anywhere for him to party, but he wanted to keep the girl talking.
She smiled, a slow and soft smile. "You'll change your mind."
"I won't be here long enough for it to be a problem, only a day or two before I'm on the road again."
"What do you do? If you don't mind me asking?"
He thought on it before answering. "I'm hired arms."
"Are you on a job?"
He didn't answer.
"Can you kill anybody?"
His eyebrow rose but asked. "You need somebody dead?"
"What if I do?"
"Depends on how much you're willing to pay."
"I've got one million Vorx coins saved up."
He considered her for a moment as if seeing her for the first time.
She was composed, but he could swear he felt the intensity in her words, and something in her eyes made her jokes seem less like jokes.
"Are you serious?"
That peony smile, that he had quickly determined to be a mask crafted just as well, if not better than his own, returned to her face.
"Of course not."
Another silence fell upon them, but this time Kaeron was the one to break it. "You're not afraid of me?"
"Should I be?"
"Yes."
She chuckled at the confession and said. "I'll keep that in mind."
He liked that. That seemingly real laugh, and the real smile that followed, and the way she slightly crinkled her nose when she laughed.
"You have a nice laugh."
"You're too kind." She said with a smile.
"Anyone who doesn't think so, or doesn't think you're the most marvelous being on this planet, must be blind."
Even in the heat he could have sworn, he saw her blush.
"If only everyone were as nice as you."
"I'm not being nice."
She looked at him, and for the first time, she looked at him without that mask, and the sadness there... he wanted, no needed, to get rid of it.
"You can not fall for me." She said sternly.
"I know."
"You do?"
He nodded and said. "You're not the first one I've seen."
That mask returned as she touched her tattoo and asked. "And what do you think?"
He shrugged, "I think I can't fall for you, so I won't."
She smiled at that. It was sad and quick, but it was a real smile.
"Hey, you wanna get out of here?" He asked.
She examined him for a moment, "Sure."
******
"If you had to compare yourself to one character from a tv show or movie, who would it be?" The woman asked, in front of him, back facing the way they were walking.
Kaeron had left his car at the hotsprings after declaring it warm enough to take a walk. He had no idea where they were going. The destination didn't really matter anyway. He had bought a big bottle of vodka from the nearby convenience store, and they had been passing it around in silence for the last five minutes.
"I don't watch anything but the news." He said frankly, taking a swig of the vodka and holding it out for her.
She took it. "I'd say you're... The Karate Kid!" She declared.
"Who?"
She smiled and took a sip. "He's this kid who was being bullied, but in the face of his trials, he constantly got back up and fought back."
"Sounds boring to me." He said, taking back the bottle.
"I thought it inspiring." She said, looking up at the stars. "Not many people can fight against fate and win." She dragged her gaze to him. "I just think you're one of those types of people, you know?"
"You've only just met me; it's impossible for you to know all that.
She looked as if she were contemplating what he had said and shrugged. "Sure, but I'd bet I'm right about you, I'm pretty good at reading people."
God, he wanted to kiss her. "And you? What character would you say you're most like or whatever?"
"Cinderella."
"Is that the one with the slipper?"
She nodded gravely. "Sadly, yes, and this is my ball. All we're missing is a carriage, some glass slippers, and people to be outshined by my beauty."
Kaeron didn't completely understand the reference, but he did understand her. He took a quick glance at her neck, where her tattoo was hidden by an expensive black scarf, and then drank before asking.
"Do you have any family?"
And the look that she gave him, so quick it was almost imperceptible before that mask was glued back onto her face, was filled with so much rage that Kaeron questioned if he had actually seen it.
"The only family I've ever known is my father, and he only cares about me when it benefits him to."
They were twin souls.
"How about you?" She asked.
A misty silence fell over them as the memories of his childhood flashed by as if they were being projected.
"I've never known my real dad," He started, "my mom brought home man after man, all of which despised me and my little sister, and some would act on that impulse." He took a swig and continued, "Sometimes it was a punch or a few, some would burn me with cigarettes, some would choke me until I passed out, all while my mom did nothing to stop it." He swallowed back the bile in his throat, "But it never mattered, I could take it as long as none of them touched my sister, I could take it, or at least I thought I could, until one day one of the bastards she had been with, Rick, had found out I was stealing food from him to feed my sister, so he hit me a few times and then bent my index finger back until it broke... and I snapped."
They had stopped moving, and Kaeron had fallen silent.
"What happened next?"
Kaeron looked at her. "I ended the abuse."
She didn't say anything to that, only nodded, took the bottle from him, sipped, and waited for him to continue.
"After, I ripped my sister out of my mother's pleading arms, and we left. We lived on the streets for a few days, but that was when I realized I had a knack for... weapons, and things took off from there."
She smiled sadly after taking another sip and said, "Didn't think I'd meet somebody with a sad story that could top mine."
He was shocked to find himself smiling at that. He was about to respond when a black, nondescript sedan pulled up beside them. The passenger side window rolled down slowly, and a basic looking man in a black suit, with a white undershirt, greeted her with a scowl, completely ignoring Kaeron.
"The boss was not happy to hear of your departure, my lady." He bit out.
"I am sorry."
"Don't be! Just get in the car."
Kaeron stepped up, making his presence known and shot the man a warning look.
The man cleared his throat and dropped the stare. "I mean, please hurry, the boss wants to talk to you."
"Give me a minute to say goodbye to my friend here."
The man looked up at her as if he wanted to protest but sighed, nodding, and rolling up his window.
He looked at her. She was smiling a soft, sad smile, but it was real. "I guess you will have to finish this for the both of us." She said, extending the bottle of vodka to him.
He looked at it for a moment and then took it.
"This was fun; thank you for showing me such a good time."
He still said nothing.
She smiled, reached up, and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye."
He stood silently as he watched her get into the back seat of the sedan. He didn't say a word when it took off down the road, nor did he make a sound when it disappeared from view. He just stood there, looking in the direction of where it had vanished, before finally taking a swig of the vodka, and began the trek back to the hotsprings.