Seik swallowed saliva. He took a step. Then another. Each movement weighed on him like an irreversible decision. He felt that he had just crossed a threshold. And that, on the other side, nothing would ever be the same again.
The woman began to shake her head violently. Her eyes, bright with despair, searched the darkness for help. She tried to scream, but a cardboard-colored tape sealed her mouth.
Seik, already beside his father, inhaled discreetly. His gaze swept over the woman from head to toe: the swollen veins, the uncontrollable trembling, the cold sweat, the pure fear. It was all to be recorded. This experience would mark a before and after. His initiation as one of The Fénix.
"Seik," Erick said softly. "This is Lia, Duke Horst's daughter. She headed a network of criminals. They burned houses, ravaged crops, killed livestock... even people."
Erick pulled a blade from his jacket and leaned in. Lia flailed frantically, rustling the chair with awkward movements. Her breathing became erratic, closer and closer to outright panic.
With a single movement, Erick cut the tape sealing her mouth.
"Aaah! Let me go! I don't want to die! I can give you money, land, anything you want! Anything you want!"
He stopped short. He put a hand to his lips, as if he had just given himself away.
Seik took a step forward. His face, imperturbable as always, was enough to make her blood run cold. Lia understood that there was no room for negotiation.
"Why are you doing this to me?" She sobbed. "What did I do to deserve it?"
He lowered his head. For a moment, he seemed to resign himself. But then, in a low, broken voice, he murmured:
"In this life, you do what you can to survive. I just... did what I had to do. Why, then, does life betray me?"
Erick looked at his son. What he saw provoked something he hadn't felt in years: a pang of terror.
Seik watched Lia with crimson eyes alight. She didn't seem to see a person. She seemed to be absorbing something... Her face remained unchanging; her gaze, cold, analytical, unfathomable. It was that of someone who did not see death as a horror... but as a study.
For an instant, the most lethal assassin of The Fénix felt a chill.
He looked at Lia again, but she was no longer the same. Her eyes were wild, her breathing so agitated that she was almost suffocating. And then she burst into a heart-rending, violent cry, without dignity or restraint.
Erick said nothing. He only extended the blade toward his son.
The time had come.
It was time to remove the tumor.
"Father," said Seik, without taking his eyes off the bracelets that held the girl, "is Lia also an assassin... or does she just give orders without getting her hands dirty?"
The sound of the drops marked time like a metronome in the gloom. Seik turned slowly toward the statue of the Phoenix, as if searching for answers in the stone.
Lia did not respond. But her gasping, shaky breathing spoke louder than any words.
Erick watched his son silently, trying to read between the lines.
"Yes. This woman is not what she seems, even if she begs or cries. Deception is her weapon. And, unlike others, she does get her hands dirty. Why do you ask?"
"If she's an assassin, then she has skills. She could be useful. Instead of killing her... Why not consider her for The Fénix?"
Erick looked at her again, as if he could see past the flesh and get to the core of her essence.
"Maybe. But you don't recruit someone like that lightly. A person doesn't change overnight. And even if he said he was on our side... he'd still be who he is. Nature is not shaped by promises. You are what you are. And you will remain who you are."
The words bounced off the walls as coldly as stone.
Seik looked down at the blade in his hand. He thought. About what he had just heard. On the self-imposed limitations of The Fénix. To him, his father's answer was not only wrong, but incoherent. He was contradicting himself. And for the first time, Seik felt disappointment toward Erick.
"I understand," he said calmly. "What level would you rank Lia compared to ours?"
Erick studied him in silence. And Lia, seeing Seik's imperturbable face, recoiled a little in her chair. She didn't know if she was standing before her savior... or her executioner.
"He's strong," Erick admitted. "But not on the level of a The Fénix. If he was in shape, I'd say he could take on a trained assassin. Even, in optimal conditions, she could give Sebastian a fight... although he would end up killing her in a matter of minutes."
He frowned.
"Don't tell me you want to test yourself against her."
Seik looked away at Lia.
"That's right. She's not at her best, but that doesn't matter. Instead of repeating the same old traditions, it's time to break the mold. And there's no better way to do it... than with a woman like her."
Erick didn't answer right away. His son was once again puzzling him. But this time it was different. The obedient boy was no longer there. In front of him was a man. One with ideas of his own.
Lia slowly lowered her head.
Erick nodded.
He raised his right hand, held it open for a few seconds... then clenched his fist tightly.
Lia's bracelets exploded with a sharp crack. The echo of the metal shattering sounded like the screeching of a brake in the dark.
She still had her head down. Her messy hair covered her face, like branches hiding a trap.
Slowly, he began to lift her up.
Seik did not move. He just watched her, measuring every second.
Erick, on the other hand, left a blade on the ground and walked away without a word. Like a ghost.
Lia raised her head, but her hair still fell like a veil over her face. The drops were still falling. One of them slid down her mane and crashed to the ground.
Time stretched.
The drop touched stone.
The woman disappeared.
Seik barely raised his head. Her face remained unchanged.
She averted her gaze to the place where her father had left the blade.
It was no longer there.