After lunch I go back to my room to shower off the sweat and dirt from training. And the interaction with the student. After my shower I take some of the white powder from the fuga pnt and snort it. In seconds I can feel it's affects—I feel lighter, happier, numb. I don't use the powder as much as I did when I was younger, but thinking about my assignment ter has my insides in knots. Short term relief is really all I have to look forward to right now. I fall back onto my bed and y sprawled on top of the covers in my underwear. My head starts spinning in a way that makes me smile. I think of my friends and chuckle.

  Thoughts of the Ceremony come to my mind and for once they don't leave me anxious. I think about the css that graduated right before us. There was forty people who made it to graduation and thirty-two were chosen by the Gods. Most of them were gifted with power of the Body and elemental magic. Power of the Body is one of the most useful for Valere; increased strength, speed, and stamina make for a good warrior. The ability to manipute elements is also useful to have in your warriors.

  Images from two years ago fsh into my mind. A list of names in Diana's office with each power written next to them—Elemental: fire, elemental: air, body: speed, body: strength, mind: emotion manipution, body: healing.

  "Irving," her voice snaps me out of my trance. A voice that sounds like gss on gss.

  "Yes, Commander," I say, shifting slightly on my feet and rolling my shoulders back. I'm tired. I want to sleep. I want to drink. I want to be anywhere but here.

  She looks up at me over her gsses. "I have a task I want you to take on."

  Ugh. Why? What the hell could she need me for?

  "What is the task, Commander?" I hide my surprise and trepidation.

  "We can call them... assignments." She smiles, like she made a clever joke. "You will start getting scrolls delivered containing the name of a person and a location."

  Weird. "And what am I to do with this information?"

  She looks at me with her hard brown eyes. They used to look at me with kindness; now they seem full of spite. When I was little, I would tell her that her eyes reminded me of chocote, and she would tell me my golden hair reminded her of noodles. We would ugh and she would pat me on my head and give me a snuggle. The memory brings me sadness. Anger. Dumb shit brown eyes.

  "You will kill the person whose name is on the scroll."

  I blink and furrow my brows. "Why?" I can't stop myself from asking the knee-jerk question.

  She tsks, "Does it really matter?"

  I mean, YEAH. Kind of. I can't say that, though. I do not feel like being punished. She takes my silence to mean yes.

  "Because the crown asks for it."

  And that's all she has say for me swallow any other question I have. Any hesitancy about taking on this task. I blink at the memory; the guilt and shame don't completely overwhelm me like they usually do. Why didn't I say no? Why didn't I fight back? I sit with these uncomfortable questions and can feel the effects of the drug starting to wear off. I look out my window and it's still light out. I don't need to leave for the assignment until after sunset and a nap sounds nice.

  More fuga powder finds its way into my nose, and I return to the bed. I fall back onto my pillows and stare at my ceiling. A wave of euphoria and sleepiness crashes over me and I smile, my eyelids starting to feel heavy. My mind slowly starts to shut off, one section at a time, and before I know it, I'm straddling the cusp of sleep and fuga-induced euphoria. I take a breath before I hear a familiar voice whisper in my ear, "Dream sweet."

  I try to open my eyes but they're so heavy. They crack open and I see him, the man from st night. Or at least, I think I see him. My eyes roll back while my eyelids firmly pnt shut, and I drift off to sleep.

  ***

  I awake in a start and gnce outside. Total darkness. "Fuck!" My voice echoing in the high ceilings. I rub my face in my hands and stumble out of bed. I walk over to the tall wardrobe, pulling out a pair of bck, tight, stretchy pants, bck socks, and a bck fitted long sleeve shirt. I nearly fall over from being half asleep when I try to put on the socks while standing.

  "Get it together you stupid fuck,"' I say sternly to myself. Eventually I manage to get dressed, put my hair up in a bun on top of my head, grab a hooded cloak, and slide my short sword into pce on my leg. As I'm closing the door behind me, I notice that Angelica out in the hallway.

  "Someone overslept," she muses and keeps walking the opposite way to the end of the hall.

  "Shut the fuck up," I say dramatically and walk towards the undry room to pick up a new bag. I'm greeted by a short student, twice my size, chubby yet muscur. He greets me with a respectful nod.

  "I need one rge bag, please," a hint of impatience in my tone. It's not his fault I'm te, but I can feel the anxiety rising each passing minute that I'm not there.

  "Uh... which one is a rge bag?" He asks looking around the desk, his eyes searching over everything.

  "I need a bag that will fit a head inside it," I say bluntly. "And I need the material to be absorbent so I'm not trailing blood throughout all of Salene."

  He looks around again, face slightly paler than before, and hands me a bag that's entirely too big. I don't have time to argue with him, so I take it and head down the long hall and exit out the side entrance. The location is about a mile away, but I don't have time to walk there. I run down to the stables and find my bck mare, Eleos, named after the God of Mercy. I don't even bother with a saddle. I throw on her purple bridle and lead her out of the stable. She raises her front right leg, and I step up and swing my leg over body.

  "Good girl," I pat the side of her neck and squeeze her sides. "Let's be quick." She breaks out into a run.

  ***

  Not wanting to draw too much attention to Eleos and I, I lead her through the Rafter's Forest. I emerge at the edge of the woods facing a house, a gravel road separating us. I hop off the mare and pce my forehead on hers. "Go back home, thank you for your help." She snorts and shakes her head back then turns back into the woods. The branded V on her hindquarters will keep anyone from trying to steal her or harm her. I watch her disappear down the road, take a deep breath, let out a small prayer to the real God Eleos, and turn around.

  The house is small, stone, and the two windows on the front are longer than most in this area. The house is secluded away from any others. I hear a commotion, and a loud thud. Then I hear yelling. "You're not supposed to still be here!" A man's voice rings out of the open windows loudly. I hear another thud followed by some shuffling and someone yelping in fear.

  I hear a small voice yelp in terror. Fuck. What I can only assume in this situation is that I failed to complete the assignment in time, and someone has come back to find the subject still alive. Did he know what that she was supposed to be executed?

  You fucking idiot. I don't even contradict it, because in this moment, I am. Shit. This has never happened to me.

  "You know what you did!" More loud noises come from inside and cause my feet to start moving forward.

  "No! Tyler please! I don't want—" There's a loud sp that stops her from finishing the sentence.

  "I don't care what you want!" Thud, thud, CRACK. My fists clench at my sides.

  Take a deep breath and go finish the job like you were supposed to.

  I listen. There's something about this that doesn't feel...right. I hear sobbing and rustling and I finally open the door to see a tall man, not much younger than me, standing behind a young girl bent over a small dining table. Her eyes meet mine as I come into the doorway, and I can see that she's bleeding. Her hair is matted from blood and sweat. There are broken ptes and vases, shelves overturned on the ground. It's chaos.

  I look back to the girl and the man. Her eyes are shining with tears and her breathing is ragged. He turns to look at me with eyes full of hate and lust and control. It isn't until I look at where they meet that I can see he has pulled her dress up to her back.

  No.

  "No?" I hadn't realized I said the word out loud. "You were supposed to kill the bitch; now it's my job. The Valere are supposed to be the best. You weren't even here on time." He says in disgust. Her eyes widen slightly as she registers why this is happening... and what was supposed to happen.

  "No," I recover quickly. "I will still fulfill the service." I grab the short sword from the sheath on my thigh and walk over toward the table. "Back up." I order. He rolls his eyes, and a smile fshes on his face as he backs up and throws down her dress.

  The girl pushes up from the table and straightens her dress. Her blue eyes are full of pain, and I sense a perpetual weariness there. There's not any fear. She looks ready to go... ready to leave this world rather than be stuck where she is. My chest squeezes... a familiar feeling of sadness washes through me. She wipes the sweat and tears from her oval face. The blood on her cheek is startling against her porcein white skin. I approach her, and she raises her chin.

  "What is your name, girl?" I ask.

  "Madeline," she says.

  "How old are you, Madeline?"

  She looks confused, but answers, "Sixteen."

  I give her an apologetic smile and nod my head. "C'mon what is this?" He sneers behind me. I can smell the ale on him. She looks at him and I can see it there, again. An anticipation to be rid of him, contemption if she hates him for being a part of this execution, or if she's thankful.

  I point my weapon to him and narrow my eyes. "Confident words from a man abusing a sixteen-year-old girl." He looks like he wants to hit me, eyes full of hate and rage. I wish he would try.

  "You don't know what she's done," he starts.

  "And I don't care. Another word from you and it'll be both your heads in this bag." He keeps his mouth shut though I can see the insults and rage bubbling underneath his skin.

  I bring my attention back to the girl. "I'm sorry," I say loudly. She looks back to me before closing her eyes. "No, do not close your eyes." She opens them and for the first time, I can see fear and a little unease. Before she can fully understand what's happening, I spin behind the man, Tyler, and sink my sword into the side of his neck. I retract the sword just an inch before slicing through tissue, muscle, and spinal cord in one swipe. There is the thud of his head as it hits the wooden floor, the thud of his knees as they hit the floor, and then a final thud as his whole body falls forward, blood pouring out. I squat down and wipe the blood on the back of his tunic and pce it back at my thigh. I stand and look at the girl, who is looking down at him, eyes wide, mouth ajar. I go collect the head that rolled a few feet into the wreckage of the living room.

  "Thank you," she whispers meeting my gaze again. There is a peacefulness that has repced all the other emotions that were present.

  "Don't thank me," I say as I pce the head in the comically too rge bag. "And do not mention it. Or it will be both our heads enjoying the view from this bag." I turn towards the door and grab the handle. "You will need to leave Salene. Grab what you can sell and be gone before dawn tomorrow."

  She nods her head slowly and looks around the small house that is in shambles.

  "You deserve to be with someone who doesn't treat you this way."

  "I didn't have much choice—" she starts.

  "Next time you will."

  "He-he wasn't my partner. He was my brother." She says confused, which only leaves me feeling disgusted.

  "Good luck, Madeline," I whisper, as I close the door behind me and walk onto the small gravel road, leaving her to pick up the pieces of a messy life that should no longer be hers.