The smoke nearly choked Alice as she listened to Lydia continue to rant about their “involvement” with the Rising Sun.
She watched Lydia hold the blade to Peter’s throat, blood trickling down his neck and under his shirt. They’d been through a lot together, and she still couldn’t understand how he kept ending up being the one held hostage by a knife.
But she had a plan. Alice reached into the folds of her dress cautiously, searching for her dagger through the fabric.
Ugh, but there was no way she could get close enough to the two of them before Lydia might slit Peter’s-
Unless…
“I understand, Lydia,” Alice began to say as she stepped closer to her and Peter. “You wish to bring peace to your country, just as I do. Just as all of us do.”
She was almost there, now. Just a little closer…
“I suggest that we reach an agreement,” Alice bowed her head and extended a hand, watching Lydia’s expression soften and a drop of blood falling from her blade to the snow below.
She was loosening her grip on Peter.
“And what might that be?”
Alice’s eyes flicked up to Lydia’s, as Peter’s were focused entirely on her.
In the blink of an eye, Alice had whipped out her dagger and was pointing it at Lydia’s face with one hand, and with the other she was lowering Lydia’s arm, releasing the knife from her hands.
“Leave the innocents out of this,” Alice’s voice was steady as she continued to stare at Lydia, “Freedom isn’t worth the lives of your people. Do not become your enemy.”
Lydia’s eyes were wide, but she didn’t move. She did nothing as Alice reached for Peter’s hand, and didn’t order her followers anything as the group began to move away from the Rising Sun.
However, just as they were about to leave the town, Lydia shouted.
“Alice.”
She turned, looking to see what she wanted to say.
“Some things are worth the price.”
There was a moment of silence, the air tense between the two groups as the girls stared at each other.
But Alice didn’t offer any response. Clearly, Lydia was already past the point of no return; blinded by her conquest to free her country that she had lost sight of the reason she was fighting in the first place.
Alice vowed never to become like her...
ns 15.158.61.23da2
