"What's wrong?" Asked Yiran.
"It's locked! We have to get it open. I overheard some guards talking about executing Tah Min earlier. I came to speak to her about it before anyone else could get to her."
Yiran's body grew cold, his mind numbing as he tried to process what he just heard. "WHAT? They want to execute her? Why?"
Ea briefly glanced back whilst trying to get the door opened. "...there are rumours floating around that she was...caught fooling around with you."
Yiran felt his heart sink. "That's...impossible. We would never cross that line. Besides, I was in the ancestral hall paying respects to General Cheng until just recently."
Ea felt all the jealousy that burned in his chest subside as he looked at Yiran's forlorn expression.
"I believe you." Ea took a step back. "For now, we have to get Tah Min out of there."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
After Yiran had left her chambers, Tah Min decided to get changed and make her way over to speak with Ea. Her plans to apologize for avoiding him all day were cut short by the feeling of cold metal against her neck. She instinctively drove her elbow back into whoever was standing behind her, causing the dagger to clamour to the ground with a loud clang. She kicked the dagger away and sprinted towards the door, only for the intruder to grab a fist full of her hair and slam her into the ground. She struggled against her captor to no avail.
The quick knock at the door, followed by Yiran's concerned voice came as a relief, even more so when she heard Ea call out after him. She opened her mouth to scream for help but was met with a yank from her captor, who still had his fingers tangled in her hair. A man's voice resounded low in her ear as he pulled her head back far enough for him to whisper into it. "Don't bother. I locked the door. If you don't want things to get bloody, I suggest you tell them everything is okay."
The only thing that Tah Min felt in that moment was a surge of adrenaline as her survival instincts kicked in. She briefly considered throwing her head back and trying to slam it into the man's face to stun him, but his grip on her was vice-like. She was sure that if she wasn't so preoccupied with the millions of thoughts and emotions flooding through her, she would be in a world of pain. She clenched her teeth, realizing that she had no way out of her situation or at least one that would end well for her.
"I'm fine! I just bumped into the candle stand and knocked it over!"
Ea's reply was out almost instantly. "Are you sure? Why did you lock the door?"
"I was going to change and come find you. Give me a second!"
There was a pause, almost as though he didn't quite believe her. Nevertheless, he stammered out a response. "O-Oh...sorry!"
He and Yiran exchanged looks. Something didn't feel right. "She has windows at the far end of her chambers, if something is happening in there, we should be able to see from there."
Ea thought for a moment. "You stay here in case those guards I overheard come looking for her. I'll sneak around to the back. I can burn off a section of the glass and slip inside."
Yiran nodded and watched as Ea made his way around the corner. Back inside, Tah Min had stopped struggling for a moment to try to collect herself.
"Who are you and what do you want?" She asked, trying to steady her breathing.
There came a chuckle from above her and she craned her neck to see what he was laughing at. Her eyes widened when they met the multi-coloured pools that nearly drowned her. She had never seen such animosity in a person before and it frightened her, but what frightened her more was that she didn't know what she did to earn such hostility. It made her feel unbelievably small. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't help the shudder that ran up her spine as she cowered under his gaze. This earned yet another chuckle from the man.
"What? You don't recognize me? I recognized you."
Her brows knitted. "Were you the one that sent that death threat?"
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Of course you wouldn't know who I am." Gabriel let go of her head for a moment and reached back into his pocket. He pulled out a picture and held it in front of him. "You recognize her?"
Tah Min squinted at the photo. It seemed to be a family picture. The little boy in the photo was definitely Gabriel, next to him was a man she didn't recognize. As her eyes travelled across the photo she felt her mouth go dry when she looked at the woman that stood on the other side of Gabrielle.
"A-Aunty?"
Gabriel nodded. "That's right and you would be the daughter of that Qishan bastard, right? The resemblance is too uncanny to be just a coincidence."
Tah Min nodded slowly.
"Well, then I guess I should formally introduce myself. My name is Gabriel Anastasio. You probably spotted me at the Archery hunt a couple of days ago. It's nice to finally meet you...dearest cousin."
Tah Min felt her lungs burning up as she took a breath. "Wha...why are you doing this? I haven't done anything to you."
Gabriel scoffed at her. "No...but your father did. Did you know about it? You must know since you recognized my mother."
Tah Min's frustration grew and she began to struggle against his hold again. "I don't know what you're talking about! I've only ever seen her in pictures."
Gabriel sighed. "...that's unfortunate then. Well, let me clue you in. You should at least know why you're in this situation. My mother had run away from her family because they were trash and she refused to conform to their disgusting ideals." Gabriel paused and nudged Tah Min. "That would be you guys," he said with a bitter laugh.
"She married my dad who was a mafia boss over in Raeha with enough power to keep her hidden. She never told him of her family, nor did he care to ask. He just needed a pawn to pop out an heir, preferably one that would have little to no influence in the family, so he could maintain control. Mother fit the bill perfectly.
My father liked to throw his weight around. Obsessed with appearances and status. He snapped especially hard when he got wind of the fact that my mother had met with another man. He wanted to execute her in an attempt to save some face and show others that we wouldn't tolerate such betrayal. He wanted an ambitionless heir, but he was always rather angry that I wasn't as 'tough' as him, always blamed my mother for babying me too much. So he made me pull the trigger...y'know...to show the rest of the family he didn't have an entirely spineless heir. Mother...wanted to protect me. She knew that if I killed her, the abuse from that rat bastard would lessen significantly...her last words were a request for me to shoot her...so I did.
The quiver in his lips betrayed the mocking tone in his voice as Gabriel relayed everything to Tah Min. Though she was scared, his pained gaze weighed heavily on her heart. So much so that she felt it sink into the aching constrictions of her chest as she swallowed the lump in her throat, willing away the tears that threatened to escape her watery eyes. She knew her family was especially cruel and she thought she knew all about the atrocities they committed. As she gazed up at Gabriel, she found herself unable to fathom the pain and anger he held in his eyes.
Gabriel didn't like the look of pity she was giving him and pushed her head back down to the ground before continuing. "Not long after, uncle came to our home and burned it to the ground. I'm sure you can understand why I was beyond furious. My mother had put up with father's abuse for years just so she could escape them. She had created this garden, a sanctuary of sorts. Whenever I wanted to escape a beating or the impossibly ruthless standards my father had put in place, I would seek solace with her. She did so much good for me...and yet I had to put her down like an animal because of my imbecile father's belief that she had been unfaithful.
Do you know what happened to that garden? Well I suppose you'd be ignorant to that too. My mother's garden, that she spent years cultivating was turned to ash the day uncle came to our home. When the grasslands reclaimed its remains a heinous field was born. That's what the Raeha grassland is. It's mazes and pitfalls that house all kinds of creatures serve as a grave for my mother's most precious creation.
I later found out that the reason my father thought she was seeing someone was because he was unaware that uncle had finally tracked her down and was trying to coerce her into coming back with him. He threatened to kill us if she didn't comply and so the day he razed it all, he was under the impression that he had killed her as well and that she deserved it for disobeying him."
"I'm sorry you-"
Gabriel's grip on her tightened as if telling her to remain quiet. "He destroyed everything. All her hard work, the future she wanted for me, all of it was shattered in an instant. I couldn't save her. Even if I wanted to back then, it would have only resulted in both of us getting killed. So...I vowed to avenge her by doing the only thing I could, by wiping out the cruel family that she tried so hard to escape, the same family that destroyed everything she worked for."
Tah Min had long since stopped moving. "...judging from what you've told me, aunty seemed to be a very kind and loving woman...what you're doing now won't-"
"Do spare me the 'what you're doing won't bring her back, she wouldn't want this' nonsense. I can assure you I've already repeated it in my head millions of times before this. The thing is, I don't care anymore. You're right, she won't come back and she would probably cry if she saw me now...but I'm not as forgiving as she was and I don't know what else to do to make the nightmares stop...they only resurfaced after I saw that a Qishan bastard was still roaming around, so getting rid of you must be the key to ending it all. So that's what I'll do."
Gabriel let go of her and she could hear him step away, but she dare not get up.
"It's a shame such a nice girl has to pay for her family's sins like this but it is what it is. You've probably grown up pampered and taken care of all your life here...I hope all that joy you've had the pleasure of indulging in all these years will turn to ash in your mouth by the end of today...no...I promise you it will."
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