Another mini chapter!
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Ever since she was a babe he knew the time would come where Arya would leave the nest, but it seemed as if everything moved too quickly. He doesn’t know when it happened; he only knows that it did. His feelings for her changed somehow. Perhaps it was her iron will, or maybe it was her beauty. Perhaps it was both. He isn’t sure. All he knows is things between them have changed.
Never once had he taking a liking to one of his female soldiers. They were all his property, never to be anything more, but somehow she’d done the impossible. She made him care and he resented her for it. He resented her beauty, her cunning and her resilience. He resented her strength, her desperation for approval from him, and the way her eyes lit up whenever she looked at him. He hated it and it made him feel needed at the same time, powerful even. He felt like he had a purpose.
After a while he began to look forward to embracing her, her smile, and her excitement whenever she saw him. It became like a drug to him. He craved it like he craved infinite power and riches.
Malich had almost lost her once to another soldier. Her latest disappearing act reminded him of that loss…frightened him even. He felt as if he’d lost her all over again. She was no longer a child and she desired an existence far beyond the walls of his home…far beyond his reach.
He was losing her and the only way to satiate her appetite for rebellion was to concede and give her what she wanted. It would quench her appetite for now, but he knew it was only until she got bored.
As they neared her new home, he placed his hand over hers. She greeted him with a warm smile of gratitude and wrapped her arms around him. Malich new it was only the excitement of a newly granted purpose that caused her to embrace him, but he was grateful for her close proximity…her perfume. It was the first time he was ever aware of his own loneliness, knowing he was to let her go.
Malich drank the scent of her in, committing it to memory. Mekhi asked that he keep his distance from Arya and he gave him his word. No more alone time, no more sheltering her, and no more favoritism. She was to be treated like all of the others.
Mekhi was the closest thing to a brother Malich had. It didn’t take much for him to recognize the longing in Malich’s eyes for the young assassin. Before Malich was the Majii of the Red Legion, he and Mekhi were slaves turned soldiers of fortune. Together they built the Red Legion with Mekhi training their recruits and Malich handling the business end of things.
Mekhi confronted Malich about Arya and why he hadn’t sent her to him to be trained as one of the alumni. He’d heard many great things about her from those Malich had sent over and cleverly put two and two together. Malich’s interference in her progression, the desire in his eyes whenever she entered a room he occupied. Arya meant something to him. Mekhi had never seen Malich grow attached to anyone, but he could see right through Malich and any lie he gave as explanation.
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