I was done. I was completely and utterly done. Karisha’s reaction had created the final impulse I needed to gain enough strength to execute my plan. With a half-ripped dress and a body filled with adrenaline, I walked to the main tent, determined to feel the full weight of a knife and learn how to use it.
“Just the man I wanted to see,” I replied when I spotted Dahr leaning over the table to study one of the maps. It didn’t matter which one he was looking at, I already knew it by heart, I had enough time to study each detail and understand every minuscule thread of their plan. Dahr turned to me, surprise burning in his eyes while a smile arched his lips upwards.
“Hello little flame,” Dahr snickered with mirth. “I didn’t know you would come home so early,” he said as he dropped the map on the table, as if it posed no significance at all.
“Didn’t mean to intrude,” I replied but instead of stepping back, as one who doesn’t mean to bother the other person would, I started walking towards him with determination. Adrenaline still shot through my system from the fight with Karisha and if I ever needed a moment to use all that urge that ignited through me, this would be it. “Please, don’t let me distract you,” I pushed, challenging him to pick up the map and reveal whatever secrets he thought he was keeping hidden from me.
“Somehow I sense that is not entirely true,” Dahr replied with a playful grin, his eyes glinting with mischief as he turned to me fully. My walk towards him must have drawn his attention to the ripped fabric of my dress. I saw the exact moment his brows arched in question, after which a deep V line appeared on his forehead a second later. “What happened?”
“I went to see Karisha,” I replied with nonchalance, trying to keep my attention to him and my pulse in check as I spotted thedagger placed as a paper holder over the maps on the table. And knew exactly what I had to do.
“Did she not like the dress?” Dahr asked inquisitively, his features alert, yet amused.
I simply shrugged as I continued to direct my steps towards him.
“She knows how difficult it was to procure these for you, she should pay more attention,” he replied, but he must have had another idea because I saw a playful smirk curling a side of his cheek. “Yet again… I can help you to remove it completely,” Dahr grinned as I reached the table and stepped to his side, in reach of the dagger.
“Is that what you would like?” I made sure to bite my lips, making it look like I was keeping desire in check rather than angst. I was terrified as I leaned into him and reached for a kiss. My entire body jolted when his tongue brushed mine, when he invaded my mouth with the unique taste of him, trapping all my senses into that kiss.
I wanted him close, I wanted his hands busy, so I let myself slide into his arms and lifted my other hand to reach his shoulders to pull him closer. Just as I knew they would, Dahr’s arms wrapped around my midsection, trailing dangerously close to my ass.
He kept devouring me in that kiss, his tongue performing the same savage dance in my mouth that would have driven me crazy any other day. Right now, however, I was desperately using my dominant hand to reach for that dagger. Once I did, I gripped the hilt and pressed my fingers tightly around it, holding it for dear life.
When Dahr stopped our kiss, I took the opportunity to pull myself back. Just slightly. Just enough to give myself space to reach his throat but not enough to lose the grip his hands hadon my ass. They needed to stay busy and unable to stop my movement.
“You shouldn’t be so upset about a dress…” I smiled mischievously. “After all, there will be no one left to wear it in seven days…”
Before Dahr’s pupils had a chance to widen, my dagger was at his throat and my free hand grabbed him by the hair, keeping him in place with a tight pull.
“Milenora…”
My entire body shook at the sound of my full name falling from his lips. He’d never uttered it before, never acknowledged it that day when I had introduced myself to him. Only when I kept insisting that my name was ‘Nora’, only after I had cared for him that night, did he deign to address me by my given name. I couldn’t let this happen; I couldn’t lose my upper hand just because this man remembered what I was called.
“I think I prefer March,” I hissed, pressing the blade to his jugular. I surprised even myself at the fact that my hand remained cool and collected, not one shiver in sight. As though I had practised this exact movement thousands of times until it became so fluid, my entire body moved along with it.
“Who told you?” Dahr let his head tilt back, exposing his throat to me even more. It was a struggle really, since he was at least a head taller than me, and I couldn’t relax my hands onto his body. I barely reached enough to keep the knife to his throat and his hair pulled up, my arms already starting to struggle with the pressure of the position after a few seconds.
“Does it really matter, Grannicus? Does it really matter how I know?” I spat, barely keeping my breath strong enough to expel the words. The adrenaline was slowly starting to fade away from the cosiness and warmth that even now, my entire body felt in Dahr’s proximity.
Whatever I was about to do, I had to do it soon.
I pressed the blade deeper into his throat, to the point where his jugular pulsated against my blade. One single movement and that would be it. One single slide and I could free everyone of this murderous bastard.
I took a deep breath, stilling my hands and forcing the movement to take place. Just like cutting through clay. It had to be just like that. One single slice, one determined straight line with this sharp blade and it would all be done.
Come on, Nora, I encouraged myself when my hand did not perform the action my brain ordered it to. Just one slide, that’s it. One slide and you are free.
Still, my hand did not move.
“Not as easy as you thought it would be?” Dahr asked. His head remained tilted back, and he didn’t make a move to try to get himself free, but the tension in his Adam’s apple when he moved was enough to make the blade draw a small cut into his throat. Not deep enough to truly injure, but enough to draw blood.
“Stop talking!” I shouted; my body frozen in panic at the crimson line that was streaming down his neck.
“Why should I, little flame?” Dahr still kept his head back, but I didn’t have to look at him to read the challenge. “Isn’t this what you wanted? To kill me?”
Another cut slid down his throat, this time slightly deeper than the first, claiming more blood in the motion. If he continued like this, if he didn’t stop talking and I didn’t move the blade, he would injure himself more and more.
Or I could end it all, right now.
