Ch. 1 (Orilis)

"My prince?"

I turned to eye my friend warily, my subconscious begging for sleep, it had been a busy few days. 

"What is it, Vail?" I said, irritation coating my voice.

What's with that look? I thought. Why is he looking at me like I've killed someone...shit, did he find the bodies?

If he had, I was screwed…it was one thing to play dumb, but denying multiple accounts of murder? 

Hard pass. 

I glanced over at my guard friend's stout and muscular physique, he stood a good few inches shorter than me. More than enough for a quiet chokehold maneuver if needed. 

"W-well, I, uh overheard you and...someone named Liv? You were talking yesterday night and uhm..." Vail cleared his throat, at a loss for words and his hands fidgeting with the hilt of his sword nervously.  My eyes narrowed and I let my face mold itself into a scowl. I looked annoyed as if he was wrong, but whilst I put up my well practiced facade a feeling of worry engulfed my body like the waves of the unforgiving sea, locking my limbs in place and bringing a cold, surreal feeling to my head. 

So he heard everything...

Somehow I kept my voice calm as my world came falling apart. 

"You heard nothing of consequence, Vail." I said coolly. 

I kept my face straight, I needed to figure out how much he knows by baiting him first. Don't make me kill you Vail, I don't need any more complications, my position is tedious as is. 

"For nine years you have served as a palace guard, surely by now you know nobles have a peculiar sense of humor compared to common folk, yes?" Come on, you can't possibly confront me like this without information that would ruin me, Vail.

"B-but last night, you were discussing the most potent poisons...and...and the best ways to dissolve them…" He whispered the last phrase of his sentence like it was some kind of dangerous taboo. Though I suppose it was to him. 

Vail…was an old friend, I’d known him for years, I can't just…

“You know my position Vail, it's my job, I was investigating a recent death and found poison so I was discussing which one it could be,” I lied.

I wanted to relax and move one but looking into my friend's eyes I only saw his conviction, he wasn't going to let it slide. 

He really doesn't believe me…

A pain I knew all too well flooded through my veins, hitting me in the one place I could never truly shield. 

Granted I was lying but I was good at it! The fact he chose not to believe me, that's what hurt.

Every single time. I should have known, glory in exchange for selling me out right? Bitterness overtook the pain. 

Any mercy I would have offered was gone. He chose to disregard what I said even though die to my occupation it made perfect sense., 

Oh, I could. And I would. Vail made his choice, he would bear the consequences. 

It's us or him. Like it's always been. This is no different. 

Honestly I shouldn't be all that surprised, Vail had always been one for rules, like that one kid in tutoring that would always snitch when me and my friends by association went out to have some fun.

...that one kid who I buried in a ditch on the side of an abandoned old house.

"Vail...father is getting old and my older brothers are not fit to lead..." Might as well give him the truth, he deserves that much for sneaking up on us last night. Liv didn't hear him either, she would have signaled me so we could get the hell out. 

Vail just stared at me, face paling as realization of what I meant struck him. I could have sworn his eyes flickered to the door, as if weighing whether he could outrun me. He can't, of course, but panic does crazy things to a man's mind.
"I-I have t-to go..." Vail said, stuttering worse than before, his eyes flitted to the door again and this time I caught it, that look of desperation. 

The look he always got right before he went and did something royally, gloriously stupid. The exact thing I was trying so hard to avoid. 

"If-if, you'll excuse me, my prince." Bowing hurriedly, Vail walked swiftly from the room.

I listened intently to see whether he would run and sure enough I could hear his pounding footsteps as he ran down the hallway a few seconds later.

I reached up to massage the bridge of my nose. Really? Must we do this? Since I already made up my mind I should have just gone with the choke hold and skipped this bull crap.

Sighing in exasperation I sifted through other possible solutions in my mind. The ones that didn't involve what I had planned currently. I shook my head as if it would help me get rid of the mayhem my brain was creating.

Setting my jaw I surveyed my surroundings, a nervous habit I had developed to make my stress less apparent in court. My quarters were large and spacious, perfect for hiding things I didn't want found. 

My four poster bed was in the room to the right of my study, which was where I currently stood, and my library and artifact collections were in the room to my direct left. Like the rest of the palace, the chiseled stone walls were of granite and marble and sparkled in the sun that made its way inside the palace through various windows. Turning around to the largest window in my study, it was of a round churchlike design. I stared up at the sun, wondering if the goddess would ever forgive me for my sins.

"Liv?" I knew she was there, I could feel her golden, yellow flecked eyes staring into my back, waiting for my final decision, and my order. She was always like that, the calming presence that helped me think, even if she was beyond deadly.

 I closed my eyes. A soft thump sounded as she slid to the ground from her perch on the ceiling's hidden scaffolding.

"We can find another way if you want to, there isn't any proof," her calm voice, gentle but strong, washed over me. She always had a way of sounding melodic when she went into that range of her soprano voice. 

She and I were both alike, Yin and Yang, the killer in the sun and the killer in the shadows.

While I will be spared if we fail, Liv will die as a result. One of the only people who sees me and doesn't shy away will die if I fail.

I opened my eyes, my decision was made. The stony calm I was used to settled back into place.  Sorry, my friend. May you find solace in the goddess's eternal embrace. And while I would never forgive him for his choice, I truly meant it. 

"Do it," I said, emotionless.

We buried the body in an old cemetery that night, the one the commoners thought was haunted, the one no one would ever think to look in.