Chapter 10
A Silent Departure
Elise makes her choice, severing ties with Verdigard. Her future is uncertain, a blank slate awaiting her own design as she steps into the unknown.
The air in Verdigard’s study was thick, heavy with the scent of old paper, expensive leather, and something else… something metallic, like a fresh wound. It was a scent I knew intimately, a scent that had clung to my skin for as long as I could remember. But tonight, it felt different. Tonight, it was the smell of a cage, a gilded one, but a cage nonetheless.
I stood before his imposing desk, the polished mahogany reflecting the dim lamplight like a dark mirror. My hands were clenched, the knuckles white, a stark contrast to the smooth, unblemished skin Verdigard had so meticulously crafted. He watched me, his eyes, usually sharp and assessing, held a flicker of something I couldn’t quite decipher. Concern? Disappointment? Or was it simply the cold calculation of a man who had always seen me as an asset, a tool, a weapon?
“You have a choice to make, Elise,” he said, his voice a low rumble that vibrated in the quiet room. It was a voice I had obeyed without question, a voice that had dictated my every move, my every kill. But now, the words felt hollow, a mere suggestion rather than an absolute command.
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