Chapter 335: Color of blood
Venturing through the forest side by side, they enjoyed a few moments of peace. At least, as far as silence went, it was peaceful. Luke knew better. The woman beside him was troubled, the weight of what had happened still lingering in her mind.
He knew silence would never be an answer, much less a remedy for something that had already been burned into the heart. So, he broke it with an unexpected question.
"Blood. Do you like its color?"
Laila blinked, caught completely off guard. "What kind of question is that?"
"Just a reminder that we’re going to see plenty of it today. And you’ll be seeing it up close, since you’re the one skinning them."
Laila was left both flustered and confused by the turn of events. Nothing about the conversation was going the way she had expected.
She stared at him for a moment or two before finally asking, "I thought you sent me with Dalia so I could forget about..."
"About that backstabbing woman?" Luke cut in, his tone almost unnervingly casual. "No. I don’t want that."
The words were delivered so casually that Laila came to an abrupt halt, her eyes fixed on him.
Luke stopped as well, though he kept his back to her.
"I won’t ask you to forget what you did back then," he said. "Because doing so would be an insult to your courage."
Laila let out a shaky breath. "What good is courage if it leaves me trembling like this?"
Luke turned toward her. "Do you remember the mole that came out of the ground once? It was diseased, but not enough to threaten our lives, and it was smaller than a boar."
Laila nodded. "I remember that..." Her gaze fell. "And I’m sorry for pushing you out there to defend us."
"That was what anyone would expect from the only man in our household at the time. Father and Lex were away on a long winter hunt, and there wasn’t another soldier around who would have come to defend us. Not particularly against a mole."
Laila looked at him again. "You don’t hate me for that?"
"Believe me, there are things that made me hate you. But that wasn’t one of them." Luke paused. "I may have hated you that day, but you were also the reason I drew my first blood. And now, I stand here at a point where spilling blood is the least of my concerns, or the cause of my sleepless nights."
Laila drew a short breath. "And that’s a good thing?"
"For survival, yes." He nodded. "Laila, we don’t live in some peaceful world protected by towering walls, where food simply finds its way onto our tables. This is the world we live in. If you don’t kill, if you don’t spill blood, you die."
He drew his dagger and hurled it toward Laila.
She stood frozen, her eyes widening as the blade passed her.
Kriek!
The shrill cry made her whirl around.
A massive snake was coiled against the tree behind her, its head pinned firmly into the bark. The dagger had buried itself through its skull, its blade still shimmering against the scales.
Luke approached her and said, "Being strong only gives you the choice of whom you kill and whom you don’t. That’s why I train. That’s why I hunt. And that’s why I never allow myself to dwell on whom I’ve killed. Because I want that choice to remain mine, always."
He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
Laila looked up at him, truly seeing him now rather than merely looking at him.
"I... couldn’t sleep well these past few days," she admitted. "I never wanted to worry you or mother, so I pretended I was fine."
"But you’re fooling neither of us. Trust me." He smiled, earning a brief chuckle from her.
"Laila." His hold around her waist tightened reassuringly. "It’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay to be shaken. Killing a beast and killing a woman you’ve spoken to, a woman you thought you could be friends with, are two very different things."
The thought of forcing himself to kill Dart made his heart clench. Dart had been a good friend, someone Luke cared about. And while the two situation couldn’t be compared, Mila was kind to Laila like a friend in those few moments.
Yet she had stabbed her to death.
Watched her die in cold blood.
"It will never be easy from here on, Laila," he said. "But you’ve already crossed the hardest obstacle. I promise you that."
Laila looked up at him. "And how do you know?"
Luke shrugged. "Mila was close to you, and you watched her die after stabbing through her heart. If you managed to endure that, then you’ve already overcome one of the greatest obstacles."
"But Nola, the potter’s daughter, is closer to me than Mila ever could have been. And yet..." Laila looked up, her eyes colder than the blood dripping from the snake Luke had just killed. "...and yet, when she insulted you, the thought of murdering her crossed my mind."
She paused.
"And you know what?"
Laila stepped closer, lowering her voice to a whisper.
"My hands didn’t tremble."
Luke exhaled softly, the faintest curve touching his lips. "It’s a good sign, I suppose."
Laila lowered her gaze. "And that’s what frightens me more. I know it might sound insulting, but the way you treat human life now... it’s terrifying."
Luke chuckled, releasing her as he walked toward the snake.
"You’ll learn too. Once you see the world for what it really is, you’ll realize that no life is inherently more valuable than another. So you’d better stop comparing them."
Laila hummed thoughtfully. "Then it’s the world on one side, and our family on the other."
Luke stopped.
A moment later, he turned toward her, brows raised.
"I swear, that’s the smartest thing you’ve ever realized."
Laila narrowed her eyes and hurled her knife at him.
Tngh!
The blade buried itself in the snake’s body.
Luke tilted his head, glancing at the dead creature.
"The snake was already dead, though."
Laila shrugged. "I was aiming at you."
Luke growled playfully as he advanced toward her. "Then we need to work on your aim, dear."
Laila stepped forward and slipped her arms around his neck. Their lips met in a fiery embrace.
They kissed, their breaths mingling as they drew closer. Luke’s hand settled at her waist, pulling her against him as the kiss deepened.
"Hmm?" Luke hummed against her lips, feeling the subtle movement of her hips against his.
Then his expression changed.
His brows drew together, and he abruptly pulled away.
"What?" Laila asked, immediately noticing the shift in his demeanor.
Luke looked past her.
In the distance, something moved.
Only slightly but enough to be noticed.
The bushes were rustling.
"Go. Hide."
Laila didn’t question him. She simply nodded.
"Stay safe."
Luke nodded in return before reaching out and retrieving his dagger from the snake’s corpse.
His gaze remained fixed on the distant bushes.
It was time for a hunt.
A real one.
~~~~~
A/n:- Published a new story, go check it and save it in your library.