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"The Crows send their regards," Rook says quietly, almost a whisper as she lays the bag on Ashur's desk. A sad smile on her lips as she peers into the seafoam eyes that once held her attention for hours. The eyes now surrounded by the black webs of Blight that pull him down more and more with each day. "Viago says it should help. With the pain at least.”
“Thanks,” he manages weakly as she flinches. She did this to him. Her fault, the other shadows mutter when she walks by. Hushed voices soft like the sea breeze against her friends swinging from the gallows. A shame so deep she tries to scrub it off nightly, and yet the anger remains.
“Ashur I-” She doesn't know what to say. Words dying on her tongue as he simply stares at her. An eternity passing in the small space between them. Memories like bitter ash as she wishes they could go back to a past turned cold. Spring faded to winter long before her heart found love in the arms of another.
I'm sorry doesn't seem enough, so she simply sighs as she runs a hand through her hair. “Just please take them. And stay strong. I… I worry," she finally admits as something snaps inside him.
He closes his eyes as he considers his next move. But in the span of a heartbeat, he's making his way around the desk of his makeshift office and closing the distance between them. And as much as she knows she should move, she doesn't when his hand comes up to brush her cheek.
“You're the one I worry about, Little Assassin.”
The name she hasn't heard in years rolls off his tongue in the most intimate way. And she's too shocked to move as he leans forward, mask almost brushing her cheek at their closeness. His eyes fluttering shut as he savors some past memory. A fragment that could have been theirs before he sent her away on that rainy night.
And she silently thanks the Maker that she left Lucanis back at the Lighthouse. Because whatever is happening right now between the two of them is so vulnerable it might shatter at the slightest breath.
“I'm fine, boss.” She can't help herself. The old nickname she teased him with for years shouldn't fall so easily from her lips, and yet it does as she disappears into the past. “I'm not the only slowly dying, remember?”
He huffs then. A sound that is both annoyance and affection. And maybe she imagines it but she swears his lips ghost against her jaw through leather. A man who is dead has nothing to lose, and he seems determined to make today his final stand.
“To die is simple,” he shudders through a ragged breath. The Blight has clearly taken its toll, and she fights the urge to wrap her arms around him. Both to steady the slight sway to his shoulders, and to soothe the ache winding tightly in her chest. “But you, are you free? When I am gone it leaves you in this mess all alone. And who will break you out of the gilded cage he keeps you in?”
Those words finally shatter the fragile spell between them. Reminding her of the present. Of the man waiting for her at the Lighthouse. The one who promised her the world, and the one she offered to love in return.
The one who would never send her away. Not like this man who broke her trust. And while she hates to see him in this state, she can't let the past drag her down with it.
“I'm sorry, Viper.” She's cold as she speaks. Drawing away from him as his eyebrows knit in confusion for only a moment before he schools his face neutral. Realizing he stepped wrong, and any chance for further discussion snaps shut just like the iron gates around her heart. “I really do need to get back. Lots of world saving to do.”
And with that, she turns and exits the room. Only the scent of caramel lingering behind as he longingly stares after her. His hand closing around the bag of herbs she gifted him, knowing he would gladly let the Blight take him if it meant having her love once more.