The piano melody accompanied the unceasing fall of the small snowflakes. Their fall was subtle and synchronized, being captured by two large blue eyes. Blaire's face showed that it was the first time she had seen the snow fall. Which was a surprise to everyone in the room, since she lived in Crebeci.
It was the second time Von had seen Sophie playing, and like the first time, he could not recognize her. She looked different, but the way Sophie's white fingers moved caused a certain serenity that Von had not felt for some time. Every time she touched his eyes remained closed, glued shut as if she were dead. As if she was waiting for an end that would not come.
Norgard, Krauser, Tyr and a girl Von didn't know were also listening to the beautiful melody Sophie could give them. The notes were not as melancholy as last time, but there was a certain aggressiveness in the way she pressed the keys. Her eyebrows were furrowed and expressed the feeling Sophie had for the music. She opened her eyes and held back a solitary tear that insisted on falling. She stood up and everyone applauded her.
- I didn't know that Sophie played. - Tyr said with a smile on his face, very unusual coming from that man.
- My mother taught me.- Sophie answered in a grating, slightly proud voice, still hiding her happy memories inside.
- You play very well. - Von said without looking at her, without seeing the slight reddening of her face. He stood beside Blair, watching the snowflakes fall through a glass window.
-I have to agree.- Krauser said, looking at Norgard as if he were hiding a precious stone from her.
- Every time I come here Sophie surprises me in a new way.- The young woman next to Tyr spoke up. Her hair was light brown down to her shoulders, her eyes were an amber mixed with red, and her height was medium. He was dressed like a Cerminian soldier, his suede jacket was dark red and his tight pants were black. He wore a brown boot, and a black and purple cape like all normal soldiers. But when Von saw her, he knew something was different. Maybe it was simply the way she smiled.
- I have plenty of time, Liz.- Sophie said in a relaxed tone as she stopped beside Blair and Von.
- Now that we've heard the beautiful song Sophie played, we need to discuss the fate of Blair Rudra. - Krauser spoke up.
- Blair is my daughter, nothing fairer than for her to stay here in the mansion.- The general spoke up for the first time in the hall.
- Nothing fairer than to take the girl out of Crebeci and put her in Cermina! - Lizandra Maxin sneered.
- Liz as always cunning! -the general laughed.
- And continue to be tortured, soldier? - Tyr looked at her seriously, as if challenging her.
- Ah... - Liz's face showed her surprise - I had no knowledge of this, master. -
- Do you train with Tyr, Liz? - Sophie kept diverting the conversation.
- Yes.- Liz gritted her teeth, feigning an anger that didn't exist. And Von as a good observer saw that.
- Blair Rudra will change her name to Blair Chasseur.- Krausee insisted,.- and Norgard, you can choose. -
The general had understood Krauser's words. Years and years of service had allowed him to enter the mind of the Sovereign of Cermina.
Blair paid attention, but the idea of being anything but a man's plaything made her satisfied. Sophie swallowed dryly, but let no one notice, Von was making his mental notes, and Liz and Tyr exchanged a glance with each other.
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The office of Norgard Chasseur was terribly stuffy, the windows were all shuttered, and a maid was serving coffee to Liz and Tyr. Krauser and Norgard had already arranged for Blair to change her surname and be registered as the daughter of the dreaded General Chasseur. It would take time, but Blair was not going anywhere but Cerminian territory. Liz was sitting in one of the armchairs facing the Norgard table, but there was only her and Tyr in the room. Both did not know where Norgard and Krauser were. Sophie was tidying up the room for Blair, an extremely unusual thing to do, given the assassin's initial hatred for her bastard sister. Von was babysitting and playing in the snow with Blair, it would give that little girl a bit of Childhood.
- I didn't know. - Liz said with a sip of coffee.- If I knew she was being tortured, I wouldn't open my mouth. -
- Why does a soldier like you have to know about high-ranking things? - Tyr answered her dismissively, not paying much attention to her words.
- I am rapidly rising through the ranks. - She smiled venomously. - I'll soon be promoted to captain.-
- Such conviction.- He sneered. - Is this the same ideal you intend to go to war with?-
- What ideal? As far as I know I haven't presented one here.- Liz put the cup on the table and looked at him with her invasive eyes.
-You're trying to go down a path where the end will be unpleasant. - She made a puzzled look on her face. - In other words, you think you're the last orange in the basket.
- I think I am? Please, Tyr!-
- Then tell me what this is. - He crossed his arms and stared at her with a predator's stare, destroying the invasion Liz was providing inside herself.
- I'm just confident. -
- Too much confidence is not good. -
- Do you want me to be pessimistic? - She arched her eyebrows.
- Liz, you are very polarizing. - he sighed. - Be what you want to be in proportion.-
- How am I supposed to know what the exact proportion is, Tyr? - She stood up and pointed her finger at Tyr's crossed arms. - Do you want me to be just like you? A reflection of impassivity?Tyr I... Am... Not.. You! I don't have the same ideals, I don't have war as my principle as you do. -
-You think that everything can be solved with words, and that is your biggest mistake! - He defended himself, trying not to curse her for thinking otherwise.
- That's not a mistake! - she said in a good tone. - This is definitely not a mistake!-
- It's naivety. - He ended the discussion with these words, turning and walking to the door.
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- I was confused. - Von said as he put the knives away in a cupboard. He and Sophie were in the hovel that served as the armory cleaning the weapons. Ever since Liz, Tyr and Krauser had left, that question had been stuck in his throat. - What did Krauser mean?-
- You're new here, but everyone else in the room isn't. - She answered him coldly. -Either Blair becomes the new 'Sex Diplomat' of the family, or in the future I will lose my position.-
- I suspected.- Von swallowed dryly. - What will he choose? -
- I'm not meeting the general's expectations. He may well train Blair, but she'll never be as good as me. -
- Modest. - He chuckled.
- Heh, an assassin who has been molded will never be as good as one who has sought her own destiny.-
- I figured you'd say that. - Von looked at her, he was sharpening his two daggers - Are those your favorites?-
- The daggers? Yes. - She smiled, showing her white teeth. - I bought them that day from Monick. I saw them in a stall, liked the shape and ended up getting a bargain.-
- Ah... Monick. Miss you. - He laughed and noticed that Sophie was sharpening the daggers with more pressure.
- Do you miss your whores, dog? - She stopped sharpening and looked at him seriously.
- No, I went to a brothel the other day. - Sophie stabbed the dagger into the table where Von's hand rested.
- I think it's because you like easy women. -
- I like women, and I like them even better when they come on to me. - Von took the dagger and pointed it at Sophie with a smile on his lips.
- Just like you.-
- I threw myself into your arms? - She slapped the table and then laughed - Please! -
-Whether you did or not, all I know is that I had no trouble at all.-
- I was drunk! - She laughed sinisterly.
- And the other times? - She opened and closed her mouth like a little fish. She felt her face burn and turned away, stopping to look into the brown orbs.
- There is a big difference between women who are easy and women who know what they want! - Sophie looked back at him sharply.
- And what is that difference? - He crossed his arms.
- I knew what I was getting at. -
- And how do you explain the difficulty I didn't have? - He arched his eyebrows.
- I wanted to kiss you! - She felt her face growing hotter.
- And why are you red right now? -
Sophie's eyes widened, making jerky movements to dispel the heat she was feeling.
- I'm not red. -
- You're always red.
- If I didn't turn red, it would mean I was easy. - She crossed her arms too, and closed her eyes as if she were right. - Easy women don't feel shame.-
- In the forest you didn't turn red. - He rebutted Sophie's argument.
- I'm not easy, Von! - She snapped.
- Are you really? - He smiled. - Proof.-
- Proof? - Sophie frowned, trying to understand. She heard her dagger fall to the ground and felt strong hands grab her crossed arms. - Von... What?-
- Resist me. - He whispered in her ear. Sophie felt her blood boil, her heart race and her face couldn't get any more flushed.
Von squeezed her tightly against him and took hold of Sophie's white neck, biting lightly there and making her let out a stubborn moan. He felt her shiver in his arms and couldn't contain her laughter, which made him bite harder. Sophie was trying to push him away at the same moment she didn't want him to stop grabbing her. Von moved up the bites to her cheek, and leaned over her, making her bend the wrong knee. She lost her balance and they both went to the wooden floor.
- Easy. - He whispered again in her ear, and laughed as he put Sophie's arms over his head, preventing her from making any movement. Von continued to laugh at the look of submission mixed with indignation on her face. Finally he kissed Sophie on the back of her neck, as he kissed her lips, he felt the hot liquid flowing out and then the pain.
- You bit me! - Von growled, looking at her with the glare of a predator as Sophie giggled.
- You're abusing me! - She tried to speak seriously in a fragile voice, trying to hide the desire that was on her skin.
- It's not abuse when you moan so gracefully against my lips. - As he said this he kissed her. He kissed her so intensely that Sophie forgot they were arguing, forgot her pride, and could only taste Von's blood in her mouth. It numbed her in a way that made her want more and more. Her lust was so great when she felt Von's member rubbing against her skin, pulsing as the kisses grew hotter.
- I won't lose to you.- She said between kisses.-I know what I want.-
As she said this, she pushed Von as hard as she could and crawled up on top of him.She removed the cold-weather jacket she was wearing, wearing only a white dress shirt. She opened two buttons and let her black bra show. She took a dagger from the table and lightly cut the corner of her lips. She leaned over Von and waited for the blood to drip to his lips. She grinned and licked her own blood on the assassin's lips.
- You'll lose.- He lifted her torso, grabbed her by her red hair, and kissed her intensely. Unlike the other time, it was a needy kiss, a kiss without pause or provocation. It was just the pure desire of both of them that had been ignited. Sophie leaned him back against the floor, demonstrating her pose and lightly biting Von's swollen lips. Sophie's fingers went to the buttons of Von's jacket and tried to undo them, in vain.She gave up and returned her fingers to his hair, then kissed him frantically, as if it was like a drug.
- You're just like nicotine, Sophie. - He whispered between kisses. - I'm addicted. -
Sophie moaned again at Von's statement, and all she did was stop kissing him and look into his brown eyes. His face had disappeared, and there was only that look, as if he was looking into her soul. She looked at him so passionately that she doubted even his existence. She doubted that she was an assassin, and she doubted that what they called life was just something of hers. For a second, she felt the submission on her skin. She felt that if he kept kissing her and looking at her like that, she would be all his. And whether he wanted her or not. He wanted only her body or not.
Her ind only stopped thinking when she felt again the cold contact that was Von's lips. It felt like she was plunging into an ocean she couldn't escape. And she was the wrong one. She wanted to keep drowning in that sea of unknown waters, she wanted to kiss him non-stop until they were both out of breath. Her mistake was to want to continue, to not be able to put a brake on what she still didn't know what it was. And that Von already knew, or thought he knew. Her subordination only ended when the door opened and Blair appeared with a startled face as she saw them both on the floor.
- Blair. - Von whispered and Sophie looked at him uncomprehendingly. For a second, she thought Von was whispering her bastard sister's name against her lips. But soon the chill of the open door slammed against her body and she stopped kissing him, rising quickly to her feet.
- Blair. - She swallowed her saliva, and watched the ten-year-old girl standing in front of the door with a bewildered expression.
- Norgard said to come see what you were doing. - Blair's voice barely came out, amazed at what she had just seen. She looked around and didn't dare to go inside the hovel.
- ah... - Sophie scratched her head, nervously. - ah... - She looked at Von who stood up and straightened his clothes. - ah... - she repeated the word again and her face flushed again.
- Relax, Soph. - Von took Sophie's jacket from her and slung it over her shoulders. He looked into her green eyes, leaned his face into hers and kissed Sophie lips lightly. - Come on, Blair. - She held out her hand and the two of them walked out of the hovel, leaving a bewildered and embarrassed Sophie behind.