Arja smelt it immediately, it was the smell of fresh blood. The girl who brought her pushed her inside with her foot and closed the door as fast as possible.
Arja couldn't believe it, in front of her now were two solid men with swords, the general had a gloomy expression behind his desk and in the middle of the room...
In the middle of the room was Typhon. On the floor. Headless.
Arja couldn't move, one of the men came to her, grabbed her arm, and pushed her onto the floor next to Typhon. She was now kneeling in the blood, she raised her head a bit and saw his head in front of her. His eyes were still open, empty of life, fixing the abyss.
Her blood turned cold, she felt a tingling sensation in her members, and her heart seemed to have stopped. She couldn't believe it was all true, she was shocked. She moved her hand in his direction to close his eyes, but the other man crushed her fingers with his foot with a satisfied smile. She felt her bones cracking under his weight and she felt the pain running all the long through her arm.
The general watched her and he shook his head in disappointment.
"He told me you wish to leave together. I said no and he lost his temper. Will you cooperate or will you make things difficult too?"
Arja opened her mouth, then that was all? That was it?! She felt an incredible rage growing within her. Like an enormous slap in the face. He died alone. The general continued with a severe and distant voice.
"Of course, that is not the main reason. You made a mistake. Do you remember, on this day, you were sent to Green Alley? You were supposed to kill a senator."
Arja didn't have any issues understanding what the general meant, of course, she remembered. She knew immediately what the general was about to say.
They had a problem during this mission. They went to the house of the Senator as it was planned, they entered his room by night. Typhon slaughtered him while Arja took care of his wife as she was a witness.
The problem was when they were leaving. The daughter of the couple came into the room at this moment and surprised them. They should have killed her.
Arja remembered perfectly the sensation of having her knife placed on the throat of the child. She was about three years old. She simply could not do it... Arja felt the wound on her belly, the pain took her whole body. She left her hand falling along her body without harming the little one. The little girl ran to her parents. She cried so loud that all the servants came to the room in no time.
They barely escaped without more people seeing them. When they were far enough from the mansion and safe, Arja threw her knife into a tree and screamed in rage.
Typhon never saw her this way. She fell, sitting on the floor keeping a hand on her belly and she started to cry. Arja never realized that being not able to have children would influence her actions. She couldn't accept killing a child. No matter what her instructions or education. That was too much for her.
She watched Typhon and almost yelled at him with her eyes full of tears.
"Don't worry, I will assume this alone. I will never kill a kid, no way!"
He was speechless. He always thought she was a cold beauty without feelings or empathy. Seeing her this way touched him deeply. He knelt next to her and asked with a soft voice.
"Show me..."
She was trembling, he placed his hand on hers. His eyes gazed into hers, and in an instant she was able to calm herself. The rage left and was replaced by sadness. She understood deep in her that it was time to share this burden with someone. She couldn't stand it alone anymore.
She raised her shirt, showing the bottom of her belly. Typhon couldn't contain sadness when he saw her.
She was completely ravaged, the wound without proper healing didn't make a beautiful scar. On the contrary, the scar got bigger and pieces of rubble fragments were still visible under her skin. When it happened, the doctors took care of her as best as they could. They had no possibility at the time to process the full surgery and remove everything from her. They did their maximum, after the bomb attack the number of wounded persons was incredible, there were too many victims.
Her skin was completely deformed, showing holes, bumps, and trenches, this was an eternally painful scar to her. Physically and mentally. However, the apparent damage was not the most serious. Today she lost a part of herself. She lost her future, her past, and her identity.
Typhon took her in his arms at this moment. That was their first intimate moment. She hid her face in his neck and cried, holding him as strong as she could with her trembling arms.
She would always remember this day as he softly spoke in her ear.
"I will always be there for you."
She felt a wave of warmth in her heart, contrasting with the terrific memory of the attack. She couldn't stop herself from crying, she cried all she wanted to cry since she left the palace. She felt like the little girl she was, the princess she should have been, that girl lost in the darkness. Fragile, innocent...
He placed an arm around her shoulder and caressed her back tenderly with his free hand.
"We will not report this. Nobody will know, it will be ok. Don't worry."
At this moment she believed him.