5

~Faye 

There’s no words exchanged between us as we walk. 

The dumbfounded Guards who actually pay attention don’t stop us. They can’t, considering my authority over them. So we wander past, right out of the cell together, him right at my side. Never once does he make a move to step away, his gait matching mine. 

I can’t explain why I trust him. I just do.

We walk outside, right through the main door. There shouldn’t be anyone where I plan to take him. And if he escapes? Hopefully I will have an explanation by then. In reality, I have no reason to trust him, or to even want him to explain. I should have accepted the fact he will be put to death, and I will be safe from yet another Silent…

But I can’t accept that. I’ve always believed in reasoning - I wouldn’t have based my Pack values around it otherwise. I will hear him out, in the conditions he requires, if it means I get to understand. 

And maybe at the same time, I will begin to understand why I feel so sympathetic toward him, as if his death is too painful to bear. 

I’m blaming it on the wavy hair. 

We wander into the gardens. It’s an odd feeling, being here at night. The bite of the winter air wraps itself around the contrasting sweetness of the flower scented air. The gravel under our feets is the only sound, as we delve deeper into the gardens grip. Out here no one will hear us, or see us. We can talk freely.

There is a small raised mound of grass T joins me to sit on. I’m surprised to watch him sink to his knees as I do. 

We sit there, watching each other. 

“Do you trust me?” I ask shouldn’t be the one asking this question, but I want him to think he can tell me why he’s here. There has to be a valid reason. No Silent would show up and speak to the Alpha they are killing, before waking her Personal Guard knowing they would be caught. 

He nods.

“I want to know why you did it, why you decided to spare my life,” I say, prompting him to say something. Instead, he stares at me silently, gaze unwavering, the heat of it keeping me warm in the brittle night. 

I raise an eyebrow, as I continue. “You can speak now, no one is around.”

He exhales. Very slowly. 

“I know.”

I absorb the sound of his voice. After everything that has gone on today, I almost forgot how beautiful it is. Just two words hit me in the fence like two fists. This is why I have to know more about him, as dangerous as it may seem. 

Taking a deep breath, I try my best to summon up another question. “Are you really a Silent?”

“I’m an assassin,” is his reply. 

“An assassin kills people,” I remind him. He knows what I mean by that. He knows he should have killed me, but he didn’t. He let me live, which is why we are out here. If he doesn’t answer, I think I might rip my hair out. 

T seems good at concealing his emotions. I’m watching a blank slate that regards me with no words. If he isn’t a Silent, then he damn well is good at naturally being quiet. I can’t say I can relate to that at all. 

When he doesn’t reply, I’m left to keep prompting him. “Are you going to tell me why you spared my life, and called me beautiful?”

“I spoke my thoughts,” he replies. I furrow my eyebrows I try understand that. Is he admitting to thinking I’m beautiful? I’ve never met someone who has willing called me that. Then again, all the males I spend my time around are my Guards. My people skills have never been that great, which I assume explains why I brought T out here when he is supposed to be a prisoner. 

Another question. This time, I stutter. “I...I’m wondering why you woke my Guard.”

“Callan?’

He knows him. All my breath is expelled from my lungs. At least I assume that’s Cal’s full name that he didn’t share with me. Immediately I consider Cal’s alliance with T, but it can’t be. He was once a personal guard for my father, and had been a well known Huntsman. Unless, of course, T is good. I’m not ruling anything out right now. 

“How do you know him?” I decide to ask. If T doesn’t reveal any information about himself today, then I’m sure Cal might tell me something. 

“He’s a Huntsman. Everyone knows him.”

Not me apparently. 

“Now can I know why you spared my life?’ I say impatiently, knowing he has been veering away from the conversation. This is the reason why I let him out, to know why he wanted himself to get caught. If he wanted to get into the prisons for a reason, then he will have to be transferred elsewhere. 

There’s another agonising exhale on his part. “You can’t trust Callan.”

A growl almost surfaces in my throat, but I manage to keep it down. Never have been so frustrated, hearing someone speak like this, when they clearly are evading the question. What is he hiding?

“You’re not answering my question,” I snap.

“I’m about to be put to my death,” he replied sardonically, gaze flat. “It doesn’t matter why I spared your life, as any excuse I use will wear off on you once I’m gone, when you forget me.”

I want to tell him that’s a poor reason to keep this from me. Instead, I take a deep breath, and think. At this point, it doesn’t seem like he is wanting to answer my question with any sense of honesty, which makes it all the more likely that he deserves to be put to death. But the idea of it...Looking at him, as he sits there, seeming so innocent. He doesn’t look like the kind of man to commit a crime. Technically, he hasn’t. Yet.

“You still have a few more weeks, trust me. I can stop the trial if you are proven innocent, because right now, I see you never wanted me dead, but at the same time, I think you’re here for another reason, which I would like to know,” I tell him.

“Why?’ he asks, his tone softening. 

I pause. 

“You saw my policies. I stand by them to the end, and if someone doesn’t commit a crime, then they don’t deserve to go down for it.”

Then he smiles. The sight almost makes me physically flinch. His blank look he was giving me was suddenly disrupted by this beautiful smile that I couldn’t put a reason behind. To add to that, he slightly shakes his head, as if in complete disbelief. 

“I don’t understand you, Faye,” he mutters, his head shaking not ceasing. 

“Am I not what Kael explained me to be?” I question. 

I’m surprised at myself for asking that. The Alpha of Discipline is who would have trained him if he is truly a Silent. The lies Kael would have spun to make me seem like a terrible person so their job would be easier must be coming to light as they truly are for him. 

Something in his eyes glint. “You let me out of my cell. Are you in your right mind?”

“You haven’t run away yet, so I can’t say I’m too crazy,” I say, although I don’t particularly agree with my own words. “Call it a strange feeling, but I saw something in you when you called me beautiful, that clearly showed me that you’re not a real Silent-”

“I don’t think you get out much,” T says instead, cutting me off. “I spin a single word in your favour and you suddenly trust me?”

Anger flares through my veins. “You doubt me...I work with the Goddess, I feel-”

“You don’t know what you have gotten yourself into. You should have let Callan have his way in getting me killed, instead of turning over a rock with something poisonous underneath,” T says, his voice calm, but his words seethe with meaning. I’m not about to be intimidated him, when I’m the Alpha. He is trying to get into my head. 

“I’m trying to give you another chance. I’m willing to let you go, if only you tell me the truth,” I insist. 

I shouldn’t be trying so hard for this, but him brushing off his own fate is beyond frustrating. 

“I don’t want another chance,” he tells me calmly. He’s suddenly on his feet, and I join him, scrambling up after. He looms over me, and all of a sudden, the aura around him changes. He went from open and trusting, to cold and distant, as he uses this to hide away his true motive. It makes me furious. 

“I gave you a chance, and now, you’re dead,” I seethe, knowing it’s the adrenaline in my veins speaking, not the Alpha of Independence. 

He smirks slightly. “I’m going to turn around and leave now, and you will run back to your Guards who will scour this place until they find me. Then you will kill me.”

“Just like you want,” I mutter under my breath. 

His only response is a quirk of his eyebrow, before he turns toward the edge of the garden, and leaves. He simply walks away. I stand, knowing I can follow, and be killed by him. Or, I can get my Guards, who will find him. And kill him...I growl, clench my jaw, and turn toward the house. 

As he walks away at a pleasant place, gaining distance already, I run back, straight to the Guards at the door. Their reaction is as instant as I knew it was going to be. Instead of following the chaos, I make my way straight back to his cell. 

It’s the only way to find out what his motive might be. Did he leave any clues?

My fast walk skids to a stop right in front of his cell. Glancing in, I don’t bother to look through the darkness to see anything. Instead I turn the light on, looking at who sat right where I had last seen him. 

Back against the wall, legs stretched out, hands over his stomach. He turns his head to look at me. T, the Silent, as if he had never been let out of this cell.

Then he smiles, like he never spoke a word.