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Aliah’s eyes flicked to mine and then narrowed into cruel slits of concentrated hatred I forceda step back, although under the heat of his gaze all etful of h he looked at me with less hatred or malice, it was more like there was a purpose behind his words now that so he had been pouring into lected to introduce el was old, like really old and had spent a significant amount of ti sound and didn’t affect words obviously, but the gentle strain to each syllable ree was not their first Aliah had the accent, which made his betrayal, his conversion to the dark side ic
"I knoho you are," I said evenly, although his na list of
"But I don’t knoho you are," he spat, his features energized with the accusation
I laughed in response "Of course you do," I sneered "Isn’t that why you’re here?"
"For you?" his eyes followed every line and feature of my body froain, slowly, intiry eyes, but I felt naked in his gaze, completely exposed and it was possibly the most uncomfortable I had ever felt in ain his attention but he was not someone easily affected by others "Not today, Stella Day I’m here for you," his eyes fell to Seth and I had the instinctive urge to step in front of him, to shield hi to say
"That’s a good thing, Aliah, I’ve been waiting for this day for a long ti sure to enunciate everything
"So you’re ready to co full well that was not what Seth was i "It was unfair of me to ask you when you were so little, when you had so little experience But now… now you are a big strongyou another opportunity Give in to the whispers that have threaded theive in to those desires that keep you up at night… come with me Join me"
Aliah’s voice was like velvet, floating over every word, seducing the listener with his fluidity and promise I waited for Seth to snap at him, to shout at him or attack him, but instead Seth shifted unco his head It wasn’t the crushing verbal response I was hoping for, but the gesture seemed to provoke the same kind of concrete absolutisive in?" Aliah asked, prodding Seth’s patience "If not for yourself then, how about Seven? She misses you, you know She often asks about her little brother and wonders if he’s alright Don’t you hate to disappoint your sister?"
My mouth fell open at the mention of Seven
Why I expected Aliah to play fair was beyondup the beloved sister that
had betrayed your parents and left you to fend for yourself was a little harsh…
"Don’t say her narowled, his words low and soI had to look at hi
"Why? Is it too soon? The wound still fresh?" Aliah asked, huh of this," Seth warned He stood perfectly still, no lowed brilliantly in the dark alley, but instead of cohtened els that still held goodness inside of theoodness having been corrupted Both Aliah and Saul eht sky, but had to still be described as darkness A grayish hue encoures, as if their evil essence seeped out from their skin and infected the innocent air around the already? We just started our walk down ht be healthy for you to work through your… issues Possibly cohts…? Maybe even embrace them?" Aliah’s voice had turned sickly sweet andWas Seth really struggling against the Darkness?
"Holy hell, you are such a conniving bastard!" The words and accusation slipped out before I could stop h I meant every word I said, it was definitely not Star-protocol to engage the ene thehter that rang scornfully in the air
"Well aren’t you so like surprise mixed with respect, which scared me more than any of his threats co a short and thin but unquestionably deadly sword froh Skirts had definitely become part of my every day wardrobe now that I needed to carry weapons around While , they still made access to weapons super easy
"No let’s be reasonable," Aliah patronized us patiently after Seth had quickly drawn his oord from his back strap, hidden beneath his worn leather jacket "We’re not here to fight, not yet anyway We just want to talk to you Besides you ht want to wait until your cavalry arrives before you start pulling out the big guns, you kids aren’t quite up to speed to fight at this level just yet"