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As if sensing my turmoil, Grok's gaze finds mine once more, holding it with an intensity that steals my breath. There's a question in his eyes, a challenge and a plea all at once.
What will you do now, Lily Thornwood? they seem to ask. Will you cling to your hatred and your preconceptions? Or will you open your mind, and your heart, to the possibility of something more?
I don't know. Gods help me, I just don't know. All I know is that everything I thought I knew, everything I believed about ogres and about myself, is crumbling away like sand beneath my feet.
And in its place, something new and terrifying is taking root...something that feels perilously close to respect. To admiration.
To hope.
The assembly ends soon after, the warriors and petitioners dispersing back to their duties with a new sense of purpose and unity. But I remain where I am, my eyes fixed on Grok as he descends from his throne and makes his way towards me.
"Walk with me," he says, not a command but an invitation. "I would hear your thoughts on what you witnessed today."
I fall into step beside him, my guards trailing at a discreet distance. We walk in silence for a long moment, winding our way through the torch-lit corridors of the stronghold.
"Why did you do it?" I ask finally, unable to keep the question back any longer. "Why free my brother? Why argue for mercy for the other captives? What do you hope to gain?"
He glances down at me, his expression unreadable. "I didn't do it to gain anything," he says quietly. "I did it because it was the right thing to do. Because even in war, there must be honor and compassion, or we are no better than the beasts we claim to rise above."
I stare at him, my heart pounding in my chest. "And what about me?" I whisper, my voice barely audible over the thud of our footsteps. "Am I to be the beneficiary of your compassion as well? Or am I still your prisoner, your pawn in whatever game you're playing?"
He stops, turning to face me fully. His eyes are molten amber, burning with an intensity that takes my breath away. "You are no man's pawn, Lily Thornwood," he says, his voice low and fervent. "You are a warrior, a leader, a woman of incredible strength and courage. I keep you here not as a prisoner, but as an ally. A partner in the building of a new world."
I shake my head, confusion and longing warring within me. "I don't understand," I whisper, my voice cracking with emotion. "I am your enemy, Grok. A human. Everything about us, everything we've been taught, says that we should hate each other. That we should fight until one of us lies dead at the other's feet."
"And yet here we stand," he murmurs, his hand coming up to cup my cheek with a tenderness that breaks my heart. "Two leaders, two warriors, drawn together by something greater than hate or history. Can you not feel it, Lily? The pull between us, the potential for something extraordinary?"
I tremble under his touch, my eyes fluttering shut of their own accord. Gods, I can feel it. That electric spark, that sense of rightness that thrills through me every time we're together. It terrifies me, even as it exhilarates me.
But I can't give in to it. I can't let myself forget who and what I am, or the duty that binds me.
"I feel it," I whisper, my voice shaking with the effort of holding back my tears. "But it changes nothing, Grok. I am still Lily Thornwood. Still the Red Blade, sworn to defend humanity against all threats. And you...you are still my captor. Still the enemy I am bound to destroy."
He stares at me for a long, aching moment, his eyes searching mine. Then, slowly, he lowers his hand, his expression hardening into a mask of grim resolve.
"So be it," he says, his voice cold and distant. "If that is truly how you see me, then there is nothing more to be said. Return to your quarters, Lady Thornwood. I will not keep you from your rest any longer."
He turns to go, his shoulders stiff with tension and unspoken pain. And I...I stand there like a fool, my heart breaking in my chest, my eyes burning with unshed tears.
I want to call out to him, to beg him to stay, to give me time to make sense of the maelstrom of emotions raging within me. But I don't. I can't. Because to do so would be to betray everything I am, everything I've ever fought for.
So I let him go, watching his broad back recede into the shadows, taking a piece of my soul with him. And when he's gone, I finally let the tears fall, hot and bitter on my cheeks.
What have I done? What have I become, that I could feel such sorrow at the loss of my enemy's regard?
I don't know. Gods help me, I just don't know. All I know is that nothing will ever be the same again...
And that thought terrifies me more than any army or dungeon ever could.
6
Grok
I pace the length of my private chambers, my thoughts as tumultuous as a mountain storm. The events of the assembly play over and over in my mind—the surprise and speculation on the faces of my warriors, the wary hope in Thane Thornwood's eyes as he walked to freedom...and the look on Lily's face as she watched it all unfold.
That look. It haunts me, even now. The conflict in her eyes, the warring emotions playing across her face as she struggled to reconcile the warlord she thought she knew with the leader she witnessed today. I saw the grudging respect dawning in her gaze, the flicker of something that might have been admiration...or even desire.
And it terrified me.
