Pain is a neighbour.

And it chose tonight to visit.

I coughed up the warm fluid pooling in the back of my throat.

The sudden movement made me groan through split lips.

It hurt to move my jaw. It hurt to move my head. It hurt to breathe.

My eyes opened to narrow slits.

Spirits below, it hurt to blink.

I rolled to the side, and blood drained from the corner of my mouth into a shallow pool on the stone floor.

I blinked again, noticing the weight of the weapons in my hands.

Not bad.

I hadn't let them go, even while unconscious.

I tried to smile. Instead, I frowned, coughing up another quarter pint of blood.

I raised my head to take in my surroundings.

When the world stopped spinning, I noticed the crenellation on my right.

I was still on the roof of the Castle's Keep, and the stars were still twinkling overhead.

I hadn't been unconscious for long.

I sat up. Slowly.

Through swollen, bloodshot eyes, I made out a red smudge near the edge of the roof.

Sin…

She leaned forward, her elbows resting on top of two merlons as she watched over the capital.

I slid my dagger into the pommel of my short sword and twisted it into place. Then repeated that movement with my short sword and scabbard. I got to my feet, leaning on my cane for support.

Sin didn't turn her head as I walked to her side, but her right hand slipped into the secret pocket of her skirt and pulled out a white handkerchief.

I took it, throwing it over my face to soak the soft linen fabric in my blood and sweat.

After a minute, I peeled it off and stared down at the grisly mask.

"I missed you," I said, still staring at the handkerchief.

Sin lifted her chin to the stars overhead and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"I missed you, too."

She nodded at my cane.

"Do you like your gift?"

I raised it in the air and admired its gold and black lacquer finish.

"I do."

"Have you named your weapons?"

"No."

"You should name them."

"Now?"

"Now."

I shrugged and pushed the handkerchief into my pocket. With my free hand, I twisted out my short sword and raised it to the moonlight.

I waited for inspiration, and after a moment, it came.

The first and last time I used the weapon was to threaten a boy only a few years younger than me.

"The short sword I'll call Gentleman's Jest."

I slid the scabbard into my belt loop and twisted the dagger out of the short sword's hilt.

What should I name this?

I thought back to the moment it sank into Rugar's throat, interrupting him mid-sentence.

I shook my head at the irony.

"And the dagger… is Last Laugh."

"I'm sensing a theme."

"I don't know… I'm in a strangely good mood."

I smiled, wincing as I tore open the half-healed cuts on my lips.

Sin gave me an approving hum.

"Not dying will do that to you."

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In one fluid movement, she buried her hands in the secret pockets of her skirt and drew her weapons.

In her right hand was her familiar crooked knife. The top-heavy blade was bent at an angle, tapering down to a black, leather-bound hilt with no cross guard. Instead, an extra strip of leather wrapped around the middle. It kept the ring and pinky fingers in place to prevent the hand from slipping. There was a notch near the base of the blade to catch an enemy's weapon and prevent blood from dripping onto the wielder's hand. The hawk's head pommel was black with a flare of feathers coming from the back of its head. Ruby red crystals were embedded into its sockets to resemble eyes.

"This is my symbol of office, Hawk's Talon."

Sin tossed it over the crenel. The eyes of the hawk's head pommel glowed, and it spun back into her waiting hand.

"It's enchanted to safely return to my left or right hand. With a little will, I control its path."

She tossed it again, and the pommel's eyes glowed.

As if pulled by an invisible string, it flew off to Sin's left. Instead of flying straight to her hand, it spun around her left and right shoulder before the hilt slapped against her right palm.

Such a simple concept, yet the applications were endless.

Utility.

The dagger in her left hand, she rarely used. The thick, triangular blade was five fingers wide, tapering down to a sharp point. Grooves were cut lengthwise into the blade to reduce its weight. At its base was a triangular red crystal. The black crescent moon cross guard held the crystal in place with three metal prongs on each side. It gave the crystal the appearance of the heart symbol.

"This is Heartseeker. Guess what it does."

The heart-shaped crystal glowed, and the weapon's tip pointed at my chest.

"Seek hearts?"

"Correct. It points to the heart of my nearest enemy. The more will I pour into it, the harder it points."

Heartseeker jerked in her hand, jumping at me like a rabid animal.

I raised my eyebrows.

Another simple yet powerful concept. Heartseeker could point out hidden enemies, but that ignored its real utility.

In our fight, a flash of the red crystal sent the dagger flying at my chest. What would have happened if Sin kept pouring will into the weapon? Would it have changed direction mid-flight? If it were anything like Hawk's Talon, it would.

With enough will, Heartseeker was a dagger that couldn't miss.

"Heartseeker was a gift from your father," Sin said.

I blinked, admiring the weapon with a new perspective.

"It's beautiful."

"I used it to kill the woman he left me for."

I furrowed my brows.

"That woman..."

"Yes... Your mother."

My stomach twisted at her words. My mouth went dry. I licked my lips, building up the courage to ask my next question.

"And my father?" I asked in a dry rasp.

"He's dead."

I blinked, my vision blurring with unshed tears. I turned away, looking everywhere except at her.

"Did… Did you kill him, too?"

Cloth ruffled as Sin turned to me out of the corner of my eye.

"Never!" She said in a low hiss.

I closed my eyes, tears running down my face, the salty water making my wounds burn.

My mind flashed back to the memory I repressed. To the woman holding me as an infant as she ran.

I remembered her scream and my small body flying through the air. I remembered landing in something soft and cold.

"Why?" I asked in a whisper.

"It was your father's fault. He betrayed the mission. He betrayed… us. That couldn't stand. It took years, but we hunted him down to a small village and killed everyone we could find. The men, the women, the children. To protect our secrets, they all had to die."

I opened my eyes to stare at Sin's veiled face. I bit back the anger bubbling beneath the surface.

What was I going to do? Fight her?

I knew how that would turn out.

"You killed everyone except for me. Why am I alive, Sin? Why didn't you kill me with the rest of the village?"

"Your mother ran. I chased her down and, as I landed my killing blow, she threw you into a snow drift. I thought… I thought the cold would kill you. So, I went back to the village to finish the hunt. When I came back for your bodies, you were both gone…"

I narrowed my eyes, trying to make sense of Sin's words. The realization struck me like lightning.

"She became a revenant."

"Yes... Your mother was a strong woman—I see why he liked her. She carried you for miles, leaving a trail of blood from the wound I left in her heart. Somewhere along the way, she handed you off to someone, a stranger or someone she knew. When I finally tracked her down, you were gone... and she had a smile on her face."

I sniffled at the water dripping down my nose and squinted to hold back the tears streaming down my face.

I had a mother. A real mother! Whose love for me was stronger than death.

Sin continued.

"Years later, I heard stories about a young elf with amber eyes running through the streets of the capital... I knew it was you, and I knew I had to find you."

I stared at Sin, my bloody lips twitching into a snarl.

"You didn't answer my question. Why didn't you kill me? Why I'm I still alive?"

Sin paused, speechless for the first time in our conversation.

"Because every time I look at you, I see the one person in this world I ever loved, and I see the woman who took him from me. And every time, it's like flipping a coin, deciding whether or not to kill you."

I scoffed.

"Ten years of coin flips?"

"You're lucky… and I'm weak."

There it was—the simple truth. I was Sin's weakness. The one person in the world she couldn't kill.

I sighed, releasing the anger building up in my body.

"I know why you burned down the mansion. I know why you killed Cynthia and the others. You wanted to make me strong… and you wanted me to hate you. You couldn't kill me, so you did the next best thing—push me away and make me think it was my idea."

I shook my head.

"But there's the problem, Sin, I'm not strong enough to hate you... Spirits know I tried."

She slipped her weapons back into her skirt.

"Then we're both weaklings."

I reassembled my cane, leaving my right hand on the pommel.

"Maybe… or maybe, love isn't a weakness."

Sin tilted her head back and laughed.

"Love is always a weakness, Jacob. Better warriors than you have died because of it."

I crossed my arms.

"Fine, then I'll be weak."

Sin snorted.

"I was right about you… There was a time when I thought you could join us. But the more you grew up, the more I understood..."

She raised her chin, stretching the red stocking of her mask.

"You could never be one of us."

Her words hurt more than my injuries.

I had rejected the path of Sin, yet she confirmed the one thing I feared the most. Greater than my fear of turning into her was the fear that I could never be her. That I threw away my family, my fiancé and ten years of my life chasing a dream that could never happen.

I'd been lying to myself from the start, and somewhere, Shay was laughing.

"Is that why you slowed down my training?" I asked, my voice raw.

She dipped her chin in a slight nod.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

Sin scoffed.

"That would have made you want it more. Better for you to lose interest on your own."

I shook my head in half-hearted disagreement.

She was right.

There was nothing I wanted more than to be her... To be a monster.

"Jacob…"

Sin's voice was gentle yet firm.

"You're not me and you're not your father... You're something else, and you deserve the one thing that we never had."

I blinked away the tears blurring my vision.

"What?"

"Freedom. That's why I called you here. Tomorrow morning, you'll meet the King. He'll ask you to join a mission to Dahlgesh. When he does, accept his offer, and no matter what happens, do not come back to Luskaine."

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