CREEEAK...
The door opened.
Nika crossed the entrance.
Behind her...
Lili and Louren remained motionless in the corridor.
The door closed again.
CLAC.
The Purple Room emerged beneath the low light of four lanterns fixed to the walls.
Dark wood covered the floor.
Over it, a large purple rug stretched across the center of the room, crossed by golden lines that disappeared beneath a low table.
Two armchairs occupied one side.
A divan stretched along the opposite wall.
Black and purple cushions rested upon the fabric.
Farther ahead...
A sideboard held a silver tray.
A dark glass bottle.
Four glasses.
Beside them, a small wooden box remained closed.
The walls followed the same tones.
Black wooden panels rose to just above the waist.
Above them...
The purple deepened until it almost disappeared into the shadows near the ceiling.
Long curtains covered the two windows.
Heavy.
Closed.
Between them...
A single painting occupied the wall.
A field of black flowers spread across the canvas.
There were no people.
No buildings.
Only an expanse of flowers beneath a pale sky.
Almost all of them leaned in the same direction.
At the center...
One remained standing.
Facing the opposite side.
Éreon stood before it.
Motionless.
Nika advanced.
Toc.
Toc.
Éreon did not turn.
His eyes remained on the painting.
Nika stopped behind him.
Only a few steps separated them.
For a moment, she also watched the canvas.
Then...
Her golden eyes moved to Éreon.
"How long do you intend to keep that hood on?"
Éreon continued looking at the painting.
Nika waited.
After a few moments...
Éreon raised one of his hands.
His fingers caught the edge of the fabric.
The hood slid back.
His short black hair was exposed, longer, disordered strands reaching the nape of his neck.
"When I sent you to Theseus..."
Éreon released the fabric.
Finally, he tore his eyes from the painting.
He turned.
Their eyes met.
Nika held his gaze.
"I considered many ways in which you might return."
A brief pause.
"I confess, none of them came close to this."
Éreon remained silent.
Nika studied his face for a few moments.
There was no unease in it.
"A blade resolves what stands before it."
Nika left a brief pause.
"Rarely what comes after."
Éreon remained silent.
"If you intended to kill him..."
There was no reproach in her voice.
"you could have chosen a dozen places where his death would have meant nothing."
"But you chose to do it beneath my roof."
Éreon's eyes remained still.
Nika continued:
"Before men who tomorrow will tell different versions of what they saw."
She walked to the low table.
Her fingers rested for a moment upon the back of one of the armchairs.
"That was precisely why I sought to teach you the difference between being able to do something..."
She turned her eyes toward him.
"and deciding when to do it."
Nika watched him.
"The first part..."
A small smile touched her lips.
It disappeared almost immediately.
"was never the one that concerned me when teaching you."
Éreon did not contest it.
Nika withdrew her hand from the armchair.
"And then there is Caeté."
Éreon's jaw tightened.
Only once.
Nika noticed.
"There are so few things to which you grant the privilege of a reaction..."
A brief pause.
"And yet..."
"that name has never needed to try."
Éreon did not avert his gaze.
Nika continued.
"I never asked you to forget."
Her voice remained calm.
"Nor would I be presumptuous enough to ask you to forgive."
Nika watched the tension slowly disappear from his jaw.
Only then...
did she speak again.
"Of everything I sought to teach you..."
"I expected at least this to have remained."
Éreon did not move.
"The hatred is yours."
Nika tilted her head slightly.
"Do not grant the count the privilege of deciding what you do with it."
Éreon remained silent.
Nika watched him for a few more moments.
Then...
She looked away.
Walked to one of the armchairs.
The fabric yielded slightly when she sat.
Nika settled one arm upon the armrest.
For a few moments...
She simply watched him.
"There was a time when two boys ran through these corridors..."
A small smile touched her lips.
"and my greatest concern was discovering which one of them had learned to lie better."
The smile slowly disappeared.
"After so many years..."
Her golden eyes swept over Éreon.
"it is curious to discover that time had considerably greater ambitions for the two of you."
Éreon remained silent.
Nika did not seem to expect an answer.
"I imagine you already know."
His eyes remained upon her.
"If Theseus allowed you to leave the orphanage ahead of schedule..."
"then he noticed it too."
Éreon spoke for the first time:
"How long?"
Nika held his gaze.
"Long enough."
"And you did nothing."
There was no accusation in Éreon's voice.
Only a statement of fact.
Nika tilted her head slightly.
"Do not confuse an absence of movement..."
"with an absence of action."
Her index finger tapped once against the armrest.
"Our situation is considerably more delicate than I expected."
Éreon remained silent.
Nika let her gaze rest upon him.
"Discovering a betrayal is relatively simple."
Her index finger touched the armrest again.
"The inconvenience begins..."
"when you realize the traitor may be the least important part of it."
Éreon's eyes remained still.
"Removing him would have satisfied an immediate need."
"And alerted everyone who still believes they have not been noticed."
Nika leaned back calmly.
"I prefer confident people when they lie to me."
A small smile appeared on her lips.
"They become much more generous."
Éreon watched her.
"He still believes I don't know."
Nika held his gaze.
"I intend to preserve that advantage for as long as it remains useful."
Silence returned to the Purple Room.
For a moment...
The lantern light flickered.
The shadows of the Purple Room trembled across the walls.
Éreon narrowed his eyes.
Then...
The light stabilized again.
"So much caution..."
The voice crossed the room.
Low.
Almost amused.
"for someone who never noticed where the blow would come from."
The voice ceased.
Nika removed her arm from the armrest.
She stood.
Éreon followed the movement with his eyes.
She walked to the painting.
Toc.
Toc.
She stopped before the field of black flowers.
For a few moments...
She simply watched the one that remained facing the opposite side.
"Perhaps this cycle will finally end."
A brief pause.
"You have walked it so many times..."
Her eyes remained upon the painting.
"that I already know every word before it is spoken."
"And every silence you will choose in its place."
Her golden eyes turned toward Éreon.
"I confess..."
"I expected you to grow tired before I did."
Silence returned to the Purple Room.
Then...
The flames of the lanterns trembled.
Tlim.
One of the glasses vibrated upon the silver tray.
Then another.
Tlim.
Tlim.
The surface of the liquid inside the bottle rippled.
A pulse crossed the floor.
Faint.
Deep.
Éreon felt it reach his feet.
Rise through his legs.
Disappear.
His eyes narrowed.
Nika tilted her head slightly.
Her eyes moved away from the painting.
Stopped upon an empty point in the room.
A sound crossed the walls.
Distant.
Muffled.
"...reacting..."
Éreon moved his eyes toward the voice.
The curtains remained closed.
The door...
Motionless.
A small smile touched Nika's lips.
"The girl is persistent."
Another vibration passed through the Purple Room.
This time...
Stronger.
The golden lines of the rug trembled beneath Éreon's feet.
"...should... happen?"
A male voice.
Distant.
Before the last fragment disappeared...
Another crossed the room.
Female.
"...not yet..."
Nika's smile deepened slightly.
"And considerably less prudent than I imagined."
Her eyes returned to the single flower facing the opposite side.
"She has already passed the point where she should have stopped."
THUMM.
The pulse returned.
Éreon's chest stiffened.
For a single instant...
The air left his lungs.
His fingers closed at his sides.
Nika turned her eyes toward him.
Toc.
Toc.
She began walking toward him.
"...explain."
Another male voice crossed the room.
Deep.
Rigid.
The female response took a moment.
"The body responded..."
HMMMMM...
The walls vibrated.
The lanterns swayed in their mounts.
Shadows crossed the ceiling.
The painting rippled.
The black flowers leaned in the same direction.
Then...
The female voice returned.
Closer.
"...the soul did not."
Nika stopped before Éreon.
Only a few steps separated them.
Her golden eyes swept over his face.
"It seems..."
THUMM.
Another pulse crossed the room.
Something struck Éreon from within.
His body faltered.
Only once.
Nika followed the movement.
"We will have less time than I imagined."
The first male voice returned.
"Then it isn't working."
"It means I found the path," the woman replied.
The silence lasted only an instant.
"Can you bring him back?"
The flames of the four lanterns leaned.
All of them...
Toward Éreon.
Nika did not take her eyes off him.
The female voice crossed the room again.
"If nothing decides to keep him there."
A brief laugh escaped Nika's lips.
Low.
Almost intimate.
"Decides..."
Her golden eyes lowered to Éreon's chest.
Then...
Returned to his face.
"A curious choice of words."
Nika advanced one more step.
The distance between them ceased to exist.
"Before the girl discovers the price of reaching this place..."
Her hand rose.
Rested upon Éreon's chest.
"I hope you still remember what you accepted."
A slight push.
Éreon fell backward.
His body sank into the darkness while the Purple Room remained above him.
Nika remained motionless.
Watching him leave.
"Because I haven't forgotten."
Her voice still managed to reach him.
Slowly...
The air left his lungs.
With it...
The weight of his own body began to disappear.
The darkness advanced over everything that still existed between them.
Even so...
Éreon did not avert his eyes.
The black remained fixed upon her golden ones.
His lips moved.
"Ni—"
The darkness closed between them.