Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Welcome to Vorn City

Chapter 80 – Welcome to Vorn City

”You will stay here, Aissatou.” Isolde said, wearing her trademark black training clothes with purple stripes, pulling her long black hair into a ponytail.

Standing tall and composed, Aissatou couldn’t help but watch her lady with a quiet awe shimmering in her eyes.

’Her beauty has become... so much more. How did this happen?’ The thought moved through her mind. ’Or is it simply the love she carries for that Desdemona making her somehow more beautiful?’

The old woman genuinely couldn’t tell.

In the past, even if Isolde’s beauty had been unmistakable, there had always been a forlorn, desolating energy that hooded her completely, making it difficult for anyone to truly admire her without layering it with judgement.

But everything had shifted now. Even if her lady remained cold-hearted and spoke little to anyone outside her own circle — which only consisted of her and Cassius — the reason behind that behaviour had changed.

Isolde now carried herself with a calm and serenity she hadn’t had before. And in Aissatou’s eyes, that only made her more frightening.

”You’ve been losing focus too often lately, Aissatou.” Isolde spoke again, having finished her preparations, now facing her maid with arms crossed below her chest. ”Keep up with my words.”

Aissatou shook her head and gathered herself, managing a wry, worried smile. ”I apologise, my Lady. But is it truly safe for you to go alone? I can accompany you.”

”No.” She shook her head immediately. ”You will stay here because I have a task for you.” She paused, then with greater weight behind the words. ”A task, Aissatou, you will complete eagerly if you know what’s good for you.”

Aissatou instinctively straightened, a rising bad feeling moving through her gut.

She was right.

”What is the current state of things between you and Leo the Butler?” Isolde asked, tilting her head.

The old woman’s lips twitched faintly. ”Everything is fine, my Lady.”

”How much does he trust you?”

”Enough to share his problems with me.” She replied. ”Do you perhaps want something from him?”

”Aye.” Isolde nodded. ”Leo’s wife is my father’s personal maid. And Leo himself tends closely to my mother. Between the two of them they must know something...something that can be used.”

”What do you mean?” Aissatou’s chest tightened. And Isolde only smiled deeper.

”I want damaging information about my father, or my mother, or both. It doesn’t matter the domain...personal life, business, anything else, Aissatou.” Her purple eyes glowed faintly. ”I just want something. Anything. And I want it ready when I return. You have one week.”

”But how—!”

”Use whatever you need to use.” Isolde cut in. ”And it’s not as if it would be anything new, is it. You are already using your body. Make it worth something.”

At that, Aissatou found courage somewhere inside her she didn’t know she still had. And she used it, with a zeal she thought long dead.

”Because I want to, my Lady.” She said, a bit sharper than she intended, and she regretted it instantly.

Isolde’s face shifted, leaning toward something cold and lethal. The temperature in the room dropped and sound itself seemed to glitch at the edges.

Aissatou wished at that moment she could simply unsay the words. But it was far too late. So she steadied herself and kept going.

”It’s because I wish to.” She repeated, her voice quieter and more controlled. ”I fancy Leo. And I like how I feel when I am with—!”

”How old are you again, Aissatou?”

”It doesn’t matter!” Her voice rose again. ”Being old doesn’t mean I no longer feel! Being old doesn’t mean I can’t allow myself to be held and enjoy what life I have left, my Lady! Being—!”

”Lower your voice when you speak to me.” Isolde whispered, tilting her head in a deeply eerie manner.

Aissatou shuddered and went silent, biting her lip.

She knew she was making a serious mistake. Not only was she speaking back to her Lady and raising her voice, she was laying bare a fatal weakness, something Isolde might use against her later simply to cause her pain. There was no need for blackmail; her loyalty was already complete.

And yet.

She was tired. She wanted to open herself, to set down everything in front of the one person she could say anything to.

”You can understand me, can’t you, my Lady?” She said, softer now. ”You are going against the Sect for a man—!”

”And that is where you are profoundly wrong.” Isolde growled, taking one step forward, closing the distance between them entirely, the tension in the air tightening. ”I am not doing this for some man I fuck with because I feel the urge. You hear me? I am doing all of this for my husband.”

She narrowed her eyes. ”My husband. Not any man. Do you understand the difference?”

”I—I...yes, my Lady.” Aissatou nodded carefully. ”But I have the right to love.”

”You think you love him?”

”I do.”

Isolde sneered. ”If that helps you sleep at night, then by all means. But let me make one thing clear...”

She raised one finger. ”I am not denying you the right to love.” She continued. ”But if that right to love gets in the way of completing my tasks...”

She smiled coldly.

”...it won’t end well, Aissatou.”

She moved the finger and pressed the tip against the old woman’s forehead, nail digging lightly. Aissatou said nothing, watching her with trepidation.

”So here is how it is.” Isolde whispered. ”You can love him. You can sleep with him. You can have his children for all I care. I want one thing from you: follow my orders when I give them.”

”Then be merciful.” Aissatou said. She had no other option. There was nothing she could do against Isolde.

She had given herself to her lady the day Isolde saved her by keeping her secret from the Sect. A secret that would have meant death — and worse — if the Sect had ever found out.

”I will do anything you want, just as I always have.” Aissatou continued. ”But let me live on my own terms. Let me love. I have never had a life of love I wanted, my Lady. Never had someone hold me dearly within their heart. You know that. And I wish to have it now, before I die, with your blessing.”

”You have my blessing.” Isolde said. ”As long as you do your job. And truly, Aissatou, none of this is actually a problem. It all depends on your ability to make the man you claim to love into your own accomplice. Because hiding things from him the way you are doing now....”

She shrugged.

”...will not last indefinitely.”

Aissatou bit her lip.

”The question is,” Isolde smiled, ”does he love you enough to accept your darkness and still stand beside you? Or will he run from it, and then you’ll have to kill him?”

The old woman didn’t answer immediately. Then, slowly, she exhaled a long breath and closed her eyes briefly.

”I understand, my Lady.”

”Good. Now I shall—!”

”Forgive me, but one question, my Lady.” Aissatou said, looking at her. Isolde stared back.

”Does your goal still stand?” She asked, hands tightening. ”The goal you told me when you saved me and I came under you. Do you still want to reach it?”

Isolde paused for one breath, then smiled.

Wide. Cold.

”Now more than ever, Aissatou.” She whispered. ”I was quite alone before, lacking support. That is no longer the case. I have my husband now. And he likes trouble just as much as I do. He will need me just as I need him. And so I can tell you with absolute certainty that I, Isolde Amaris...”

Her smile grew wider than it should, the scar at the edge of her lips lending her a frightening, villainous edge.

”...will reach the very top of the assassin’s world. And from that top, even the throats of my sister and my parents will not be out of reach.”

Aissatou looked at her for a long moment — as if seeing exactly what she had been hoping to see — then bowed, silently and respectfully.

”Then I shall stand behind you, my Lady. With my lover and—!”

”Oh, to fucking hell with you and your lover. You are a damn mistress. Aren’t you ashamed?”

Aissatou laughed faintly. ”I’m proud, actually. An old woman like me managed to steal the man of a younger woman. Isn’t that worthy of admiration?”

”It’s easy to take something left unguarded.” Isolde smiled humourlessly. ”But no one likes being stolen. So I hope you manage to keep him.” She sneered quietly, walking out of the room. ”Don’t forget my instructions. One week. And I want something worthwhile.”

Aissatou took in her Lady’s words and bowed her head.

”I will do everything I can, my Lady.”

Only a grunt came in answer. And Isolde disappeared, heading for the Capital to find a woman.

...

Cassius, accompanied by Océane, did not take long to reach Vorn City, the Capital of the Kingdom.

In fact, it was nearly instantaneous. The Desdemona and the Hood were closely related families, and as such it was no surprise that Sefira kept a runic teleportation portal that opened directly inside the Royal Palace.

Something no one outside the Desdemona and the Hood, or a select few special members, had any knowledge of.

The location of each portal was carefully hidden. Activating the one in the Desdemona Mansion required the combined essence of both Aldrin and Sefira.

And so, after a farewell kiss from Sefira, Cassius and Océane found themselves instantly inside Vorn City, inside the Royal Palace.

The first thing that hit Cassius on arrival was the bleeding red light, as if reality itself was quietly dying, saturating the entire black empty room. It was accompanied by a strange yet powerful scent of death and decay.

He subtly frowned, leaning lightly on his cane, and took in the second thing; the one that made his heart shiver without him meaning to.

Standing before him was a young girl around eight or nine years old, wearing a maid dress, with gloved hands.

Her skin was extremely pale — corpse-like, perhaps worse. Blonde hair, and pink eyes that carried a wisdom so far beyond her age it was unsettling.

She looked like a perfect doll.

She looked at them, gathered the edges of her dress, and bowed elegantly. When she parted her lips, the voice that came out sounded like thousands of people speaking at the same time, filling the death-soaked room completely.

”Welcome to the Royal Palace, Last Born of the Desdemona.”

—End of Chapter 80—