Alchemised

by SenLinYu

“You’re not going to have any more luck killing me now than you have at any point in the past, Bayard,” Kaine said.

“Lila, if you hurt him, I will never forgive you,” she said.

“I’ve killed so many people,” he finally said. “I never thought I’d get stuck on an animal of all things.”

“There’s blood enough on both our hands without adding hers.”

If Helena let herself believe they were safe, let down her guard for an instant, something would go wrong. She was sure it would.

Her life was a perpetual countdown to disasters that she always failed to see coming.

“I don’t think that an ordinary life will ever feel real for either of us.”

You don’t need to worry.” “Do you need to worry?” He looked baffled by the question.

“Stay with me,” she said. “You’re supposed to rest now, too.”

He tangled his hand in her hair, holding her close.

“Are we really safe?” “We are.”

Because you were right, and no one listened to you; you stayed with us despite knowing the whole time. You didn’t deserve any of this. You shouldn’t have to spend the rest of your life trapped by all the promises that people forced you to make.”

“We said always, didn’t we?” she asked, her voice strained. “Always. Well, if you don’t want that promise in full any longer, I’ll give it to you in increments.”

“Every day. I’ll choose you. That way you’ll know it’s still what I want.”

Too much has happened to ever really put it behind us, but if you choose me, and I choose you, I think we’re strong enough to make it.”

He would read and keep Helena company, but he didn’t seem to know how to want anything. He’d spent his whole life with a collar around his throat.

“Yours, always,” she’d promise.

It grew steadily apparent that Helena sat at the centre of Kaine’s universe, and now that she was safe, his unrestrained attention had nothing else to obsess over.

“Kaine, you have to care about her.”

“You have to care. You have to choose to care. The way you are, if you don’t, you won’t—and she’ll know. Just like you did. You cannot do that to her. She has to be someone that you decide to care about.”

I need you to promise that if I’m not here, you’ll love her for me”—her voice cracked—“the way I would love her. She has to be that important to you.

“I hate this,” Helena finally said, beginning to feel like it was never going to end, her forehead slick, curls clinging to her face. “I know.” Kaine smoothed her hair. “It hurts.” “Yes.” “I’m tired. I’ve been pushing for hours.” “I know.” “Stop agreeing with me.” Kaine stopped talking after that and didn’t utter a word of protest

Helena gave a sob and held her tighter. “Kaine—she has your eyes.”

We—we did what we had to, to survive. But we get to be better than that now. We’ll do it for her.”

Kaine talked to Enid more than he talked to anyone, even Helena.

Enid listened to him intently, fretting if he got distracted or fell silent for too long.

He was brutal with her, exacting and impatient to a degree that he’d dramatically softened with Helena.

whenever you see Lumithia, that means I’m thinking about you, and when you see the sun shining, that’s your dad, watching you for me.”

“There’s no version of me that survived the war without Kaine.

“I know what he’s like,” Helena said sharply. “It’s the reason you and I are alive.”

“Love isn’t as pretty or pure as people like to think. There’s a darkness in it sometimes. Kaine and I go hand in hand. I made him who he is. I knew what that array meant when I saved him. If he’s a monster, then I’m his creator.”

Kaine gave a low sigh, and when he looked up, the sharpness of him reemerged like a raw blade.

The version of himself that he wore perfectly on the island whenever Enid could see him—softness, crooked smiles, quiet monologues. It all vanished, and now he was real again. As cold and gleaming as razor-edged steel.

“Is this not enough for you? Is having this life so dissatisfying that revenge is worth the risk?”

“I’m so glad she’s dead.”

“I hope she suffered, but I didn’t want it to be you—why is it always you?”

“She’s gone now. There won’t be anyone else.”

“So, what do we do now?” The corner of his mouth curved into a smile that had only ever been for her. “Anything. Whatever you want.”

“Someday…someone should set the record straight,” she said quietly.

she doesn’t deserve to be forgotten like this. She shouldn’t be a footnote. This shouldn’t be the only entry she even has. She deserves her own chapter. She deserves a whole damned book of her own.”

“And the things they say about Dad—like he wanted it all, that he asked to have it done to him—”

She was a non-active member of the Order of the Eternal Flame and did not fight.