The Assassin Thief

by Madeline Te Whiu

For anyone battling darkness in their soul.

Mallux intrigues her. She knows little to nothing about the Fae, so is unsure if his magnetism is common amongst his people or unique to Mallux. But she feels … more at ease around him. As if she does not have to dull her sharp edges quite so much.

He is handsome, to be sure. But there is something else that compels her to him, like his warrior’s heart sings to hers.

I spent years pretending to be something I was not, losing myself to the fake smiles and masks I wore for her benefit.

‘Because I know what it is to pretend to be something you are not, the strain it puts on your heart.

They may shun people like us, frightened of our blades and our violence. But we are the first they come to when trouble arrives. We are the people who step up and do what must be done.’

‘What I am telling you, upa,’ Mallux says as he leans forward, ‘is that your powers do not frighten me. They are exactly what I need.’

‘Wai’tinate,’ he says after a moment. ‘The Bond. A tether between two souls. Created by the All-Mother.’ He looks after the disappearing couple. ‘Not all Fae are blessed with finding the other half of their soul in this lifetime. It is the greatest honour.’

What a curiosity. What are you?

You are not mortal.

No.

But completely Fae, you are not.

I am not Fae, no. I am not mortal.

Then what being are you?

I do not know,

I am neither human nor Fae. Like you, but not. I am simply Other.

You will die and your father’s legacy with you. You thought you could control me? Enslave me after you used me like some dark pawn? Fool. Tenebris will take your soul from your cold corpse and you will spend eternity in suffering, learning again and again why they call me her Kin.