“For a moment, a desire for vengeance rises in me. Once, she laughed at my humiliation. Now I could gloat before hers. This is what power feels like, pure unfettered power. It's great.” ― Holly Black, The Wicked King

  * * * *

  Achoo!

  Karl only watched at the countertop in Cross Cafe as Timo tossed Sera a few napkins from where he stood in his usual place behind the bar, cleaning a wine glass with a soft cloth.

  “Cold?”

  Sera only sniffed as she blew her nose into the napkin, shaking her head. “Probably someone talking about me,” she muttered irritably.

  Considering the late hour, the cafe is relatively empty save for the three of them—a fact that Sera is thankful for. It isn’t every day that she can see, let alone meet with the man who had raised her, considering what Karl does for a living.

  The ice cubes in Karl’s glass made a light sound even as he picked up his drink, tossing it back, and giving a light grimace as the liquor burned the back of his throat. “I doubt I need to warn you. I’m going to guess you already know,” Karl said at last, half turning in his seat to face Sera. “Hunter activity is on the rise. From word from my contacts, the hunters are also panicking, especially after what you did to The Butcher.”

  “I don’t regret it,” Sera said immediately, and Karl only shrugged. He never did think that she did. “I would have taken him off the streets sooner or later anyway. Rumours about the way he works had been the topic of discussion amongst the underground circles for years. If truth be told, if not for potential issues with the hunters, Larissa would have put out a hit on him years ago.”

  Karl said nothing, only raising his glass to Sera wordlessly.

  The underground circles would likely be throwing parties the moment the death of the Butcher had hit the papers. As would the Gifted community. The latter had been living in fear of the hunters, and especially the Butcher for years. One less hunter for them to worry about is one good thing, in Karl’s opinion.

  “…You’re going to be making your move soon, aren’t you?” That was a statement, not a question.

  Karl was silent for a long time after Sera’s statement.

  “You know, for a long time, after everything that happened with Blade, I was worried that you’re going to sink,” Karl said at last, staring at the surface of the countertop that he is seated at, like he’s seeing something particularly fascinating. “In underground society, you either sink or swim. ‘Survival of the fittest’.” He shook his head. “What happened with Blade is enough to break even the strongest person. But you rose above all expectations.” He met with Sera’s eyes. “Everyone loses their way or faces hardship at some point, and it always has the potential to make a permanent impact on enemies. But the biggest testament to a person’s character is what they do after that hardship.”

  “Karl…”

  “Anyone in your position would have run, Sera.” Karl pointed out bluntly. “Or even taken the easy way out. You didn’t.”

  Sera was silent. “I wanted to,” she admitted at last, much to Karl’s surprise. “When Blade…” She trailed off slowly before shaking her head. “And then there was what happened to Zest. Believe me, I wanted to die. I wanted to die with them.” She slowly curled her left hand into a fist. “But then, I ran into Kailey and Neil. On a night when I returned to the town, and was planning to just end it all, I ran into those two. And something about them just speaks to me. Then before I knew it, I was doing all this. Learned how to live again. Aegis told me before that they wouldn’t be alive if not for me. But the truth is that I needed them more than they needed me.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “They taught you how to live again. Live for something.” Karl murmured, and Sera nodded. “I understand that, kid. You know, back at the close of the war when I lost my best friend, and then your father, and even your mother… I felt like such a failure. I wanted to die. But I couldn’t. Because it was around that time when Tiara asked me to take care of you after…everything.” He grimaced, his face darkening when he recalled the state that Sera was in when they’d finally found her all those years ago. “You were my reason for living. Back then.”

  “Karl…”

  “I’ve been living on borrowed time for a long time, kid,” Karl admitted. “If you’ve decided to take on the hunters, then I can’t just sit idly by.” His lips quirked with the look on Sera’s face; the girl looked as if she was torn between tying Karl up or smacking him on the head. “You got your role to play. I got mine. And don’t you worry about me. If it’s my time, it’s time.”

  Sera only sighed. Karl can be as stubborn as her at times, if not more so. Once he had his mind made up, there was no talking him out of it, she knew.

  Not even her aunt could.

  “Karl—” Timo interrupted for the first time, but Karl shook his head, shooting the former a warning look.

  “I’m tired,” Karl admitted. “I lived through that horrible war. I fought in it by Tiara’s side. And at the end, I was too much of a coward to stay by her side as she sought the reforms she wanted to make. Maybe if I had stayed by her side, things in this country wouldn’t have become this bad.” Karl only shook his head. He knew the consequences of his actions. There is no point in second-guessing his choices. Not at this point. “I couldn’t save my best friend. I couldn’t tell Tiara that I loved her. I couldn’t save your father. I wasn’t able to protect your mother.” Karl admitted. “But most importantly… I couldn’t protect you.” Sera looked ready to argue that last part, but there was something in Karl’s eyes that made Sera keep her mouth shut. “I failed too many people in my life as it is. But this… I’ll make this right. For you, I’ll do this. For you, I’ll die if I have to. And I’ll do it with a smile on my face.” Karl grinned at Sera who found it difficult to smile back. “If I can’t find any worth in my life by living it, then I’ll find it by dying for it.”

  That last statement rang a chord in Sera’s heart. It was one of the last things that Karl had said to her years ago. A phrase that Sera had always held close to her heart, and part of how she lived life on her own terms.

  “You know, it’s funny. I think I understand what your people see when they decide to follow you back then.” Karl commented. “What Zest and all the others saw. Even what Aegis saw.” Sera gave no reaction. “You won’t give up, Sera,” Karl noted. “You’re willing to die for your beliefs.” Just like her parents did so long ago. And like what Tiara is willing to do. “ “If a brat like you is willing to do that, then adults like us have to make sure those brats lived long enough to see those beliefs take place.”

  Sera scowled even as she tried to avoid Karl messing up her hair the way he always did even when she was a kid. “I’m already an adult, you know?” She pointed out, looking pointedly at her alcoholic drink on the countertop. Behind the bar, Timo tried to hide a smile.

  Karl let out a loud, barking laugh. “Don’t remind me. It’s like I just blinked, and the small kid that I knew back then whom I taught how to fight is now a grown woman.” He smiled almost sadly. “Besides, I don’t have anyone to live for. But you? You have Aegis. You have your people. You have Zest.” Karl slid off his stool even as he slid a wad of notes towards Timo to pay for the drinks. “I pray to the Goddess that you both would be able to live a happy life together.”

  With one last ruffle of Sera’s hair, Karl then shrugged on his coat and left the cafe, with the bell tinkling somewhere as he did so.

  There was silence in the cafe for several long minutes even as Timo cleared Karl’s cup, with the only sound in the cafe being that of Timo washing the cup.

  “Do you think he’ll be okay?” Timo broke the silence at last, looking at Sera who looked concerned.

  “I don’t know,” Sera admitted. “Karl’s survived worse. He lived through that war. He knows how to survive. He was the one to teach me how the underground works, and how to survive amongst them. But what we’re involved in this time…” She trailed off slowly before shaking her head. “I pray to the Goddess that he’ll be fine.”

  And yet, Sera had a horrible sense of foreboding that this might just be the last time that she would be seeing Karl alive.