In the darkness of the night

The moment the knife struck towards Victor, he threw his blanket aside and rolled from the couch in a single lightning-fast movement. The weight of his body crushed into Xia's legs, bringing her down. Her back hit the floor with a loud thud, but she didn't drop the knife from her hand. She sat up, going for another stab.

In the pitch black darkness, Xia had an advantage of sight, but Victor had an advantage in everything else. He was simply stronger, faster, better. He was also smart enough to not try to catch or dodge the knife in the dark—instead he threw Xia aside and stood up.

His eyes closed to better concentrate on the other senses. Xia's aura was well-hidden, and she barely made any noise when she stood up, but Victor could hear her thoughts and feel her intentions almost as clearly as if they were his own. If he concentrated, he could see with her eyes, but he knew that'd be more disorienting than not seeing at all.

Xia moved into a battle stance, studying Victor's unmoving form with watchful eyes. He was standing straight and still, showing no intention to attack, but oozing with a subtle threat to throw her on the floor again if she dares to come close enough for a strike. Rush of the fight made blood roar in Xia's ears. For a moment, she forgot where she was, knowing only her goal.

A rustle of fabric and a creak of floorboards made Xia freeze.

"Xia? Mister Kraust? What's going on?" Celina's rough from sleep voice came from her sleeping place. "Did Mister Kraust finally fell from his couch?"

It shattered Xia's composure like a shockwave shatters glass. With a shudder she took a breath of air and looked at Celina, who sat up and was peering blindly in the darkness. She didn't know what to say. She hoped that if it comes to explanations, the deed would already be done, and believed herself to be ready to meet Celina's eyes then, but now Xia realised that she still wasn't, and probably never would. In this moment, Xia wanted to lie and say that nothing happened.

Opposite of her, Victor shook his head. Xia swallowed. The realisation that he was there, in her thoughts, never had felt as close to her as now. It made her shackles rise even more than his presence that engulfed her, warning about all the bad things that could happen if she did something reckless. Xia thought in the beginning that in the darkness she had chances against Victor even if he woke up, but measuring him now, she knew it was a lie. Somehow, he knew she was there, and wouldn't be caught by surprise.

The adrenaline and the fight suddenly left her; Xia's hands dropped and her knife fell to the floor. She still didn't know what to say, not to Celina. She knew what to say to Victor, but she didn't want to tell it in front of Celina. 'You know why and who I was doing it for, you bastard,' she said the words in her head, staring in Victor's closed eyes and hoping that he heard them.

When he nodded to her, Xia knew he did. Then Victor turned towards Celina and said, "Miss Rojek, there's been an accident. Miss Qiao, go and wake Doctor Ziffer up."

"An accident?" Celina asked in puzzlement. She stood up and turned towards the direction of Victor's voice. "Mister Kraust, what's going on?"

"It would be better to explain it when everyone is present."

Two different types of guilt mixed with fear and bitter anger were trapping Xia, forcing her to follow the command despite her unwillingness. She didn't want to explain to everyone what was going on. She wanted to shush it and try another time. There was no choice, though, not if Xia wanted for at least something to be right. Eve's room was like gallows prepared for her neck.

Eve wasn't happy to be woken up in the middle of a night, but it didn't take longer than a couple of minutes for her brain to kick in fully. When she entered the living room, suspicions were already brewing in her mind. By that time, Victor had lit several thick candles, allowing the four people present to see each other clearly. The scents of sea and fresh grass that came from the candles didn't do a thing to calm the tense atmosphere.

Victor sat on the couch with his hands on his knees. The flickering light of the candles threw warm glints on his dark hair, making the glow of his eyes look mysterious and enchanting instead of threatening. His face, a mask made of stone, reminded that under the blanket of oranges and reds was the same cold and detached person. Or at least, someone trying to be one. Eve knew Victor enough to say that he wasn't cold, nor detached, at least by nature.

Celina looked owlishly back and forth between Victor and Xia from a chair opposite of the coach, her hands fiddling with her short blonde locks. Her eyes might've been free of it, but her body language was full of worry. When Celina looked at Xia's face, that worry reached her gaze, turning Celina's frown deeper than it was. "What's going on?" she repeated.

Eve stood without coming farther into the room and looked at Xia's blank face. Then she turned towards Victor and rose her brows in a silent question. He caught it and redirected towards Xia.

"Miss Qiao, tell them what had happened."

Xia clenched her fists and looked at Celina's questioning face. Then she turned towards Eve. A thought of lying, of accusing Victor, appeared in her mind, but she swallowed it back. As a soldier and a person, she had some honour, even if she was forced to put it away long ago. Now, she could at least meet her doom with it.

"I was trying to kill Victor Kraust." She straightened her chin and convinced herself that she only regretted not succeeding.

Celina gasped; Eve grind her teeth. This was her worst fear coming true. Instead of looking at Xia, she turned towards Victor with an accusing frown. "And you only stopped her now?"

"Thinking means very little. A person can change their mind at any moment, and I gave Miss Qiao time to do it."

Victor's voice was even and void of emotion. He could tell that he was the calmed person in the room at the moment. For once during the last days, he felt like everything was under his control. He knew Xia won't give up that assassination attempt, and she didn't. He knew she wasn't strong or obsessed enough to succeed in it, and she wasn't. 'I am probably the only person to find an attempt on my life calming,' Victor mused.

What he didn't know is how this night was going to end, and it was slowly making him twitchy, if it was the right word. Victor didn't twitch, but the looming uneasiness was flowing in his mind drop by drop.

Eve's eyes shifted to Xia. "I don't know what I find worse—that you tried to kill an innocent person, or that you tried to kill someone who knew about you doing it when you first had an idea."

"He wasn't innocent, Sister," Xia said grimly. "You of all people should know it!"

"I wish it was all a nightmare." Celina pinched her arm and smiled mirthlessly. "No, no such luck. Xia… how could you? This isn't protection, this isn't self-defence, this is cold-blooded murder!"

Eve began to pick at her nails, but her hands shook from emotions that swirled underneath her skin. Amongst them, an island of cold logic stood, and Eve clung to it with all her might. "I wasn't going to bring Victor to the court, and I want to see him lynched even less. It was Victor whom Xia tried to kill, so it would only fair for him to decide what to do with her."

Here, that's it. The responsibility was off her shoulders. Eve didn't feel as lighter as she had hoped to. Most importantly, she still didn't know what she thought about Xia. 'I owe her my life, but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.' Eve's fists clenched.

Victor threw her a long, unreadable look, then turned to Xia. She shivered under the force of his eyes, feeling fantom fingers touching the insides of her skull. She didn't know if it was psychosomatic or not. Finally, Victor looked away, now to Celina. "I hold no grudge towards Miss Qiao, but next time I won't let her close enough for a strike. As for what happens with your group, you three decide."