He sighs. “I’m sorry, Mary. He cornered me and threatened my job, and I need to keep it, for my family! I told him your name. He heard us talking and knows you're a woman. He’s nothappy, Mary. Women don't do this job. I can’t have you working here anymore.” I sit down opposite Bernie. The words repeat in my head.
Again, and again.
“Let me have this one as my last. I’ve already dragged him here and everyone knows me as the executioner. You haven’t got anyone else lined up.” Maybe it’s for the best that I lay low for a while after today anyway. Get Richard off my back.
“Mary… I…”
“Bernie, last kill. I’ll be gone after today. Please don’t take this away from me. Let me leave with a last kill. It’s the least you can do after ratting me out.”
Bernie puts his head in his hands, a sigh escaping him. “Fine. One last kill, Mary. And I'msosorry.” Usually, I’d be raging. Screaming and threatening him and trying to keep my job, but now? I just can’t risk it anymore. Richard is on my arse, and I don't want my head to end up on my own block or to swing from my gallows. I refuse to leave this world that way.
“Thank you. Thanks for everything, Bernie. I do expect double pay for this and for fucking me over at the same time, though.” I say it plainly and he nods his head in defeat as I stand to leave.
“Pad out your stomach and bind your breasts. I can see them through your shirt.” He mutters to me. I grab some fabric from his table and see to my body, making myself look as masculine as I can. My hair is usually down past my shoulders, mid-back, quite the norm for some men around here, but I twist it and have it up in my hat. My mask covers most of my face but leaves the eyes, and I can feel dirt and mud around them from the ride here. “We are just waiting for the King to arrive, and then we’ll continue with this man's death.”
He doesn’t look at me. He’s tired, ashamed and scared.“So, once the King is here, we’ll escort the condemned to the gallowsand hang him until he loses consciousness. Then, you will burn his guts and then cut him into pieces. The King wants his head on a spear outside his castle and then the rest of the limbs, we can send wherever we want. He just wants Jacob’s head displayed to show everyone what happens when you commit high treason.”
Jacob. Now I know his name.
A sudden knock at the door makes my eyes dart to the wood.
“Enter.” A man walks in, but not a guard I have ever met before. He’s so tall, very broad and… those eyes.
Gray.
He wears no helm, his long black locks fall over his shoulders, his armour, and down to his hips. His eyes are on me, not completely black like usual, but still dark around his pupils but with a slight blue glow. I can feel his gaze crawling over my skin.
“We are ready.” He speaks, not to Bernie, but to me. His voice is enchanting, it is deep, rough, it purrs and calls to me. We stare at each other for what feels like an eternity.
Eternity will soon come for us, my love.
I gasp and look away. Heat flames in my cheeks. My throat is dry. I push my thighs together, and then I stand.
“Yes, well.” Bernie clears his throat. “This here is a new hire, brought in specifically for his skills in torture and will be the main guard on stage to help you do this execution. I know you don’t need help, but Richard wanted it to be perfect for The King.” Bernie avoids my eyes, just staring at his paperwork. “I’m staying here. Go enjoy yourself, kid. Good luck.” He says it sadly, still staring at the papers. Nothing behind those eyes right now but thoughts of something else entirely. This feels like a terrible goodbye.
Bernie is the closest thing to a real father I’ve ever known. He saw my worth and skills, giving me a job that I love when no oneelse looked twice. He is one of the few who would occasionally match my attitude and put me in my place. Not often, but I will always admire him, nonetheless.
I walk up to the guard; I walk up toGray. I’m so close to him right now and I feelcoldcoming from him, not heat like everyone else. My head tilts up, fighting to keep eye contact and he looks down at me and smiles. He has small, subtle fangs and licks one of them as he notices I'm admiring him. His broad shoulders make mine look so small and weak, and it makes me feel feminine and petite. Ineverfeel like this.
He is built like agod. My Death God. Gray bows a little at his hip, for me, and he suppresses a little chuckle, but I heard it. His eyes darken with excitement, growing even more black. His long hair falls forward, whispering close to my body as he stands.
He turns and walks out of the door first, barely fitting through it, knowing I won’t make the first move, plainly intending to lead me where I need to be.
I follow.
Gray leads me down corridors and out onto the tower green. The gallows here are so daunting, I love it. He leads me up the steps and I can see the King in his own private box. I bow when I catch his eyes and he nods his head back at me. I can’t see Richard near him or anywhere else as I scan my surroundings.
A crowd of what seems to be thousands are all fighting to get as close as they can to my new stage, shouting, screaming profanities to Jacob, throwing stuff onto the wooden platform at him. Jacob’s barely standing, two guards standing next to him holding him up. He stands just behind his noose.
His death.
The King stands up and the crowd goes deathly still, silent as a tomb.
“You are all here to join me in witnessing thistraitor'sdeath! He attempted to assassinate me, your King, and well—” Helaughs. “Hefailed.” The crowd roars and cheers. The King holds up his hands to silence them again. “Be this a warning to each, and every one of you! Come for me, come for my family, come foranyof the royals, andthisis the death that awaits you. He was dragged here by horse, barely alive at the end, and now he will hang until he is close to deathagain, his innards will be burnt and then he shall be quartered. His head will live upon a spear outside my castle and will forever remain there. Jacob, yourdeath… awaits.” The crowd claps and cheers.
“Jacob Baker, you are charged with the most heinous crimes of High Treason against the Crown and the attempted murder most foul of the Royal Personage, our beloved King, as ordained by God. As stated by His Royal Highness, you are to be hung, burnt, and quartered. After whence, your head shall be taken and made as a message to all who would seek to harm the Crown. May you rot in hell,” a guard announces.Myguard is still next to me. He is so close, our arms almost touch. I need to feel him, to see if he is actually real but I can’t do that here, not in front of the King.
The guards holding up Jacob take one step forward and look at me. It’s time.
