This chapter is really short, particularly compared to the last one. And it's one of my shorter pieces as it is anyway. This was not intentional - my intention while writing this story is to keep the tone and let the chapters write themselves in how long they end up. This is also the only other finished chapter I have. Hopefully I can get more done soon, but no promises.

Moments of regret used to be
The thoughts that often times consumed me
As shadows hid the eyes that said it all
It's left me here in broken buildings

- Broken Buildings; Seventh Day Slumber

II.

Cold

The man she had known had changed. It was an undeniable fact to Beka Cooper that she no longer knew Rosto the Piper. He had been her friend, her ally. Now, she was not quite sure what he was.

He had disappeared from her life rather effectively. She saw him once a week now, and no always even then. Sometimes another pair of Dogs would retrieve the bribes. Sometimes it would be Aniki who was in charge of the Court of the Rogue when they were there. Rosto disappeared to go do something else half the time.

Beka did not know whether to be sad or grateful for that. She had been so used to him in her life – he was a good man, she knew. He always had been. Now, she was starting to regret letting her mother's past rule her life.

It was too late now. He was already gone.

It had taken her a long time to realize that she had always cared about him more than she thought she would. Probably more than she had thought she could.

His flirting had meant nothing when it had been at the beginning. He had been trying to catch her, just like every other mot in the city. He was a lady's man, always trying to win a pretty mot.

Those had been the days when everything had been good and happy in her life. She had enjoyed herself more with that little group of friends than she could have described. She longed for those days to return, but she knew they never could. Rosto had drifted away. He had changed.

She saw the looks on his face and in his eyes when he was ruling over his court. Always cold, always ruthless. He always got his way. He was the King of the Court of the Rogue. That was who he was now. Rosto would not let her forget it. He had distanced himself from her, and from Kora and Ersken, for a reason. They were associated with the Dogs. Even if they had been friends before, they no longer could be, it seemed.

At least, that was the choice he had made. She had not made the choice to cut her friends off. She was not the one who had changed.

As she thought about it, though, he had not changed so rapidly that she noticed it immediately. It had been so slow that she had not noticed at all.

If someone had asked her six months before if Rosto the Piper was a good man, she would have said that he was. Now she was not so certain. He was cold. So cold that it hurt to look at him; so cold that she could not even consider being with him anymore. He was not the person he used to be. She was sure of that.

All she could remember was the look in his warm dark brown eyes so long ago. Where had the man that cared about her gone? She could no longer see that man. All she saw was his frozen heart. He was no longer who she thought he was.

Posted 4/6/11