The sting of her wounds harmonizing with the usual incessant song of her pain, Syeris had to admit that Mina was right. She'd played both fights today badly, let her anger and pride take control. She could feel the Sentinel's resentful gaze on her from the shadows as she and Mina negotiated with Marius and his warlock, and Marius himself was looking on her none too kindly. It turned out the warlock was fairly amenable to letting Mina and Syeris gather the information they needed on Lordamus from the tome as long as he could keep it afterwards. She translated aloud from the tome as Mina scribbled notes in her leatherbound journal, Tehd tending to Marius's wounds as they waited, and within the hour they were ready to part ways. She wanted to kill something, but first she needed to deal with this.
She walked over to where Marius sat by the fire. "Felbane, a word?"
His eyes glowed angrily behind his veil. "Truly, Syeris, does your pride know no bounds? You defeated me. Enough."
"I will not attack you again, Marius. I just want to talk," she said, her voice firm but betraying no contrition. She felt Mina's eyes on her back, a warning. "I'm pretty sure my partner would lock me back up in the Vault herself if I did attack you, provided your warlock didn't get to me first," she added.
"Fine," he snarled, and rose to his feet. She walked into the woods, glancing back to ensure Marius was following her, careful to avoid Sinala, until they reached another, smaller clearing. "What is it?" he snapped.
She turned to face him. "Marius, we are on the same side." She grimaced. "I… fighting you was stupid."
"Of course it was," Marius said disdainfully. "You never could keep your tongue in check."
Syeris considered snapping back that he was the one who started it, but she forced herself to calm down. "I have no desire to hurt you." She paused. "Well, that's not true, but it would be incredibly unproductive for us to quarrel every time we see each other."
Marius snorted. "You know, since Varedis was so dear to you, you'd think you might have learned something from his betrayal." He looked straight at her and continued in a voice full of quiet nastiness, "You are just like him, you know. So full of rage, and pride. You mock the rest of us for our submission to Lord Illidan, but submitting to him as we do is far better than submitting to your own pain and anger. It was Varedis's own arrogance, not the demon inside him, that led him to defect to Kil'jaeden."
Rage threatened to cloud her mind again. How dare he! No understanding. Weak. Weak. Show him how strong you are. Teach him a lesson. Tear out his useless throat! She closed her eyes and focused, retreating to the core of herself, that last shred of who she had once been that kept her from giving over entirely to the darkness, from becoming something cruel and terrible that would destroy anything in its path simply to feel the thrill of annihilation. From becoming a demon. She opened her eyes. "I am just like him, Marius," she said, looking him right in the eye. "With one difference." She unsheathed her glaives and he tensed, but she only dropped them to the ground and bowed before him.
He was silent for a long moment. Then he said, "Perhaps." She rose and replaced her glaives. "I accept your apology, Syeris. I will not fight you unless you give me good cause." He pinned her beneath his gaze. "But be sure you keep control. Know that I will be watching you. We will all be watching you. And if you show any signs of following in your master's footsteps, I will not hesitate to plunge my glaive right through your heart."
Syeris inclined her head meekly. "I would expect no less."
Marius nodded at her and went back to their campsite, leaving Syeris to her thoughts.