The Past

The room reeked of lavender: everything from the cushions to the papers to the stones.

Killian started composing a song for flute, violin, and cello to keep himself calm. Then he realized it was only escalating his heart rate and not keeping him calm at all. He hated the flute. Why had he picked that instrument, of all things?

With a shaky sigh, Killian cleaned his sword on the thick, velvet curtains, just for something to do. It wouldn't be long now. The last guard he'd dispatched had told him just about everything there was to know about Lord Alasdair's schedule in an attempt to save his skin. Of course, it hadn't worked. Killian was far too close to his goal to get sloppy now.

He was going to kill his grandfather.

The thought thrilled him. The thought terrified him.

However, this was more than just a personal score. It was what was right. Lord Alasdair had killed everyone he cared about. Not with his own hands, no, but he'd killed them all the same. He was a murderer and a liar. And Killian was going to make him beg and scream and cry the way he'd made that guard. In a way, it seemed as if everything in his life, from the moment he and his grandfather had collided, had led up to this point. He and Lord Alasdair had been doing a subtle dance around the other, facing everyone but each other. Now it was time to settle the score, man to man. Killian was tired of having everything taken from him, and perhaps other people were too. Killian imagined that Lord Alasdair's claws were snagged on far more lives than his own. Lord Alasdair was never going to torment anyone again.

The doorknob started to turn.

Killian's hand trembled slightly.

The door creaked open, revealing soft purple slippers underneath a soft purple gown. Killian's raised sword started to fall as a decidedly feminine figure entered the room quietly.

"Killian?!" Giselle exclaimed in shock as she turned around from closing the door, stifling a shriek with her hands.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Killian hissed.

"I could ask the same of you," she snapped, eyes flashing. "Where's Liam?"

Killian let out a harsh laugh, the name sending a pang of pain through what was left of his heart. "Where the hell do you think?"

Giselle took a step backwards, the colour draining from her face. "W-what are you saying?"

"He's dead. If you weren't in on it, then you were played for a fool," Killian told her shortly. "Now, I suggest you clear out while justice is served."

"He's not supposed to be dead," Giselle muttered, shaking her head.

"No?" Sarcasm dripped from the monosyllable.

"No!" Giselle shouted. "He's not." She shook her head again, now leaning against the wall for support. "He's not!"

"Then what was supposed to happen?" Killian advanced slowly, relishing the flicker of fear in Giselle's normally expressionless eyes.

"He was supposed to come back a hero," Giselle said. "What happened?"

"It wasn't a healing plant. It was a poison. It killed him within minutes." Twice.

"I know. I overheard Lord Alasdair and the king talking. I thought it would be even better, since it would give you a reason to overthrow the crown, and Liam would have to take it, because it would be a matter of honour. He'd never have taken the crown otherwise."

Killian clenched his jaw and his fists, the revelation heightening his awareness so that he was aware of everything, from the cold bite of the sword against his hand to the small tear worming its way down Giselle's face. Of course, it had always been about getting Liam on the throne for her. How could he have been so stupid as to forget that?

"You failed to mention that crucial piece of information. What happened to telling each other everything?" Killian snarled.

"I guess I wasn't the only one played," she admitted with a grimace, as though the guilty party in this case was someone besides herself. "But it wouldn't've made a difference."

"No?!" Killian yelled. "He would still live if I'd known! He cut himself with the poison on purpose to prove that it was medicine!"

A sickening silence fell over the room. If possible, Giselle's face became even paler.

The realization struck him all at once. "You killed him. Just as much as Lord Alasdair and the king and anyone else!" As much as me, or more, he added silently.

"I was doing what was best for him," Giselle replied desperately as Killian advanced. "What was best for all of us. It was an accident. You think I don't wish he were still alive?"

"Maybe for your own selfish reasons. Bloody selfish bitch," he growled.

All at once, his sword was raised at her throat. Unshed tears were starting to blind him, but he knew that he could still see well enough to do the job.

"Killian, please. Your brother loved me," Giselle blurted frantically.

Killian pushed the sword forward.

"I'm with child!"

Killian stopped mid-swing. "What?"

Giselle looked at him with fiery dark eyes. "I am pregnant with your brother's child. If you kill me, you're killing a piece of him as well."

It was a very convenient story, but the possibility of truth was there. He could certainly kill her, but he knew that the guilt of even the faint possibility of killing Liam's child would haunt him for the rest of his life and systematically destroy him. Killian's hand started to tremble even more violently.

"Damn you," he grunted at last, dropping his sword as if it had burned him.

Giselle sunk to the floor, breathing hard and wiping at stray tears. The tears soon escalated into sobs as she pulled herself into a tiny ball, looking remarkably young and harmless for what Killian knew she was. Killian did his best to ignore her, until guilt caught up with him and he awkwardly patted her shoulder. She shrugged him off violently and scrambled away from him. With a sigh, Killian leaned his head back against the wall.

"I apologize," he gritted out. The words felt like broken glass forcing its way out of his throat. "If anyone could come even close to as grieved about Liam's passing as me, it would be you. I can recognize that you thought you were doing what was right, even if I disagree and hate you for it." He added bitterly.

"A wonderful apology," she sneered, although her usually ferocity was dulled by her hiccuping sobs.

Killian ignored her. "Still, you're not alone. We can sail away from this cursed land and find a better one. I'll help you through this, if you let me. If a child is all I have left of Liam, then I'll do everything in my power to protect him or her and give it a happy life."

"A happy life? All the lives around you are poisoned," Giselle told him harshly.

Killian recoiled at the word choice, which he later surmised was probably intentional. Before he could reply, there was a sword at his throat.

"Well done, Giselle."

Killian was pulled roughly to his feet by several guards while Lord Alasdair watched from the doorway, his cold grey eyes sparkling with something close to delight. It was hard to say for sure, though, since his eyes were too dead to fully express any emotion.

"The pregnancy was a particularly nice touch," Lord Alasdair added with a smirk.

Curses slipped out of Killian's mouth towards Giselle and his grandfather before one of the guards knocked the air out of him. Giselle winced, but refused to meet his eyes, instead steadily sobbing into her hands. If Killian had been thinking, he would have noticed that Giselle certainly didn't look like a traitor, but rather a woman broken under the weight of her grief. However, he was too busy feeling the sting of his own betrayal to notice anything sympathetic about the figure in front of him, or to realize that Liam's death was certainly news to her, even if the nature of the plant they'd been sent to retrieve was not. If anything, he loathed everything about her, from her pathetically short height to her disgustingly purple dress to how red her nose was when she cried.

"You said you loved him!" Killian wheezed as he was pulled out the door, still attempting to struggle against his foes.

Giselle curled further in on herself, but didn't reply. The last thing Killian saw as he was dragged away was the sight of his grandfather's smirking face.

Yes, this is a shorter chapter, but this seems like a good place to end it, and I really just wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about you. I'll follow this up soon. Sorry for the delays, and thank you for reading (as always!). :)