Chapter 19: The Betrayal in the Forest
The next morning, at 5:30 AM, I stood on the roof of my dorm. The sky was just beginning to lighten in the east. The air was cold and biting.
It was Tuesday.
The mission was in thirty minutes.
But my mind was elsewhere.
Today was also the day of my mother’s funeral.
A small, simple ceremony that the hospital’s social services had organized. I should have been there. I should have been with her, to say one last goodbye.
Instead, I was here. About to go on a mission with the person responsible for her death.
A wave of pure, icy hatred washed over me, so intense that I had to lean against the edge of the roof to keep from falling.
I had almost forgotten. In the routine of training, in our little game of provocation, I had almost forgotten the reason I was doing all this.
I stood up straight.
My face was blank. The boy who fought for honor or to prove his worth was gone.
All that was left was the son who would avenge his mother.