Chapter 54: Cleansing the Soul
"Take your time, Lira. I’ll wait out here so we can go back to the village. I’m sure everyone will be worried about you," I said softly in her ear, giving her a final bite on the cheek.
She nodded, still flushed from what had just happened. I smiled at her as I left the matriarch’s house. A few feet from the door, the lizard was still kneeling, motionless, watching me leave with a look of disbelief and terror on her face. A cold smile formed on my lips. This was what I wanted: to see her broken and terrified. It was the true culmination of my revenge. I was marinating her in her own fear; nothing would make up for what she had done, but at least she deserved to suffer as much as possible.
Thirty minutes later, Lira came out. She was still flushed, but she had a genuine smile on her face. When she saw me, she ran toward me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back and laughed; her laughter mixed with mine. We looked like a couple in a town square, oblivious to the bloody mess that surrounded us.
As I held her, I took out some arrows and a quiver. "Lira, what do you want me to do with her?" I asked, pointing at the lizard.
"I don’t know, Jax," she replied. "I don’t want to remember what happened here."
"There’s a solution," I said coldly. "I could force her to be your slave for life, or I can execute her this very moment."
Hearing my words, the matriarch shuddered. This was what she had been waiting for; she wanted to maintain a submissive attitude to gain compassion and escape this situation without suffering more pain. I could read her plans like an open book; if she thought she could fool me, the damned lizard was very wrong.
Lira looked at me with determination and said in a firm voice, "I want her to die and pay for what she did."
I expected her answer, but what I didn’t expect was what she said next: "But I want to do it with my own hands."
Her words made my mind stop for a moment, but they also filled me with joy. The first step to getting out of the situation she was in was to fight her inner demons. The matriarch also understood that her end had come. No matter how hard she had tried to gain compassion, she realized it hadn’t worked and now she was in real mortal danger. With a cry of pure desperation, she lunged toward us, not to attack Lira, but to escape. She tried to use her as a distraction, but I read her movements. I lunged at her, tackling her and slamming her to the ground, giving her a few punches in the face to teach her who was in charge here.
Even though she had been faking weakness this whole time, the matriarch was not weak at all. She managed to get back up and looked at me fixedly. "Let me go! You won’t be able to kill me faster than I can kill your friend! I’d rather die with her than die alone!" she snapped at me with rage, trying to intimidate me, but the only thing she accomplished was to make me laugh.
"Don’t tempt your luck, lizard." I replied with a mocking smile. She was like an insect trying to move a mountain; her efforts were completely useless.