THE BLOOD'S RUN STALE

"Speech."       Thought.       518.


Her pupils remained fixed upon the pallid king beside her, watching his facial features in hopes that they would portray his internal train of thought at the conclusion of her suggestion, but she was refused any sign of acceptance or denial for her malicious idea. Instead, he stared off into the distance, his ruddy eyes losing their flame as they were captivated by vagueness. She assumed he was musing over her ideas, and she immediately sought the source of his hesitance; she had believed there was nothing that Tortuga had to lose that they already hadn?t. Neo had been successfully won back into Valhalla?s ranks already and would retain a Valhallan allegiance by law even if he accepted the challenge Tortuga would pose for him, but his heart and mind would still reside with Tortuga.


Abruptly, the male returned from his daze, the fire in the depths of his eyes igniting once more and his jaws unhinging as words cascaded from them. She listened intently, her ears swiveling forward to fully catch his speech and her metallic eyes glimmering triumphantly as he mentioned the brilliance of the plan she had conjured out of her new spite for Valhalla. Her eyes still shone even as he threw down possible flaws in the plot, but her gears were already churning with each question he directed at her. But she waited until his vocals subsided, her own jaws parting to emit answers to his questions, though they snapped shut as he stirred, muttering a single syllable: Luce. Her infamous smirk returned to claim its rightful spot upon her visage once more as she bobbed her skull in approval, realizing their minds worked more alike than she had previously thought; at least, she believed his idea was similar to her own.


?To have the boy relay information to Tortuga via Luce? Yes, that would work. If he returns to us -- or anywhere near Tortuga, for that matter ? it?d be far too risky. As for your other concerns, I do believe he has the capability to pull off this mission. If you?ll allow me to speak with him privately, I can assure you he will not fail.? She did not mean to sound conceited however much her last statement had been, but she was very confident in the fields of both spying and acting to predict how her pupil would turn out. She would not allow him to return to Valhalla in all smiles ? no, she would allow his temper to run its course for a while to make the process as realistic as possible, but as the time would go on, she?d push him to sluggishly begin to accept the terms and play nice towards his family, and hopefully, in time, they would put more trust in their wayward brother and he would be able to wander freely from Valhalla?s borders. Morphine had faith that they would not house a loathsome attitude towards the adolescent forever, and when they lightened up on him, Tortuga?s plan would fully take its course. She just prayed that Neo possessed a decent amount of patience.