Nez had to chose his words very carefully.

There's still a chance I can avoid the worst case scenario.

Never before in his life he felt so nerve wrecked.

Delilah tapped on his shoulder. “Do you know these guys?”.

“Not that one” he replied, pointing at the snake beastfolk still sitting on the floor. “But Roland is an old... colleague of sorts. We crossed paths a few time”.

Roland was sweating buckets. He anxiously wiped his bald head. “Nezefaril... We all thought you were dead”.

A scornful look escaped Nez, before he hid it behind his usual relaxed expression. “It takes more than a gutting to take me down for good”. He patted his side, right where his scar was.

The beastfolk hissed. “Why are we talking? Our target is right here”. He began to stand up.

“Shut up, Sitsha!” Roland told him with a fearful voice.

Nez moved his eyes on the other assassin. “Is this your bestie?”.

Sitsha showed his snake fangs.

“Listen Nezefaril, we are...” Roland cautiously began to explain.

“I know why you're here” Nez cut him off. “You've been tasked with taking out the princess. The problem is that I'm traveling with her, and I'd like to help her”.

Roland swallowed loudly. “Oh, come on... You can't be serious”.

“Just take this buffoon out, and get to the damn princess!”. Sitsha finally stood up and licked the air with his bifurcated tongue. “If you can't do it, I will”.

Nez chuckled. “Were did you find this guy?”.

“Don't move” Roland tried to stop his companion. It sounded more like a warning than an order.

“We're here for a job”.

“And I'm handling it”. Roland stepped forward. “A lot has changed, Nezefaril”.

Nez nodded. “I heard. There's these Silver Claws now... And I can't wait to hear everything about them”.

The was a lot of tension in the air, especially coming from the three behind Nez.

“We are not telling you anything”. Sitsha let some venom run down his jaw.

Unfazed, Nez tilted his head downwards. “It looks like you have a low standard for recruitment... Hope the rest of you isn't so hasty”.

“I'm the one who killed The Hollow, you insolent idiot!”.

That got Nez's attention. He immediately raised his head.

Roland looked like he was about to pass out. His lips were quivering. “I told you to shut up!”.

This is perfect.

“Oh, this is serious then”. Nez raised his hand, not showing any real concern. “The one who killed The Hollow must be really tough. You should have told me immediately”.

“What are you doing?” Bortheus asked him in a whisper. “It's not the moment to back down”.

Nez replied by shaking a finger.

Roland was starting to break under the pressure. “Nezefaril, we can...”.

“No, no” Nez insisted. “You brought the big guns. I don't want to mess with the assassin who took down the uncrowned king of assassins”.

“Please, Nezefaril...”.

Sitsha turned to Roland. “Show some backbone!” he snapped at him with the quickness of a reptile.

“Stop with the farce” Roland replied, almost drained of all energy.

“Why do you look so afraid?”.

“Because that Devil Touched is The Hollow!” Roland yelled back at his colleague.

Nez froze on the spot. The worst case scenario came to be.

“Is he out of his mind?” Delilah asked in a puzzled voice.

But something snapped inside of Nez. He couldn't find the strength to turn around and lie to his friends.

“You really can't take a hint, can you?”. Nez's voice dropped, much deeper and serious than usual. He looked at Roland with a dead stare. “You've never been the sharpest tool in the shed”.

He nonchalantly unsheathed the dagger hidden beneath his shirt.

“Nez, what are you doing?”. Fear started to make its way into Delilah's voice. “You can't be serious...”.

But I am.

The shame Nez was feeling was drowning in a sea of pent up cold anger.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Nez...”. In front of his silence, Delilah had to face the truth.

Nez flipped his dagger a couple of time. “Let's try this again... Tell me about the Silver Claws, Roland”.

There was barely any emotion in his voice, and yet it was enough to make everybody shake.

“Absurd”. Sitsha found the courage to step up to him. “You can't be...”.

Quick as lightning, Nez got behind the beastfolk and cut the tendon on both of his heels.

Sitsha flopped to the ground, screaming.

“I don't recall seeing you the day I almost died, so drop the act”.

“Calm down, Nezefaril”. Roland couldn't even speak in a steady voice. “I'm sorry I upset you”.

Nez lunged at him and pushed him against the wall, pressing the dagger to his throat. “You will be more than sorry”.

“We have nothing against you” Roland squealed. “Cloriana would be so happy to know you're still alive! She'd take you in instantly!”.

Nez didn't expect to hear that name.

“Ah... That makes sense. Cloriana is the Silver Claw's boss, isn't she?” he slowly asked.

Back in the days, she always pushed to form a group of unrivaled talent and renown. He should have guessed her involvement in this.

“Yes!” Roland confirmed. “After you... were gone... She rallied up the best of Cardinal Citadel's assassins and went after your killers. After that...”.

“She took charged and formed the organization she always wanted” Nez concluded. “It's nice to hear she's doing well, but I don't care about that right now”.

Roland's breathing got quicker. “But... You can come back! Let's kill the princess and...”.

Nez moved his blade from Roland's neck to the inside of his mouth. “I will say it one last time. Nobody is killing Delilah”.

Maybe he had no right to play the part of Delilah's protector. He was sure that if he turned to look at his friends, the look on their faces would be very different from usual.

Now that they knew, they wouldn't want anything to do with him.

The least I could do is protect them one last time.

“I'm gonna move my dagger, and you'll tell all about the contract on the princess. Nothing more, nothing less. Understand?”.

Roland nodded carefully, and Nez let him speak.

“It was... it was a senator who hired us”.

Nez didn't find it surprising. The shady dealings of the Salisgor Republic's senators made a long list. However, they had never went after another nation's ruler.

This was bigger than Nez imagined.

“At first we had to make sure nobody tried to interfere with the storm elemental's attack, and to make it look like the king was the one controlling it”.

Delilah gasped.

“Then, the princess managed to get out of the capital and we were told to get rid of her. That's all we know”.

There had to be more to the story.

“Who's the senator who hired you?” Nez asked.

“We don't know. He didn't contact us directly, and it's possible there's more than one working together”.

“Why do they want the elemental to wreak havoc in the Kingdom of Enerya?”.

“You know how it works. We don't ask questions”.

Nez lowered the pressure of his dagger.

The elder elemental. The Silver Claws. The Salisgor Republic's senate.

It was all connected in a political mess of unheard proportions.

“Good boy” Nez said. “You get to keep your tongue”. Now he was left with a question: what was he going to do?

Five people knew his identity, now. Even if he tried to leave his past behind, it still caught up to him.

Silencing Roland and Sitsha was no issue. Actually, the Three Nations would have been a better place without them.

But Delilah, Bortheus... and Phisena...

There was no way Nez could hurt them. And he had no right to ask them to keep quiet about it. Delilah would never even listen to someone with a tainted soul like his.

Nez's hands started shaking. He was feeling the same anger, despair, and hopelessness that made him go down the darkest path...

“Nezefaril” Roland cautiously called to him. “I don't know what happen to you... But you must realize your place isn't with them”.

Without thinking, Nez turned around. His friends were horrified. He felt a painful sting in his heart. “You think I don't know that?” he asked softly.

“Then you know what to do”. Roland was slowly starting to relax. “Be reasonable”.

Nez grabbed him by the neck, squeezing his windpipes. His eyes were glowing. “Do I look like a reasonable man, to you?”. The aggressive instinct that lurked deep within him since the day of his birth was surging back.

Even if he wanted to, Roland couldn't answer. He could only make some gargling noises.

“Nez!” Delilah called to him. “Nez, stop!”.

What if I don't want to?

Nez squeezed tighter.

“Cut it out!”.

Phisena's voice managed to snap him out of it.

He let go of Roland, who slumped down to the ground coughing.

“Don't act like this surprises you”. Nez gave his friends a hard look that made them take a step back. “You were all thinking too well of a Devil Touched like me”.

No, he wasn't just a Devil Touched. He was the most wicked of them all.

The Hollow.

Even after his disappearance, people were afraid to talk about him as if he could jump out from the shadows at any moment.

I hate this.

“We need to solve one problem at a time”. Delilah took a deep breath, trying to think rationally. “The two Silver Claws have priority. Then we can think about...”.

“What to do with me, right?”. Nez put away his dagger. “You don't want the assassins sent after you to be killed... You and I are polar opposites”.

Struggling to maintain composure in front of Nez, Delilah put a hand on her chest. “I don't want any more lives on my conscience than necessary”.

Nez closed his eyes. Why did everything had to be so complicated.

“Can you modify their memories with magic?” he then asked to Phisena.

She didn't seem like she wanted to answer. “I can try using the ritualism discipline... But it's risky”.

“Do it” Nez told her unemotionally. “Make them forget we were here. Otherwise I'll take care of them”.

He went to lean against a wall, waiting for the ritual to be completed.

It didn't take long for Phisena to be done, although she seemed mentally exhausted afterwards.

Throughout all that time, Bortheus kept his eyes locked on Nez.

Finally the two assassins were unconscious on the floor, oblivious to Delilah's or Nez's presence.

Nez went to the door and banged against it. “We're done. Let us out”.

“No, we're not done” Bortheus told him firmly.

“Do you want to risk waking them up while we're still here?” Nez asked him, pointing at the assassins.

Bortheus went silent.

Lord Orzhio opened the door, but before he could ask anything Nez went straight for another cell.

“They forgot we were here, pretend like you haven't seen us” he explained pragmatically. “Now we need some privacy. Don't you dare eavesdrop”.

“Are you ordering me around in my house?”.

All Nez had to do to convince lord Orzhio was looking at him sideways. “I am”.

He got in an empty cell and waited for the others to join him.

When they arrived, they looked circumspect. They closed the door.

Nez kept his back to them. “Don't worry, I won't hurt you”.

“Are we supposed to trust The Hollow?” Bortheus asked in a caustic voice.

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so in the other room”.

It was time to face his fears.

“Now tell me. What do you plan to do with me?”.