Noctisardor Bypass teil eins

Mahler asked her to keep a distance and she recoiled as though she'd seen a snake right in front of her, hackles pricked and ears folded back. Even she was not sure why she did it on a conscious level: Was it that she was afraid he thought of her as willing or needy that she was so close to him, that he asked for distance; was it that he did not trust himself so near to her? Don't flatter yourself, dearest, came the harsh voice. Soon Mahler confirmed this; it was only because of his cough.

Laurel was not too worried about that sort of thing. She wasn't often sick, and she did not expect to catch it. But it was a tool to keep a distance between them and she accepted it readily with a nod. She would keep distance, glad to know that he would, too.

Mahler continued on the subject of his son, and Laurel nodded. Then, after a few seconds of silence, she said, solemnly: He said that you would kill Merrick for me. Not those precise words, perhaps, but he had suggested that he could not, but his father... The one who killed my sweet Indra. Laurel's eyes never left Mahler. There was something dominant and forceful in her gaze. Beneath the hardened gaze she sent him there was something else; something nervous, something pleading. She needed him to die, she needed him to suffer. Knowing he lived in their old home day in and day out was too much for her to bear anymore, and now... now, perhaps she had allies who could help her.

And perhaps he could show her that he could be trusted, then.