Boxes & Smoke

Box 6

Alexei

Days passed and the rainy season had visited them for a while. Water poured outside the windows and the skies were hued with gray and bolts of lightning.

Carver stayed on his bed reading the book Paisley had lent him and he couldn't shrug his mind to focus on reading. He's always used to doing something. For it feels wrong to just sit back and relax with a cup of coffee by his table.

He placed the book down and went out of the room. The past weeks have been peaceful and he thought that it may be a sign of a tragedy coming. Whatever the result of this battle be, Carver would assure the success of Lacroix before anything.

His feet stopped from walking in the corridors. For he had realized that the direction he was going was Paisley's room.

I need to take more information from her. Yes, that's it, nothing more.

For a moment he hesitated. But he still turned in that direction, completely ignoring the questioning gazes of the guards outside. He might've looked like an idiot stopping and talking to himself mid-way. Though, he didn't care less.

Alexei was about to turn the doorknob when he stopped again. After some thought, he clicked his tongue and decided on the stupidity of his actions. He could get information from her anytime.

Just as before he could change his mind again, the door opened. Paisley stared back at him. Silence dipped between them. But Paisley decided to break it.

"I'm busy," her voice was distant. She waited for his reply and there was none. And so the door was shut in his face.

Xios felt irritated by that. But he still turned on his way and went back to his room. He thought that he should've grabbed the chance to finish her last night.

Truth be told, he's halfway through finishing the book but at the very least he didn't understand the story. Since his thoughts were scattering through places.

Why is she not annoying me? Did I fail to get her last night?

Oh, how he wanted to manipulate himself into thinking that giving his real name is something that the Lacroix would not look upon. She would die anyway, so it wouldn't be a big deal for her to know that. Besides, Carver had already gotten a major piece of information.

Paisley has been pampered since a kid. She wasn't raised as a warrior but rather a princess of the Schleifer's luxury. Be something different around her, and she'll go scrambling around you. Her tough and all-teasing side was nothing but a facade. Inside, she's still a fragile diamond of the Schleifer.

Carver closed the book once again. He watched the water drops sliding onto his windows. At the garden's pavilion, he could see the guards playing cards and talking to their colleagues. He had thought of going there and challenging them to a shooting range. But he had disregarded the idea.