So pay the price.

The shots fired did not reach their desired destination. Miraye had made her move at the last second, the moment Larkin decided he didn’t want to hear anymore of her preaching. She seemed to disappear entirely from where she once stood, and when it finally dawned on Larkin to look up into the air, she came crashing down on him.

He hit the floor hard, and the carpeting on the marble did not make his landing easier. The pain that shot through from the back of his head into his eyes was quickly forgotten as something cold found its way neatly in between his ribs, and through the soft organ on the inside until the blade’s tip hit stone and could move no further.

Larkin stared up at Miraye, her hands tight around the handle of her sword. His thoughts were lost and his mind was blank, all he could see was her face, smeared with blood, two eyes to match that and her crimson blade, buried deep inside of him. His fingers trembled for a moment, unable to comprehend this momentary defeat, until they again tightened around the gun.

He saw her expression change, her mind registering the danger - and accepting, perhaps - as he lifted his hand and pressed the gun above her left breast. Her image was sharp in his vision and time must have stopped for him because it seemed an eternity before the trigger pulled back just enough; the screams became dull and silent and the blurred movements around him slowed and melted into one another.

Larkin couldn’t feel, he couldn’t think, he just knew what had to be done. There was no joy or no victory in it, he was about to kill something that would have more power than he could ever wield, or control. He couldn’t use Miraye; she was too powerful and too free. That’s why he had to get rid of her. She was a danger to his existence and all he wanted. She had already done enough damage, to his city and to his people’s minds. She was going to take Tic, and that’s what made him want it. He wanted the relief and he wanted her dead.

“So be it,” he agreed as he did - gently squeezing the trigger.