Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Masking

Ordóñez had considered himself a haunted man. He settled for the ghosts of love that he would find in the graveyards he dug. He could never consider himself a merciful man after the things he went through. At one point in time, he was the most gentle man in the world. From a young age he was pushed around by the people that could push. A doormat to anyone that would take the first step.

After the war started, Ordóñez changed for the worst. Isolation had become his closest ally as he caught himself clinging onto the sword he brandished as the lifeline rather than the very human company he craved so much. Now, Ordóñez saw people dying on a daily basis and couldn’t find it in him to care very much. If anything, he caused more pain than he had truly seen.

It only felt fair for him to cause so much pain, especially after everything he had been through. He would never admit it to himself, but he did everything he did out of fear. Ordóñez often questioned if Ximena was the same, but he highly doubted that was a possibility.

Rather than ask her any questions, he simply observed her instead. He watched the way her green eyes cut across the room like the glass shards they resemble. Observed the way she moved so swiftly in battle without a question of her agility. Kept a close eye on the way she would fidget with her blades during meetings with other leaders when she was nervous.

Ordóñez watched everything from a distance. He refused to let her know by the looks on his face just how much it hurt to see her destroy herself every day. So instead, he kept every little thing he could say hidden. Hidden behind the eyes of the mask with a disgustingly tainted smile.

“Ordóñez; would you mind bringing my boys back to me?”

Ximena’s voice was a mix between the sweetest sugar and the scariest monster he could conjure in his mind, but he found himself drawn to her like a moth drawn to a flame.

“Of course, madame.”

“You won’t disappoint me this time, will you?”

“Not purposely.”

“What do you know of the location of my Griffin and Axel?”

“I haven’t changed anything from my last run in with them, I wasn’t aware you still had their locations considering-”

His words were stopped as a card embedded into the wall next to his head, only having sliced his cheek slightly. He knew this was meant to be a warning shot. Ximena doesn’t miss unless she is making a point.

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I was you. I know what I did, I reflected on my mistake. Now that I’ve faced that truth, I need to get them both back before it is too late. Who knows what they can do with that jewel if they learned the power behind it.”

Ordóñez felt his breath hitch in his throat. He never felt threatened by Ximena, only threatened by the lengths she would go through to prove a point or make herself look like she was better than she actually was. He would never say it out loud, but maybe that is one of the things that draws him to her so quickly.

“Yes ma’am, I’ll watch my wording next time.”

He nods, dropping his head slightly. The library that they resided in was silent with tension, enough to the point he decided to leave before he got too overwhelmed with the taunting pages of the books sitting still while his heart hammered in his chest as if it was being put to work.

“That’s better. Now, when you do get them, I want you to call me with this device,”

she began, holding a small chip-like device in her hand, something she must have created in the days that she locked herself in her library to ‘clear her head’

“It will slide here and sit inside your mask easily.”

Taking his mask, she placed it right where she pointed and then looked to meet his obsidian eyes. Part of Ordóñez wanted to believe that he could lean forward and press his lips to hers. He knew that if he tried he would be something close to beheaded.

“You aren’t paying attention.”

Ximena makes a point of his unfocused expression. He shakes the thoughts from his head and forces a smile as gently as he could.

“I’m only paying attention to you, madame.”

“Then you should tell me what I just said again.”

“The chip goe-”

Within an instant, she pushes her lips onto his, dropping the mask she was holding onto his lap. He was frozen in shock, but finally getting what he craved all these years seemed to make the moment all the sweeter to him. The strongest woman in the world, finally his, even if only for a moment. Finally close enough for him to hold, to kiss, to savor as he wanted to.

Lost in the moment, he allowed himself to put his arms around her waist gently. She laces her hands in his hair, all too soon, he realizes that she clipped the back of his mask on and slid it over his face.

“Now, please go get my boys.”

Ordóñez tried to calm himself down as he stared at her, bewildered gaze not once leaving her.

“Right. I’ll do that.”

It came to his realization that he wasn’t much more than a pawn in her game. But he didn’t mind being a pawn if that meant that he could stay by her side the way he currently was. Wrapped around her calloused fingers, there he sat. Masked in appearance but his devotion unmasked completely.