Sara did not know when it happened.
Perhaps there was no point when you could say her heart stopped.
It slowed down so gradually that even she did not notice it fail.
Yet when she saw the evidence of her secret lover’s death her blood ran cold.
Her eyes widened, a flicker then her mask returned.
Her man watched her,
Just as he had been watching here these cold distant years.
He studied her face.
She betrayed everything.
Even her stillness and blankness spoke volumes.
She marched back to her room, steady and with a measured pace.
Yet excitement and terror hid in her, making the effort of her restraint visible.
He retreated to his own apartments.
Another came to him, as he knew she would.
Anna stood beside her beloved, ignorant of the truth
She gently combed his hair
The scent of him tickled her
His brooding was pronounced today.
But he never had a cruel word or a harsh gesture for her.
Then his hand reach back and found her
Roughly he pulled her towards him
She yielded in gratitude.
His lips found hers, hard and fast.
She would remember his hot breath, his fierce merciless tongue
He took her full of fire,
she melted to his heat.
He groaned with each furious attack
She cried out at each piercing.
Yet still over it all, he heard Sara’s gentle footfalls outside the door
He smelled her sweet perfume
He finished quickly, his deed done.
His body fell limp to the floor
Anna held him dearly and tender
He endure it a moment then, overcome with disgust, he pushed her away.
She retreated, reluctantly and never blamed him,
She loved him even after.
He waited a moment for Sara to retreat,
Then he gathered his cloths and followed her there.
Her door was locked when he arrived
He beat on it letting the kiss of the wood sting his hand,
“I know that you know!â€
Silence.
“I wanted you to know!â€
Silence.
“Now we are even!â€
But the mathematics of the human heart don’t work that way
One betrayal can never balance out with another
To Sara her betrayal was an old thing, long dusty
While he had been ignorant of it
This betrayal still burned them both
That was why as he stood there waiting for some response,
he failed to hear her ready her gun
She shot through the door, still her aim was true,
He had wanted to hurt her so much,
He never really through about what she would do about it,
She decided to hurt him more,
And ended up hurting herself too
She opened the door, and saw his dying body
Regret streamed from her,
As life streamed from him
She fell to her knees and touched him
Softly, for the last time
Her hands felt the seeping redness the colored his shirt,
His eyes seemed particularly bright
She was mesmerized by them.
Sara never noticed as Anna moved toward her, gun raised
The vengeful thunder of the bullet was the last thing she heard.
Her heart reached the end, it stopped for good.