Lina stood in the giant ballroom, wondering what to do with herself. She walked softly around the edge of the floor until she came to the refreshment table. (Yippee!) She plonked down on a nearby chair and began to eat.
 Suddenly someone dumped a large glass of wine onto her white dress. “AH!” Lina leapt to her feet and glared at the offender.
 Angela put her hand to her mouth in a very fake manner, mockingly apologetic. “Oh! I’m so very sorry! Here, let me asist you.” She then dropped a truffle onto her lap, thouroughly ruining her gown.
 “I’m fine, thanks.” Lina growled. Dammit, what did this woman have against her? She hadn’t done a thing to her! “What did you want?”
 “Oh, nothing.” Angela looked out to the dance floor, where the prince was dancing with the empress’ daughter. “Don’t they look lovely together?”
 Lina snorted. “I don’t think so.”
 Angela smiled slightly. “Oh, but they look so beautiful dancing together!”
 “Neither one of them looks very happy.”
 Angels grinned. Great. So she is after me. And I am not going to play along!
 “You seem bitter.”
 “I’m not bitter. I just don’t think they match. Any more than you two did.”
 “W-what??” Angela jerked away from Lina as if she were a snake and might bite her. “What did you say?”
 “I said you and His Highness don’t make much of a good couple.”
 “How di-- I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
 “How did I know? I make these things my business to know. A girl who doesn’t gets killed rather quickly in this court.” She smiled sweetly at Angela. “A lesson you might like to learn. I believe at this moment you have no less than two nobles plotting for your demise. I would suggest being extremely careful.”
 Angela sneered. “Was that a threat?”
 Lina tossed her red waterfall of hair back and smiled. It was her catlike smile, the one no one really liked having directed at them. She loved that smile. “No.” She grinned a very Xellos-like grin. “But this is. If you insist on making an enemy of me, you shall find yourself at the bottom of a very deep hole. One does not mess with Lina Inverse.”
 Angela’s eyes widened in recognition. Of course. EVERYONE knew who Lina Inverse was. Of course, it would be impossible for Angela to prove anything. And the king was on Lina’s side.
 Lina smiled sweetly at the bitch. “So before you add yet another to your set of plotters, I would consider wisely who you are dealing with.”
 Angela stood abruptly and stalked from the room.
 Lina glanced up to see none other than the prince and guest of honor at this little party making his noble way towards her.
 Ugh.
 “Miss Lina, if I may see you in the gardens in ten minutes?” It was not a request.
Lina sighed.
 “Your wish is my dubious command,” She said shortly, and strutted upstairs to change.
*   *   *
 “What do you want, stone-face.” Lina leaned against the cold stone wall in her black getup that was so useful for sneaking around. Zelgadis didn’t even jump. Jerk.
 “Watch it. I’m still prince, I can still get you killed.” He turned to face her. She stuck out her tongue. “Oh yes, that convinces me utterly of your maturity and understanding, Inverse.” He glared at her.
 She shrugged. “You know my name. Congratulations. That makes three of us. Now, what did you want me for?”
 “I want to know why you are trying to intimidate Angela. This is my problem, woman, and--”
 “I get on her case because she gets on mine, boy, child.” Lina sneered. “You have no idea how old I really am. Don’t attempt to speak down to me on the excuse of gender.”
 “Hah! Old? I think not. If you speak biologically, you’ve not grown more than a years worth since you cast your first spell. And if it’s socially, maturity, that you refer to, I don’t believe you’re over ten, and a spoiled ten at that. You may have seen years go by, but you’re not old, Inverse.” He sniffed. Ohhh, that weasel! How dare he!
 She wouldn’t let him get to her.
 “Better than being old before one’s time, I’d say. I learned things you never will.”
 “I doubt it. From the records I’ve pulled up, you got a severely deprived childhood as well.” He smiled snidely. “You aren’t more than ten, but you didn’t get that childhood any more than I did.”
 “Maybe that’s why we’re both children now.”
 “I am not a child.” Zelgadis glared at her. He stalked towards her, Velvet evening cloak draped back over his shoulders, linen shirt ruffling slightly in the breeze. She stood her ground. If worse came to worse, she could just knife him and run off.
 Oh. Wait a moment, That wouldn’t really work….
 He smiled. “A child would not have been able to handle the thought of his own father killing him. A child would not have been able to even attempt to retaliate in any way. A child would never dare to cross the murderer his father had hired.” He stood right in front of her. Could she take him? Probably. But only probably. And with a lot of noise, pain, and attention created.
 “Emotionally, you are still a child, Zelgadis Greywyrds.”
 “I have grown of late.”
 “Perhaps you have. And perhaps you have not.”
 “I learn from lessons.”
 “So do I. But I make sure to learn from other’s lessons so I don’t make the mistakes they did.”
 “You never could know how painful and lasting those lessons can be.”
 “I can fucking guess.”
 They fell silent, Lina leaning up against the wall glaring balefully at the prince, and Zelgadis standing in front of her returning the favor.
 “I hate you.”
“I despise you.”
“Maybe I should kill you.”
“Maybe I should kill you.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“You don’t want me to.”
“I could kill you.”
“Not without my killing you.”
“You deserve death.”
“I know. So do you.”
“I know.”
“If you know, then why are you trying to stay alive?”
“We don’t all get what we deserve.”
“You asshole.”
“I know. You bitch.”
“I know. I hope you end up at the bottom of a pit.”
“I hope you do too.”
“I hope you end up in the same pit so I can kill you without drawing attention.”
“The feelings mutual.”
“I’m so glad.”
They stared at each other in silence again.
“You infuriate me.”
“You enrage me!”
“I hope I do!”
“Well I hope I do!”
“You deserve nothing more than death at the hands of your beloved.”
“Something that you’ll experience soon if you plans fail.”
Zelgadis pulled away. “What?”
“I said if your plans fail, Angela is going to kill you.”
“Oh, no she isn’t.”
“She is.”
“My plans aren’t going to fail.”
“How do you know? Reality is impossible to plan.” Lina snorted and tossed her mane of red fire over her shoulder. My father tried it, your father tried it, The empress tried it, and all the plans went awry. There is no such thing as a perfect laid plan. And no such thing as a plan that follows it’s course perfectly.”
“This one will.”
“What if I knifed you in the back while you’re waiting to execute it?”
He smiled. “A knife won’t peirce this hide. It’s its one advantage.” He looked her in the eye. “And you won’t.”
“Who says? I’m impossible to predict. That’s the one thing Xellos hates about me most.” She looked away. “No one controls me. Care to try? All those who have are either dead or wish they were.”
“Your employers control you.”
“They don’t.” She glared at him. “If they did, I would kill you without a second thought.”
“You told me you kill only if you have a reason to.” He sneered at her. Ohh, he set her on fire, she wanted to beat that self insured smile off his stupid face! “And you say you might not. Tell me, what reasons have I given to kill me? Many, as far as I see.” He turned, but she could se his sneer. “Or is it that you can’t kil when you know what the consequences may be?”
“What are you talking about?” Lina grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. “Tell me exactly what you mean, this instant.” She snarled.
“You want me to make a fool of you? Alright.” He Sat down gracefully, even after she had thrown him across the training yard at practice that morning. She tried to mimic him, and failed. Damn sore muscles…
“You never stay long enough to know all the intriguing plots going on in court. You kill the person if they’re not a good one, and leave. You never think what might happen if the ones just under them get into power.” He grinned, but it was not a happy grin. It was the grin of someone whose soul was long dead, killed and maimed, then beaten after it failed to breathe. But kept going anyway. Out of pure spite. “But now you know what will happen when I die. You know who will take over, and what they’ll do. And you can’t bear doing it. You are weak.”
“Weak? I could kill you here and now!”
“Could you? Very well, then. Chant your spell and kill me. Do it now, with no one to stop you. Father won’t stop you, Xellos won’t stop you, and I won’t stop you. Can you do it, Lina Inverse? Can you kill me, knowing what will follow in my wake? Can you kill someone who’s never done anything but live, and annoy you by showing you your own inadequacies?”
“What?”
“That’s what it is, isn’t it. That’s why you hate me.”
“What are you babbling about? I can kill you where you stand and have no qualms about it.”
“Can you? I’d like to see you try.” He stood and looked down at her, that brash, infuriating look that said he knew he was right, that she was a child, that she had no power, was weak, couldn’t even kill a man. “I don’t think you can.”
“Of course I can! I’ve killed better men than you, and I have no worries of those I sent to their deaths.” She unsheathed her sword.
“Then why aren’t I dead yet?”
“Shut up!” She stabbed at him, hard, and only succeeded in dulling her blade.
“You should be thankful it isn’t broken. You little fool, you can’t do it, can you? You used the blade so you wouldn’t have to kill me.” He glared at where she stood, unable to move, frozen with sheer fury and hatred.
“I despise you. I wish nothing more than to see you lying in agony, dying of mental and physical wounds that bleed out your life’s blood and feed it to bare rock.” She hissed. “You deserve nothing more than the most painful of deaths ever imagined, and many more.”
“Why so venomous, Inverse? I’ve done nothing but taunt you.” He gazed at her, that knowing look that filled her with resentment that he dare ever presume to understand her. “Don’t answer. You probably don’t know.”
She didn’t, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. It was enough that the hatred  coursed through her veins whenever he glanced her way, whenever he brushed her hand. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him beyond normal comprehension.
Deep in her mind, the long forgotten voice of reason piped up.
Is that healthy? It asked silently. Are you sure that hatred isn’t just another mask, a curtain pulled before something deeper?
Lina ignored it. “then what, O Knowing One, do you presume is the explanation?”
He snorted. “You hate me because I throw all your inadequacies back in your face. Because you see in me what you hate in yourself. Have you ever been truly happy, Lina Inverse? Have you ever lied who you are?”
“I’m powerful, I can destroy lives rather than having mine destroyed. I have and am all I’ve wanted to be.” She glared balefully up at him. “I am exactly what I want to be. I have no shortcomings that I care about.”
He laughed out loud. Lina’s anger flared up like a fire beacon, seething and twisting in the pit of her stomach. The bastard. How dare he. How dare he how dare he how dare he! She stood up and faced him.
“Really? Are you sure about that?” He laughed again. But it wasn’t a laugh like someone amused, or someone delighted. It was that of someone laughing at themselves, and hating it. “You hate the very fact that you are all you dreamed of. You hate the fact that you aren’t powerful to take control of even yourself, that you’re flung around by the winds like a rag doll. You despise the fact that you can’t be certain of what you feel. You hate the knowledge that you are just like those who you hated so deeply.” He started walking towards her, and she backed away, eyes wide. “You hate the very notion that you could ever be like them, and you know it’s true. You hate me because you see yourself in me, you hate me because I know what you don’t, and realize what you need to, and you hate me because I represent everything you’ve killed in destroying everything you knew. You rejoice in the knowledge you could kill anyone you chose, can destroy lives and make yourself better. But it makes you worse. And you hate that, too.” He had her backed against the wall.
“And do you know what I hate about you, Lina Inverse?” He hissed, barely voicing the words at all.
She couldn’t stop her mouth. “What?” She said, nearly as silently.
“That you can’t even hate me for me. That you have to hate me for what you see of yourself. For a reflection. You can’t even hate me for what a rotten person I am, what a despicable, Despiseable being I am. You only see yourself, and can’t even hate me for me.” He glared, and spoke so low she could hardly even make out the words, even though he was face to face, so close their noses touched. “And I hate you because you’re exactly like me. I hate you because you have every shortcoming I do, because you are the symbol of everything I know I am, but refuse to see. And I can’t even get you to hate me because of what I’ve done.” He gazed at her with such hatred in his eyes she couldn’t bring herself to move. But she hated him even more now.
“I hate you.”
“What?” Zelgadis smiled a smile of death, of soullessness. “Did I hear you say something?”
“I hate you . I hate you for everything you’ve done. I hate you for tearing my soul open with your damn insights. I hate you for ripping what’s left of my soiled and neglected heart with your understanding of why I hate myself, of why I hate others. I hate you for more reasons than I can think of. And I hate you for what you aren’t.”
“That’s hardly fair, Inverse.”
She ignored his taunt. “I hate you for not being able to live. I hate you for dying like I did before you realized it. I hate you for not Having the childhood you should have. And what I hate most about you is that you don’t CARE!” The whispering hiss gradually got louder until she was shrieking in his face. He didn’t deign her the respect to even wince..
“You brought it upon yourself, Inverse. And I hate you more.”
“I hate you for one other thing, Zelgadis Greywydrs.”
“And what, pray tell, might that be?”
“I hate you because you hate me.”
*   *   *
 Lina lay in her bed, glaring at the ceiling.
 “I hate you, Zelgadis Greywyrds. I should kill you”