This is what I want to be. An instrument of mercy, not vengeance.

It is this kindness of his that unsettles me most. I can dodge a blow or block a knife. I am impervious to poison and know a dozen ways to escape a chokehold or garrote wire. But kindness? I do not know how to defend against that.

And so it is with us; we serve as handmaidens to Death. When we are guided by His will, killing is a sacrament.

Every time he glances at me I feel it just as surely as if he has reached out and run his finger along my soul. It is all I can do not to smile at the sheer wonder of it.

It is all we have left to us. And while it is more than I ever dared dream, it is nowhere near enough.

The maids in my village talked of falling in love with a man at first sight. That has always seemed naught but foolishness to me. Until I enter Sister Serafina's workshop. It is unlike anything I have ever seen, full of strange sights and smells, and I tumble headlong into love.

He smiles then, and even though it is well past midnight, its as if the sun has just come out.