Assassin's Apprentice

by S. R. Vaught; J. B. Redmond

  A knock sounded at the door, and she startled.

  The connection between her and Stormbreaker fractured like bit of rock-glass slammed against stones, and Dari felt its absence so acutely she had trouble taking a breath.

  Blath moved quickly to see who wished to enter as Stormbreaker placed a hand on Dari’s arm. “Cha, are you all right?”

  His touch ignited heat along the back of her neck. It was hard not to stare at the spot where his fingers met her skin, and harder still to swallow. “Don’t call me Cha. We’ve discussed that.”

  “With your Sabor protectors in attendance, I think the battle to keep your status completely secret has been lost.” Stormbreaker smiled, and the expression made his face even more handsome. Staring at him helped her keep her mind off Kate for one moment, and away from her many growing dilemmas.

  The effect was incredibly pleasant. She feared she could grow too used to it.

  Dari was vaguely aware of Aron and Zed being admitted to the room and Iko taking up his post outside her door before Blath closed it again. Aron stared from her to Stormbreaker, then at Stormbreaker’s hand. The flash of anger in the boy’s sapphire eyes was unmistakable.

  Stormbreaker let Dari go, but he didn’t seem uncomfortable because of the boy’s scrutiny. More … concerned.

  Dari studied Aron, feeling her own level of worry rise.

  He had left her doorway a little while ago embarrassed, blushing, but seemingly intact. Now he had that haunted look about him again. His expression had become blank, almost slack, and other than his irritation at seeing Stormbreaker’s hand on her arm, he seemed utterly devoid of feeling or interest in the world about him.

  “He’s likely exhausted to the point of illness,” Dari said to Stormbreaker, and Aron didn’t react. “Two hours of recovery after fainting wasn’t nearly enough.”

  Stormbreaker addressed himself to Aron instead of responding to her. “Remember our agreement, Aron? Are you fit enough for this meeting?”

  Aron’s expression hardened yet more, though Dari hadn’t thought that possible. “I’m fit,” he said in a voice so low it was almost a growl. The tone sounded deeper, older than she expected, and more powerful.

  “If you require further rest—” Stormbreaker tried again, but Aron cut him off before the sentence finished.

  “I’m fit. Have you established a plan for the search?” Aron folded his arms, staring intently at the pressed dantha leaves on Dari’s bed. He likely could see the ink marks standing out against the smooth folds.

  Stormbreaker eyed the boy with caution, then concern, then seemed to accept Aron’s assertion that he was well enough to proceed. To Zed, Stormbreaker said, “Dari’s sister is lost, and we’ll be searching for her until she’s located. Your master has been informed, and the boy Iko, and the Lord Provost and Lord Cobb. Otherwise, only the people in this room know this fact, and you’ll keep it that way—even if questioned by one of the other High Masters.”

  “Yes, High Master.” Zed dipped his head. “How may I assist in the search?”

  “This night, you may look after Aron in my absence.” Stormbreaker gestured to Aron. “That will ease my mind, since Lord Baldric will no doubt be checking up on him.”

  Aron’s mouth came open. Closed. His eyes widened as he said, “But I want to go with you. We both swore to aid in the search once we got to Triune. Are those maps? I can learn how to read them, help to form a searching grid like I used to when I hunted in the Scry with my father and brothers.”

  Stormbreaker went to the boy and knelt down before him, putting himself eye to eye with Aron. “Not this night,” he said, and his tone was infinitely patient and kind. “I’ve laid out an initial path for us that covers the area immediately surrounding Triune, and Dari and I will do what we can to explore it with Blath’s help—while you rest and regain your strength. I’m very sorry this other duty is taking me away from you on your first night at Triune. I shall be very concerned about you until I return.”

  Aron seemed to shrink away from Stormbreaker’s care, but he allowed Stormbreaker to put a hand on his shoulder. “You need your rest for training, too. Tomorrow, after you confirm that Dari and I have returned, you’ll join our morning celebration for the first time, then go to the stoneworkers at the forge and receive your new cheville. After that, it’s legacy training, then weapons training, sessions at the armory, time in the granary to build your muscles, work with your talon, lessons in the library—you’ll be grateful to see the sunset. And grateful that I made this decision.”

  Aron responded with a glare, and Stormbreaker sighed as he stood. “We’ll be going out twice per week with the assistance of Blath and Iko, or more if we happen upon credible rumors or tips. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to assist Dari once you’re a bit better with defensive weapons.”

  Dari noted no change in Aron’s stance or attitude.

  “Aron, this is not a debate,” Stormbreaker said. He pulled another dantha leaf from the folds of his robe and extended it to Aron, who frowned, but took it. “Our path is marked. Should we not return before morning, you’ll give this to the Lord Provost. If we cannot be located, you and Zed should continue the search for Dari’s sister with Iko’s aid until the Stone Guild can get word to Lord Cobb and Lord Ross and seek their counsel.”

  Dari moved around the bed to Aron, barely aware of her own purpose until she gripped his folded arms with both hands and met his angry gaze. “If I die tonight, you do everything you can to find my sister before my cousin Platt takes matters into his own hands. I call upon our dav’ha, Aron, and ask you to keep Kate safe if you can.”

  Aron didn’t pull away, and his expression softened as he stared at her. After a long few seconds, he swallowed, slipped his arms through her grip until he caught both of her fingers in his, and dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Of course I will. But you won’t die tonight.” He gazed at her once more, his eyes now bright with what she took for worry. “You’ll be back by morning, perhaps with Kate, or with information that will lead you to her.”

  Dari once more heard that surprising ring of force in Aron’s voice, and saw a glimmer of the strong man he would one day grow to be.

  Strong and kind—or strong and cold?

  The dueling images struck her as she let Aron go, but she made herself sweep them from her mind. Dari focused instead on what he said, hoping his words would prove to be prophetic.

  This time, when Stormbreaker told Aron to go and restore himself, Aron left with Zed, offering no complaint.

  Blath closed the door behind them, and when she turned to Dari, Dari could tell Blath’s opinion from the narrowing of her dark eyes and the tight purse of her lips.

  That one could be trouble.

  She heard the words as if Blath spoke them aloud. It was no mental connection that allowed her insight into Blath’s thinking, but rather endless years of experience, and relating comments to expressions.

  Even without the benefit of those years of knowledge, Stormbreaker acknowledged Blath’s discomfort by clearing his throat. “We’ve a ways to go with Aron. I have hope.”

  “So does my son,” Blath said. “Though for my own part, I have doubts.” She gestured to the open window behind Stormbreaker. “Will we leave by way of the trellis, or take stairs and risk being seen by others in the guild?”

  “Trellis,” Stormbreaker said. “It’s set in stone and reinforced with rock cement, and it leads directly to the courtyard. That’s why I selected this room for Dari.”

  “I see.” Blath’s tone was cool as she moved toward the window. “I trust you’ll not use this manner of entrance or exit for any other purpose than our search.”

  “Blath!” Shock suffused every inch of Dari. What would possess Blath to interfere with her life in such a fashion?

  “I will respect Dari’s honor every moment of every day,” Stormbreaker declared as he stepped aside to let Dari follow Blath.

  “I wasn’t speaking to you, Stone Brother,” Blat
h said as she nimbly climbed over the sill and began to climb down toward the courtyard. “Your safety is no concern of mine—and Dari is well capable of defending her own virtue.”

  Dari heaved herself over the sill and started down herself, going hot-cold with embarrassment at being spoken to like a wayward girl-child in front of Stormbreaker. “I won’t leave Triune without your escort for my protection,” she said through her teeth, hoping that would appease Blath.

  It seemed to. For the moment, at least.

  The tension in Dari’s muscles grew with each inch and foot she descended. The reality of renewing her search for Kate and the increasing urgency of finding her twin began to ball up inside her, and by the time her boots touched the stones of the courtyard below her window, she was desperate for any distraction.

  “Do you think Aron is troubled by the attraction we share?” she asked as Stormbreaker touched down beside her and pulled his gray robes tight about his waist to tie them in preparation for their journey.

  He halted in his motions and glanced at her. There was no surprise on his face. The expression was more … humor? Amusement? Confusion gave way to irritation, and Dari thought about slapping the man just to erase the strange smile from his lips.

  To Stormbreaker’s far left, in the moonslit courtyard of the High Masters’ Den, Blath began to change. Dari saw the telltale zigzag of golden fur appear across the woman’s face. Blath’s tunic and breaches seemed to melt to her ankles, but just as fast, her body grew taller and wider until no human shape was left to it. The golden zigzag spread like wildfire across her blue skin. Her shoulders burst outward, now covered in downy yellow-brown fur. Feathers emerged from her mid-section as she dropped to all fours.

  Stormbreaker was clearly captured by the process, and Dari realized he had never seen a Sabor shift.

  Good.

  At least in this experience, she had the upper hand with this man.

  Dari let him watch, let him become yet more enraptured as Blath’s knees and hands became paws, one of which clutched her shed clothing in claws the size of a human child’s arm. Blath grew a furry tail and sprouted wings that increased in size, fast enough that Stormbreaker tensed with alarm, no doubt wondering if there would be room between the keep walls and the keep itself to accommodate her. The knife belt Blath had been wearing expanded as she did, becoming a leathery band around her girth. Her green boomerang knife swung gently in its scabbard, coming to rest in front of her left wing.

  Blath’s change finished with a rush of air, and Dari took in the blessedly familiar sight of her surrogate mother, a creature with the head and wings of a giant eagle and the body of a huge lion. Blath’s back and wings had heavy, thick white feathers, as did the crest of her head, and a mane circled her broad neck. The remainder of her body had soft, downy fur that more than once had absorbed hours of Dari’s tears.

  “Amazing,” Stormbreaker murmured. Then he focused his attention more directly on Dari, her sensitive vision taking in how his green eyes seemed alight with amusement. “Now, to what you were saying before—Aron, and the attraction. Is there an attraction between us, Dari?”

  As he spoke, he managed to move closer to her, until she could feel the warmth of his body only inches from her own.

  “Stone Brothers are not required to be chaste.” She had to work to make her mouth cooperate, and she found she couldn’t look him directly in the face—which he no doubt found as amusing as her words. “I have known you more than a cycle of the moons now, and I’m a few cycles shy of my seventeenth year, close to full adulthood by both Fae standards and Fury. As a Ross female, and a Stregan, I’m allowed to select my own companions.”

  “I wouldn’t have expected you to be interested in anyone with Fae blood.” Stormbreaker’s tone was matter-of-fact. Dari wished she could see his expression, but not enough to risk a glance at him. “From the moment we first joined our essences during the battle with the manes, I’ve known you haven’t much regard for my people. Only yours, and those related to or loyal to you.”

  Dari stared intently at her feet and the night-darkened cobbles below them. “By my estimation, you’re as loyal to me, to protecting my people, as anyone I know. You and Aron and even Lord Baldric—you have given me reason to rethink many of my beliefs about the Fae.”

  Nothing but silence from Stormbreaker in response to that. But at least he didn’t move away from her.

  “Cross-mixing is illegal, but only an issue should we choose to wed or bear children—neither of which I plan to do.” Dari focused on his wrist, on his long-fingered, graceful hands and wondered why, after having such a hard time beginning, she couldn’t stop talking now. “Despite your high station, you’re only a few years my senior. Similar rank, similar station, similar age.”

  She gestured to Blath, who slapped a forepaw against the courtyard stones as if to express irritation at the delay. “And we do have a chaperone whenever we need one, though Dyn Ross and my people put little stock in such nonsense. All in all, it’s an acceptable situation.”

  “An … acceptable situation.” Stormbreaker’s teasing tone made Dari really, really want to slap the benedets right off his pale, chiseled cheeks.

  She raised her hand. “Cease toying with me, or I’ll—”

  Stormbreaker gently caught her wrist as her palm swung forward, and the contact jarred her into looking at him.

  There was a light in his green eyes, and, yes, he was smiling, but he wasn’t laughing at her. She knew that for certain when he bent so close to her he could have touched her lips with his own.

  For one heart-clenching moment, Dari thought he might, believed he might, willed him to do it, move that last little inch—but he spoke instead, his voice quiet and husky. “You are most attractive, and I do see you as a woman grown, or nearly so. If my heart were my own to give, you would tempt me, Dari Ross.”

  His breath smelled of mint and winter, and the hand holding her wrist was so, so warm.

  Had he just refused her?

  She wasn’t certain.

  Maybe her feelings should be hurt, but at the moment, Dari’s heart thumped and bounced until she thought her knees might knock together. She trailed the fingers of her free hand along the spirals tattooed on Stormbreaker’s face, and he didn’t stop her. His expression was a strange mixture of interest and pain, much the same as she felt in the pit of her own belly.

  Too soon, he let go of her wrist and pulled back from her, leaving her chilled in the evening air. “We can discuss this later,” he said in that low, ragged voice. “When we’re once more safe behind these walls.”

  “What makes you think there’s safety here?” Dari murmured, surprised she could speak at all.

  Blath growled low in her massive throat.

  Stormbreaker laughed and bowed too deeply, teasing her again. “Cha, it seems our chaperone objects.”

  Dari let out a breath, exasperated by the fact she wanted to lean in to him again, to get close to those lips once more and this time share a kiss, but she knew he would only laugh at her anew—and this time, she would slap him. Instead, she turned away from him and marched over to Blath, letting Stormbreaker keep up if he could.

  “Here,” he said as he moved up beside her and took hold of the leather strap in front of Blath’s wings. “Let me help you. That’s a long way up—two men’s heights, at least.”

  Dari gaped at him for a second. “One kiss that never even happened, and I become some helpless slip of a girl in your eyes?”

  Stormbreaker looked confused, but Dari ignored him and leaped upward with all her strength, springing toward the moons and stars and dark sky above her. In that one jump she doubted any Fae—even him—could make, she released a rush of tension. It cleared her senses better than she would have done by jamming her head beneath the surface of a cold lake. She landed neatly on her feet behind Blath’s neck, then slid into familiar riding position, wrapping both hands into Blath’s wiry golden mane.

  Stormbreaker was redu
ced to clambering onto Blath’s lowered wing, then pulling himself onto her back using the leather strap and fistfuls of fur.

  Dari felt no pity for him, but she did wince for Blath, who stamped a hind paw as Stormbreaker dug the toe of his boot into one of her ribs.

  “You might have given me a few instructions,” Stormbreaker grumbled as he inched up Blath’s back, toward Dari.

  “Don’t blame me for your shortcomings.” Dari tried to sound light, as if talking to the man were as effortless as the jump she made. “Were it not for you, I’d fly myself, and none of this clumsy riding would be necessary. I’m Stregan, and if almost brushing your lips against mine for a few seconds hasn’t addled your brain too greatly, I’d thank you to remember that fact.”

  Stormbreaker clamped his mouth shut. He settled behind Dari, and his muscled arms ringed her as he, too, gathered handfuls of Blath’s stiff mane for balance. His nearness and warmth unsettled her, but she wasn’t about to give him further amusement at her expense.

  “Go,” she said before he noticed any reaction.

  At her command, Blath ran forward, digging her claws into stone and dirt to gain more power in her stride.

  Stormbreaker lurched against Dari, swore, and would have slipped off had she not grabbed both of his elbows and helped steady him.

  “Careful, now, big, strong man,” Dari said. “Falling from a Sabor is a good way to earn a broken neck.”

  The look Stormbreaker tried to give her was wry, but it quickly shifted to worried as they plunged toward the high stone wall of the Den.

  Blath’s wings unfurled behind where they sat. In one powerful pump and sweep, they were aloft.

  Dari faced forward again. Wind blasted across her cheeks even as Stormbreaker tightened his grip on the mane and pressed his arms yet more tightly into her sides.

  I’m free again.

  I’m flying!