“You are about five minutes too late,” I said across the room. “But can you make yourself useful and escort us back to the palace please?” I demanded more than I asked him but at least I said please.
My plan was to return to my room and go to bed when we arrived back at the castle, but everyone else had other plans. Charlize, Rosemary and Emily crowded around me in our room bombarding me with a million and one questions.
“You were amazing. Where did you learn to do that?” Emily wanted to know.
“Can you teach me?” Charlize pleaded.
“What did you say to him?” Rosemary inquired.
You would think if they wanted answers they would allow me to get a single word. Then an urgent knock echoed through the room.
“Skyler, are you alright?” Zander rushed into the room.
I was so happy to see him I jumped up from my position on the chaise and met him in the middle. His arms immediately went around me and he pulled me into a quick kiss.
“I’m okay,” I told him.
“I apologize for not being around after the trial. I would have escorted you into town myself had I known. I was busy having a discussion with my mother.” He said the latter part through clenched teeth.
I was not ready to think about the discussion he had with his mother.
Zander finally became aware of the other girls’ presence in the room. “Hello, Ladies,” he said a little awkwardly. His guard immediately went up. He transformed before my eyes from Zander to Prince Edwin Alexander the Fifth. He straightened his spine and squared his shoulders and delivered a Princely dip of his head toward Emily, Rosemary and Charlize. When he spoke to me again, his voice sounded like the Zander I knew even though his posture was now wrong. It was too rigid and serious. “Will you meet me for breakfast in the morning as usual?”
I smiled teasingly at him. “Do you even have to ask?”
He placed his forehead to mine. ”Yes. You might decide this is all too much for you and you would rather go back to a simpler life.”
Whoa. Where did that come from? I wanted to ask what he was talking about, but I couldn’t with an audience. Instead I kissed him on his cheek and said, “Never.”
I did not mean to lie to him. When I spoke the single word, it was not a conscious effort. The response automatically rolled off my tongue as if it was the only possible answer to his unspoken question.
After Zander left, I turned back to the girls. All of their mouths hung open. I even think Rosemary may have drooled a bit.
“He is gorgeous up close,” Rosemary fawned.
“I am so jealous,” Charlize gushed.
“When you two get married, can I be one of your ladies-in-waiting?” Emily pleaded
“Ooh, me too!” The other two swooned.
My cheeks heated. I was not used to being the center of attention. I tried to usher Charlize and Rosemary out and Emily to bed, but none of them would hear of it. They kept me up for hours with talk of Princes and weddings. I was not used to having girlfriends. I admit it felt sort of nice. The three of them were an endless, perky collection of excited chatter. I grew tired long before they did. I convinced them to disperse by finally agreeing to them being my ladies-in-waiting if I married the Prince. It is not lost on me that I lied for the second time that night. The Prince and I were not getting married. Common girls turned assassins did not marry royalty.
Chapter 20
Breakfast the next morning consisted of an assortment of fruits, breads, and juices. I almost groaned when I bit into the warm loaf of freshly baked, honey-glazed bread. Delicious food had come to be like frilly dresses were to me. A luxury I overindulged in to make up for years of going without it. I suspected Zander had picked up on my love of food.
Every morning we met for breakfast, the crystal and gold inlaid table in the garden was decorated with a plethora of delicious treats. It was admittedly more than two people could eat. I sometimes wondered where it went after the servants cleared it away. Did they dispose of it or give it away? I guiltily thought about all of the food that was cleared from our table. It would be such a shame if they simply threw it out with the trash. There were thousands of Common People in the cities that neighbored Pleith who would appreciate it. I told Zander as much over breakfast. He admitted not knowing what the servants did with it, but vowed that he would direct them to package it up and deliver it to the nearby cities. The Common People in Pleith probably did not need it as much. Most of them served in the royal army or worked directly for the palace. Thus, they earned better wages than their counterparts across Anthame.
“Are you going to tell me where you learned to bring a grown man to his knees?” Zander eyed me curiously once we finished our breakfast.
His expression was approving rather than condemning, which spoke volumes about how evolved his thinking was compared to most men in Anthame. Learning to fight, even in self-defense, was not proper behavior for a lady.
“My brother,” I half lied, half told him the truth. My brother had taught me basic self-defense skills in addition to our archery lessons as a young girl. But even he would be appalled by my actions in the tavern the previous night. The Assassin’s Guild was responsible for the weight of my skills. From the moment I agreed to Samael’s offer, he brutally trained me day and night until I was a well-honed lethal blade. He kicked my ass and left all sorts of bruises littering my body, but it was a welcomed assault. I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure I would never be vulnerable at the hands of a man again. Now, I could take out a group twice as large as the trio that attacked me with one hand tied behind my back.
Our conversation steered toward the competition. Zander warned me that the next trial would be a confirmation hearing. Each of the remaining thirty girls would be called before the High Council, made up of the King, the High Nobles that directly advised him and Zander himself. The Queen would also be in attendance to judge the girls. From what he explained, it was basically one large bully session. We would be attacked with questions about secrets and scandals they had dug up relating to our Houses. Zander told me about the trial so that I would be prepared for it ahead of time. Anthame law required that the High Council confirm any bride the Heir of the House of Roth selected as a suitable future Queen. Zander could marry whomever he chose, but unless she was confirmed by the High Council, she would never be Queen.
Our conversation had steered into deep waters. He was making his intentions to select me as Anthame’s future Queen clear. Soon, it would be impossible to keep my deception going. Once selected, a proclamation would go out across the kingdom. Whoever contracted me to kill Zander would know immediately that I had gotten close enough to the Prince to make the kill. I would then be forced to show my hand. I obviously was not going to kill, but I now realized I could no longer simply disappear without an explanation either. Once it was clear I was not going to complete the contract, the Assassin’s Guild would send someone else to kill Zander, and probably me out of spite. It would not be as clean and as untraceable as whoever took out the contract originally wanted, but if he wanted the Prince dead as badly as I suspected he did, then he would make an exception. The only option I had left was to come clean about everything. I needed to tell Zander what I was and the real reason I was at the palace. My fate would then be in his and the King’s hands. I would be executed for treason, but I was willing to accept that over the alternative: save my own skin by fleeing the palace without revealing the truth and leaving Zander vulnerable to a threat he was not aware of.
Resigned to my fate I parted my lips to confess my deceit, but a small, hyperactive voice interrupted me.
“Zander, is it time to go yet?!” Kiera bounced up and down excitedly.
I eyed him questioningly.
“I promised her she could go riding with us today. I hope you don’t mind?” he said in an apologetic tone.
Was he kidding? She was his little sister. It would be selfish beyond all reason for me to have a problem with he
r spending time with us.
“I don’t mind at all,” I assured him. “But you and Kiera should go out alone today. I am sure she misses having you all to herself?”
The hopeful look that crossed Kiera’s face confirmed it.
Zander thought I stayed behind out of thoughtfulness. He was correct, but not in the manner he assumed. It was me trying to place distance between myself and the two of them. I was telling Zander the truth the very next time I had a moment alone with him. My time with him was up, and there was no use dragging it out any farther. Any additional moments we spent together would only twist the knife deeper I was about to drive in both of our hearts.
I returned to my room to a folded piece of paper sitting on my bedside table. A sick feeling started in my stomach and grew as I unfolded it and read the short, concise words printed on it:
Be outside the palace walls at sunset.
Chapter 21
I crouched behind a bush outside the eastern edges of the palace walls and waited. I purposely arrived half an hour before sundown. I did not like the idea of walking into an unknown situation. I wanted to see whoever I was meeting arrive before they saw me. A warm body pressed against me from behind as a rough hand slid closed over my mouth to keep me from screaming. I bit down hard on the offending flesh and my assailant released me with a startled jerk.
“Gods damn, Skyler, did you have to bite me?”
I spun around and faced the person behind the familiar voice. “Kade!” I said in surprise. I did not think he would hurt me, but I held my knife at the ready nonetheless.
A fellow guild member and my kind-of-sometimes-boyfriend grinned at me from ear to ear. “Put the knife down babe. You and I both know this face is too pretty maul. You would never forgive yourself.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think I would manage,” I said through clenched teeth. “What the hell are you doing here?”
His expression immediately turned sour as if the words he were about to say were being forced out of him against his will. “Delivering a message.”
“About what?”
“You know what.”
“From who?” I probed.
“You know I can’t tell you that.” He actually looked as if he regretted not being able to. Kade was a part of the Guild, but he was no killer for hire. Instead he worked as a go between for the benefactors, the people who took out contracts on other people to kill, and the assassins. He was the middleman that protected the identities of both parties involved. Right now, I needed him not to do his job so damn well. But I did not press him for the information. Giving it up would mark him as a dead man.
“I know,” I let my question drop. Our relationship may have been a casual, superfluous distraction, but he was still my friend and I did not want to see him dead.
He stared at me for a long time before finally speaking. “Your benefactor is getting anxious. He has spies inside the palace who report you don’t appear to be trying to kill the Prince at all. You have been alone with him several times and yet he is still alive.”
“What the hell do they want me to do? Murder him in the royal gardens?” I asked incredulously. I clutched the knife I held in my hand tighter in frustration.
Kade threw up his hands. “I’m just the messenger, remember. Don’t stab me.”
“Trust me, if I wanted to stab you, I would have done it a long time ago.”
“You mean like during one of those nights I tried to take advantage of you?” His grin was devilish and I almost changed my mind about not stabbing him. He could be damn infuriating at times.
It was one of the reasons he was only my sort-of-sometimes-boyfriend. We met when he delivered my first contract to me. He flirted shamelessly with me the entire time, and I threatened to gut him if he did not stop undressing me with his eyes. Samael used him as his main messenger and me as his main assassin so we saw each other a lot. Eventually he wormed his way into my good graces. We hung out whenever he was in Arythmia and over time became friends. We ended up having as much as a relationship as two people like us could have. It never evolved into anything serious though. Whenever he was in town, we hung out but kept things light and casual between us. It is the reason why I never accepted any of his sexual advances. I liked him but I did not love him. As insane as the notion sounds, I wanted my first time to be with someone I loved. Obviously that had yet to happen. Assassins don’t live a life conducive to falling in love.
“I changed my mind. I’m going to gut you,” I leveled the knife at his torso.
He burst into laughter. “You said that exact thing to me the first time we met. I think that was the day I fell in love with you.”
It was my turn to laugh. “You don’t love anybody but yourself.” I was teasing him but it was also true. Kade was possibly the most self-conceited person on the planet. With his athletic build, dark bedroom eyes, and boyishly handsome looks, he looked good, he knew it, and he made sure everyone else knew it too.
His expression closed off. “I wish that were true. It would make what I have to say easier,” he said quietly.
I sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”
Kade said what he had been sent to say then apologized a dozen times for saying it. Both Samael and the benefactor were growing impatient and doubting rather I would fulfill my contract. I was now on a deadline. I had two nights to kill the Prince or Samael was putting a price on my head. Every assassin and wannabe assassin looking to prove himself or make a nice chunk of change would be gunning for me.
Having delivered his message Kade turned to leave but then he faced me again. He stared at me with searching eyes.
“Do you love him?” He finally spoke.
“I think I might.” It was the first time I admitted it out loud.
Some emotion I could not quite place flashed in his eyes. I would call it hurt if I didn’t know him better. “Skyler, even if you walk away, his life will steal be in danger. I honestly don’t know who the benefactor is this time. I’ve only been dealing with Samael. But I do know that whoever he is, he wants the Prince dead and will not stop until he is. You do know they will send somebody else?”
I nodded in acknowledgement. “I know, but if I warn him beforehand, he won’t be blindsided.”
“If you do that, you’ll expose yourself as an assassin.”
“I know.”
“You’ll be put to death for treason.”
“I know that too.”
He scrubbed a hand through his short, dark hair. “Damn it, Skyler, I really hope he is worth it.”
“He is.”
He eyed me so intently that I thought his gaze would burn right through me. “So are you.”
I did not know what to say to that so I didn’t say anything except, “I should get back to the palace. I need to warn the Prince.” I turned away from him to leave, but he reached out and caught my arm.
“Wait,” he said stopping me from pulling away. “I haven’t met the benefactor, but you have. He delivered the contract to you at Samael’s. I don’t know what is going on, but from the intel I gathered there is something big at play. I think you may be being used as a pawn in a House’s coup for the throne.”
Chapter 22
Two guards seized me as soon as I entered the palace. This is it, I thought. I have been caught. Either the Queen finally proved there was never a Skyler Emilia of the House of Alastair or I was spotted meeting with Kade beyond the palace walls. I did not bother to put up a fight. I had walked back into the palace accepting of my fate. I only regretted not having a moment to tell Zander the truth in private. I owed him that much. The guards marched me into the throne room where chaos awaited.
The King barked out orders to various men while the Queen sat sobbing on her throne. She started toward me as soon as she spotted me. The force with which her hand connected with my cheek sent my head reeling backward.
“Where the hell are my children?!” She shrieked at me.
I blinked in confusion. She mov
ed to strike me again, but before she could the King gently grabbed her hand and led her away. She sagged back into her throne and began sobbing again.
“I suggest you speak plainly and answer honestly,” he said to me in a calm but still threatening tone. “Do you know the whereabouts of the Prince and Princess?”
“No, why would I?” I asked in alarm.
“You were the last person seen with them. My son and daughter never returned from a morning ride. You usually accompany my son do you not?”
“I do,” I confessed, “but I insisted they go without me today.”
“Why did you not got with them?”
“I thought the Princess might like to spend some time alone with the Prince.” I was sounding guiltier by the minute.
The King eyed me in clear disbelief. “When it became apparent my children were missing, I sent guards in search of you. They reported you were nowhere to be found in the palace. Where did you disappear to?”
I was prepared to confess my treachery, but not like this. I was being blamed for actions that were not mine. Moreover, if Zander and Kiera were missing, then their lives were in terrible danger. My heart raced inside my chest. I was more afraid for their welfare than I was for my own. Confessing now would do me, or them, no good. The Assassin’s Guild and the benefactor that took out a contract on Zander was behind this. Even if I told the King, his men would never find them in time. I had no choice but to let them think me guilty and drag me to a cell.
“I went into town to explore,” I said lamely. I did not even try to sound convincing.
Guards were sent to my cell every half hour to attempt to pry information out of me. Each time they came with new and varied threats about what would happen if I did not speak. I remained silent. For my plan to work, I needed to see one guard in particular. Four hours and eight guards into the routine, he showed up. Jacob was a palace guard, but he was also Zander’s friend. Zander told me once that they were like brothers. His father was Zander’s father’s Guard Captain and the two of them grew up together in the palace. If anybody would listen to what I had to say, I hoped he would.
Two-Faced (Assassin at Court Series Book 1) Page 6
