The Fifth Moon's Assassin (The Fifth Moon's Tales Book 5)

by Monica La Porta

  The faintest noise made him turn around, only to find himself facing yet another dagger and the woman he loved at the same.

  “Jade,” he said, wondering if he was dreaming.

  36

  Jade looked into those aquamarine eyes that shone bright even in the dim light of the dungeon, and her hand shook. They were the same eyes she had seen in her fleeting memories, and the exact shade of the imaginary child’s eyes that kept appearing in her mind.

  “Jade,” the High Lord repeated her name, his expression transforming from surprised to hurt as he looked at her.

  Was he waiting for recognition? It wouldn’t come. Jade wished more than ever to know what this man was to her, but her memory didn’t come back simply because she wished for it to happen.

  Regaining control of her senses, she forced her hand to still as she lowered the blade.

  Her training had kicked in as soon as she turned the corner and saw the mountain of a man shoving the assassin into the cell. The sight of the rippling muscles on the High Lord’s back and arms had prompted her reaction, and the dagger had found its way into her hand before she could even think.

  “You’ve got something in your chest,” she said, pointing at the dagger embedded under his ribs. “Follow me,” she added after he removed the blade.

  His hand closed around her elbow. “Jade,” he whispered a third time, his voice as soft as a caress against her skin, causing goosebumps to rise all over her body.

  When she didn’t move, he gently turned her to face him, his lips descending toward hers.

  “I missed you—” he said, hovering over her mouth, and stealing her breath. His big body shook against hers.

  A flurry of mixed emotions filled her heart and mind. Her heart raced.

  The High Lord jerked away. “What—”

  “Don’t touch me,” she said. The point of her dagger pressed against his heart.

  “Jade—?” The dragon shifter opened his arms to the side and stepped back. His expression was one of a man who had been betrayed, and something stirred deep inside Jade, but she didn’t let the emotion take hold.

  “I’m leaving.” She nodded at the gate that was starting to close and crossed the threshold without waiting for him.

  “What happened?” the High Lord asked, a step behind. “Why are you acting this way?”

  She didn’t speak.

  “I deserve an answer,” he said, his voice charged with pained disbelief.

  “If you want to remain alive, stop talking now and do as I say.” Jade had been running since leaving the medical bay. Fatigue combined with lack of proper sleep and hunger was taking a toll on her. “Move,” she hissed under her breath when she heard steps coming from further away.

  Cupping her ear, she tried to figure out from which direction the danger was coming.

  “From there.” The High Lord pointed to the right, where the hallway forked. “I can feel the vibrations under my feet,” he explained when she gave him a dubious stare.

  Jade briefly debated if she could trust the man, then turned left and sprinted. The High Lord’s footfall was even softer than her own, and he kept his mouth shut the entire time she led him deeper into the Academy’s dungeons.

  The closest entrance to one of the maintenance tunnels was right in the path of their pursuers, and the next opened near the very bottom of the dungeons. Jade stumbled once and pushed herself harder, her only goal to reach the exit before the trackers found her.

  Her limbs slowed, but she ignored her body. If she stopped, all would be lost. Squinting through a thick fog, she looked for the door, but she fumbled as if she had hit a wall.

  Strong arms grabbed her before she could fall.

  “Where?” the High Lord asked.

  “A metal trapdoor,” she whispered. “On the ceiling.” Held upright by a steely hand, she dragged her feet, one after the other.

  Jade refused to faint. With what was left of her strength, she directed him toward their escape.

  “This one?” the High Lord asked.

  A small, rusty trapdoor was ahead of them, sunken in the ceiling and difficult to see if one wasn’t looking for it. The dim illumination created large shadows in which the hatch disappeared. The man’s shifter senses were more useful than she had given him credit for.

  Relief flooded her chest. No more than a hundred steps separated them from safety.

  The echo from a stampede reached her numbing senses. She looked over her shoulder at the branching hallway. This time, she didn’t need the High Lord to tell her from where the assassins were coming. The trackers had filled the adjacent tunnel and would soon enter theirs.

  The High Lord grabbed her and ran toward the trapdoor. When he was directly under the entrance, he let her go and raised one hand. Thanks to his height, he only needed to raise himself on his toes, and his fingers grazed the hatch. He pushed at the round metal and carefully moved it to the side, before hoisting her up and into the hole.

  Jade’s legs were as heavy as anvils, but she slid into the maintenance tunnel as fast as she could to make space for him. A moment later, the dragon shifter’s hands grabbed the edges of the trapdoor, and he pulled himself up with ease. She scooted further inside the tunnel, and he moved the metal door back into place without making a sound, plunging them into darkness.

  Beneath them, the tunnel shook with the assassins’ passage, and someone shouted, “You go right.”

  “Now?” the High Lord whispered.

  Blindly, Jade tried to orient herself, but it was difficult to concentrate with the noise from her racing heart competing with the ruckus from the trackers outside.

  “Up or down?” he asked, surprising her.

  “Up, all the way to the hangar,” she answered.

  The man’s senses were even keener than she had first acknowledged if he had discovered one of the Citadel’s most guarded secrets.

  He took her hand and moved forward. A few meters into the tunnel, the ceiling became tall enough for them to stand, and he helped her up. When she realized that he could see in the dark, she stopped pulling at him and followed his lead instead. He kept his steps soft and never let her slow their pace. When her legs finally gave away under her, he took Jade in his arms and powered through faster than before.

  “We should be close now,” he said after a while.

  “Look for a door with a red H,” she said, her words barely audible, but he must have heard her because he nodded and sprinted faster.

  37

  Several meters ahead of them, Dragon glimpsed the door with the mark Jade had mentioned. He ran the last stretch with all his might. Suddenly, a low rumble echoed all around him.

  “The tunnel,” Jade said. “It’s about to get flooded.”

  The rumble intensified.

  Finally at the door, he jostled Jade’s light body in his arms and freed one hand to lower the metal handle.

  A large tunnel with round, gray walls lay on the other side.

  “We must reach the exit before it’s too late.” Jade pointed a shaky finger ahead where the tunnel curved at a sharp angle.

  Mechanical sounds reverberated through the walls, and gears activated, clinking and grinding as the distant echo of roaring waters grew louder.

  Dragon cleared the corner and stopped, catching himself at the last second. The tunnel abruptly dropped into a vertical fall. At the end, framed by the round opening, white waves waited them.

  He looked over his shoulder for a different way out, but Jade shook her head against his chest.

  Leaning away from him, she said, “Jump.”

  He looked down. The water had started rising already, filling the tunnel fast.

  “Let me down.” Jade slapped his arm, squirming to free herself.

  “Never again.” He held her tighter, his mouth covering hers before he dove into the abyss.

  His feet met the rising waters a few heartbeats later. Wet, claustrophobic darkness surrounded them, enveloping them completely soo
n after. His dragon, whose nature was aerial and who loathed water, paced and hissed in his mind, becoming more and more agitated. Dragon shut the raging beast off and shared his air with Jade, his free arm propelling them as he swam against the current.

  After the first moment of resistance, Jade relaxed against his body. His muscles burned as he depleted his reserve of oxygen, but he allowed her to breathe through him. With powerful strokes of his legs, he cut a path downward toward the round edges of the tunnel’s mouth.

  Finally, he swam through the metal ring, leaving the tunnel and entering the sea. With one thrust of his legs, he reoriented both of them upward and swam toward the surface, several meters away. Large fish danced around them, following their ascension. His lungs were on fire by the time he emerged, but he kept his lips pressed against Jade’s a moment longer before leaning away to take a long gulp of air.

  A large cloud cast a dark shadow over them, but when Dragon looked up, he realized that it wasn’t a cloud at all. The gigantic island of the Academy floated a few meters above the sea. Trees and greenery covered the structure shaped like an inverted pyramid. At the very bottom was the tunnel from where they had just exited; it was retracting into the structure. On top of the flying island, white marble walls shone in the dying light of Coral.

  As Dragon stared at the Citadel, the architectural wonder silently soared, water pouring out of the tunnel. A moment later, the entire structure disappeared into thin air. When he blinked, there was only purple sky and a handful of birds.

  Still disoriented from the lack of oxygen, Dragon missed the sibilant sound of the arrows raining down on them. Shadows darkened the blue waters as what he thought were birds proved to be assassins instead, their clockwork wings circling the sky like vultures.

  Dragon latched his mouth with Jade’s once again and hastily ducked, diving deep to hide beneath the school of fishes.

  Rose, Gabriel’s large pet, rushed to their side, and Dragon swam underneath the white belly. The mammal turned, using its dorsal fin to change direction and distance itself from the rest of the fish. The waters around them colored with red when the arrows hit the hydrosaurus, but the animal didn’t stop, moving at a slow pace.

  Arrows kept cutting the water for several minutes, riddling the fish as the crystal blue of the sea became a murky, rusty brown. Dragon caressed Jade’s back with one hand, keeping the other anchored on the mammal’s lower fin.

  Several more minutes passed before the last arrow flew past them, embedding into the sandy sea bottom. Again, Dragon had reached the last of his endurance, but the hydrosaurus swam toward the surface, helping him save his dwindling strength.

  With a long huff, the animal spurted water from its back, covering Dragon when he emerged to take a cautious look at the sky.

  They weren’t alone.

  Dragon blinked twice, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating. His heart did a flip when Laonte waved at him from a red aircar-taxi hovering above them.

  The vehicle’s lateral wings folded, and the back engine roared to life as Laonte maneuvered it into a straight descent. A moment later, Dragon hoisted Jade up, and Laonte grabbed her by her waist and pulled her inside the cabin.

  “You did it,” Laonte said to Jade when Dragon hauled himself into the aircar.

  “Do you know each other?” Dragon rolled onto the floor before sitting with his back against the seat cushion’s edge. He reached for Jade who scooted away.

  “She hijacked my ride a few hours ago.” Laonte stepped to the front of the aircar and lowered himself into the driver seat. He lowered the shift into drive but kept looking at Dragon from the rearview mirror. “She could’ve left with me but went back for you.”

  “Thank you,” Dragon said to Jade, but she looked away. Confused and hurt, he addressed Laonte instead, “And thank you for sticking around.”

  “I figured you two might need a plan B,” Laonte answered, cutting his eyes to a point over Dragon’s shoulder.

  Dragon turned and looked in the direction where the Citadel should have been. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, dark dots lined the sky, moving toward them.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Laonte shifted gear and flew the aircar away in haste.

  38

  Amidst the astonished looks of Martelli’s household, Jade followed the High Lord into the building. He trod across the vampire’s mansion as if they were still being chased, but his wounds had stopped bleeding, and he didn’t look like he was in pain.

  He hadn’t said a word during their flight. Laonte had focused on driving at breakneck speed, and thanks to his skill, they left the assassins behind in a matter of minutes.

  “Dragon—” Gabriel Martelli strode toward them from out of a room. When he saw Jade, he stopped in mid-step, his brow corrugated in a deep frown. “Where did you find her?”

  The High Lord kept walking without pausing to answer, “Ask Laonte.”

  From the same door exited Valentine Lobo. He too looked surprised by Jade’s sight.

  “You found her,” the werewolf said, studying her.

  “We’ll talk later,” the High Lord said over his shoulder, still not slowing down.

  Jade followed him a step behind as they reached the porch that hugged the entire perimeter of the mansion and jutted into the sea. He stopped before a door opening onto the balcony and held it for her, then motioned her to take the stairs.

  Only when they finally entered a large basement did he talk to her again. “Why are you treating me as if I were a stranger?”

  “Because you are.” She stared at him, expecting an outburst.

  Wide-legged, the High Lord stood in the center of the room, filling the enormous space with his large presence. His aquamarine eyes bored into hers, darkening as his emotions showed across his handsome face. There was pain and hurt in his gaze as he shook his head.

  “We should be making love right now, not arguing,” he said.

  His raw honesty surprised her. It stirred something inside her. As if her body recognized him even if her mind didn’t, and she felt compelled to explain herself. “I had an erasion.”

  His eyes widened in shock. “Why would you do that?” He had made to walk toward her but stopped at her revelation.

  “I don’t know.” She reached one of the many couches littering the basement and sat.

  He followed her, lowering himself onto the sofa in front of hers. His body radiated distress, but he kept his voice low as he asked, “How much do you remember?”

  “Everything up to my last mission.” Jade was physically and mentally drained, but she needed answers, too. “Last I remember, I was planning to kill you.”

  “Five months ago.” He passed his hand across his head, his fingers disappearing into his blond mane. “You erased me.” His expression was haunted when he asked next, “Why would you do that?”

  “I don’t know, but I can guess that I was fleeing from you.”

  “So you could come back and kill me?” he asked. There was pain layered in his question.

  “If I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be breathing right now.” A brittle laugh escaped her mouth, burning a bitter path along her throat. “I wrote myself a note that I had to let you live.”

  “Thank you.” The sarcasm in his voice inexplicably wounded her.

  “For the last five months, I dreamed of this moment, of finally seeing you again,” he continued, his eyes still locked onto hers. “At night, I imagined taking you to the Cove. I played the memories of our time together over and over. But never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned this.” He gestured between them. “This is the closest we’ve been for the longest time, but you could be on a different planet altogether.”

  “Laonte said you have been looking for me,” she said.

  “You are my soulmate.” He gave her a pointed look.

  “How can you know that?”

  “There hasn’t been a single moment since I met you that I haven’t thought of you. You are lodged in my heart
so deeply that sometimes I can’t breathe for need of you.” He gave her a sad smile. “Is that enough?”

  “I don’t remember you.” She shook her head. “Us.” Her hand went to her stomach. “We were intimate.”

  The High Lord groaned.

  Suddenly, thinking of him as the High Lord didn’t seem right. He was Dragon, and whatever had happened between them, he deserved to know the truth.

  “I am with child,” she said.

  39

  Dragon wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly. After the day he had just had, he might have been hallucinating.

  “What did you just say?” he asked.

  “I am with child,” she repeated, her voice softer.

  He had endured a roller coaster of emotions since meeting her at the Academy, but at the news she so nonchalantly conveyed, he felt his heart finally break. A dagger in his chest would surely hurt less. Dying would hurt less. Nothing could compare to the pain she had just inflicted him.

  “Don’t lie. We both know it isn’t possible for you to conceive,” Dragon finally said when he was able to utter the words.

  Jade flinched. Her hand caressed her stomach again, and he saw now what he hadn’t noticed before. Hidden under the loose tunic she wore, her once-flat stomach was now softly rounded. Her pregnancy didn’t show fully yet, but the rest of her body had a softness that hadn’t been there when they first met. He had noticed the subtle change when he held her in his arms earlier. How was it possible? And since it had clearly happened, who was the father of her child? Doubts coiled in his mind like poisonous snakes.

  “It’s yours,” she said as if reading his thoughts.

  Dragon’s heart betrayed him, thumping loud again, resuscitated by her statement. “Swear it’s the truth.” Her mere sight wounded him. “I wouldn’t hurt you.” He pressed his hand against his chest. “Even if it were someone else’s child. I could never hurt you.”

  “The child is yours—”