The Deadly Fae (The World of Fae)

by Spear, Terry

  “I beat you three out of five games, my dear father, the last time we played. But in truth, I wanted you to meet someone. This gentleman wishes you to assassinate someone, but I"ve told him you were dead. He didn"t believe me. He will not help Master Travis to live unless you kill someone for him.”

  Her father gave the gentleman the most evil glare a master assassin could give without disintegrating him into a fine ash. “Who is this upstart?”

  “I haven"t wished to know.” And she didn"t truly know who Lord Fairhaven really was.

  Her father smiled at her, then turned and glowered again at the stranger. “Who, sir, are you?”

  For the first time since her father had appeared, Sessily looked at Lord Fairhaven and saw his face had turned pasty. She was certain it wasn"t because he was afraid of seeing her father"s spirit, but more that he had come on a fool"s errand and if the guild master hadn"t been a master assassin himself, this man would probably have killed him. At least from the dark look in his eyes, she assumed that"s what he was feeling.

  “I"m Lord Fairhaven, advisor to Queen Quinnette.”

  “Quinnette. The sorceress queen,” Sessily said under her breath, so shocked to hear the queen"s name and that Lord Fairhaven was her advisor, she spoke when she hadn"t meant to.

  The lord glanced Sessily"s way, then gave a courteous bow of his head to her father, but even so it appeared as though it nearly killed him to do so. Bow to a ghost? He probably had never done so in his life.

  Quinnette was said to have been a changeling, brought to the fae kingdom when she was a young woman to be a fae prince"s lover and he had given her every fae ability he could pass on.

  The prince"s sister was supposed to have inherited the kingdom, but she and her fae husband had met an untimely demise. So the prince became king with his changeling queen.

  Queen Quinnette was a power to be reckoned with and vicious besides.

  Many of her fae court did not willingly recognize her as their queen since she was not of fae blood. Though none said so to her face.

  Lord Fairhaven must not have lied when he said he"d been to the fae queen"s masked ball, except he hadn"t seen Sessily there as he had said.

  Sessily would have nothing to do with this Lord Fairhaven or any who worked for that woman. “As you can see, my father cannot do your bidding,” she said, attempting to hide her own smugness.

  “And my daughter will not either,” her father warned.

  If he was not already dead, she would kill him. “Father, go visit Mother.” She motioned to him to leave.

  For a moment longer, he gave Lord Fairhaven a harsh look, then he nodded. “Take care of Master Travis, if it is within your power,” he said to Sessily. “If not, he can join me. Warrior needs a good man to provide for him. Take care, Daughter. And no more mischief.” He vanished.

  As if Sessily was ever free to be as mischievous as many of the rest of her kind. She would have loved to have visited South Padre where Prince Deveron frequented and had found the human girl to pester. Sessily herself would have loved to ply her fae ways on the cute guys on the beach, chasing their girlfriends away with her fae wits. She could even give Cupid a run for his money, the impish little god, who rivaled most fae in the pranks he pulled.

  But no. She remained here in the fae world while she worked hard to maintain the castle and grounds. Sometimes she wished she could just have fun. Which was one reason she wanted to retire. She"d saved up horrendous amounts of gold from her missions over the last four years, and realized her father must have been gambling and carousing even more than she thought for him to have gone through so much of the money he had earned while working.

  Not only that, but she truly scrimped and saved every farthing. Now she regretted not spending some to have a healer in residence at the castle.

  Master Travis closed his eyes. “I always swore that cantankerous old horse of your father"s would be the death of me. Now it seems in death, I will be punished further,” he said with wry humor.

  “What did your father mean by you would not do my bidding either?” Lord Fairhaven asked Sessily.

  She"d hoped he"d missed the importance of her father"s words. “An old dead man"s ramblings.”

  “I can see you are a great prevaricator. You said your father had retired. Then you say he died four years ago, when I know most assuredly he killed a man three months ago. And most likely Lord Davenport two weeks ago.”

  Sessily walked over to the bed and moistened a cloth, then ran it over Travis"s forehead.

  “Venetia, take care of Travis for me.” She turned to Lord Fairhaven. “Come with me to my sitting chambers.”

  She didn"t wait for the lord to follow her, but whisked on past him and entered the corridor as if he was nothing more than an unworthy servant she would like to terminate. She didn"t have to turn and look to see if he was behind her. He moved like an assassin, silent, a storm cloud building, cold and dark and dangerous. She felt the ominous tension in the atmosphere, making it seem as though the hall was smaller, and she was even smaller still.

  Yet, she needed his help, despite not wishing it of him.

  When she reached her solar, she pushed the door aside and walked in, allowing him to follow in her wake. The notion she led the way and he had to follow gave her some small measure of satisfaction.

  She lighted the fire in the hearth to ward off the chill in the room.

  He filled the doorway, surveyed the room, then settled his deadly gaze on her. “Explain what your father meant by you not doing my bidding.”

  Sessily considered her mahogany desk and sitting behind it like the lord of the manor.

  The massive desk would provide a barrier between her and Lord Fairhaven also. But she suspected he wouldn"t sit down in a chair in front of the desk meant for visitors. Which meant he"d tower over her.

  So she"d stand, as if she had no reason to offer a chair or any other hospitality. Although it didn"t matter that she stood. He still towered over her. But for now, he kept his distance. Or rather, blocked the doorway and her escape, unless she used fae travel.

  She cleared her throat, folded her arms, and said, “Haven"t you heard of guild members using another"s name when they admire them greatly to perpetuate the tales of their bravery?”

  “Perpetuating a myth? Highly unlikely,” he scoffed, one dark brow raised. “I haven"t known of any member of any guild who would not want their own work known so they can garner more fame and fortune.”

  “Well, maybe there is such a man who is not of noble birth and would not be allowed into the assassin"s guild. So he pretends to be my father, using his same technique.”

  Lord Fairhaven rubbed his chin and studied her with a furrowed brow. “Unless the daughter is an assassin.”

  Her mouth fell open before she could stop her reaction, but she quickly would quash that idiotic notion he had. “A woman? Right.”

  “Certes, using her father"s name to continue his great deeds. A woman who was desperate to maintain the estates, who learned from her own father how to be a master assassin.

  But what I don"t understand is why Guild Master Lyon wouldn"t know this. Unless, you fooled him in the beginning, and he continued to allow you to do the job with the mutual understanding that you would let no one in on the secret.”

  “Certainly, you cannot believe any of this, my lord.”

  He smiled, his countenance darkly disturbing as if he was an owl who had just cornered a rabbit. But this little rabbit had a deadly arsenal of potions at her disposal.

  Despite that, he raised his fingers in the air. Before she realized what he was doing and could react, vines appeared out of the floor and wrapped their tendrils around her body, squeezing, winding their way around her throat.

  “Your point?” she asked, trying to remain calm, unperturbed, only she wished to use her poison on the vine and throw a dart Lord Fairhaven"s way.

  He waited, his grim lips turned up slightly at the corners.

  Smug fae.


  The tendrils squeezed around her throat until she"d had enough, and he seemed not willing to give up his little test of wills. With as slight a movement as she could manage so that he wouldn"t see what she was up to, and considering the way her arms were confined anyway, she attempted to pull a pin from her dress that she could use on one of the vine tendrils. The first pin she pulled loose slipped from her grasp, and she repressed the swear word that rose to her lips. She had to remember to retrieve the pin from the hand-woven throw rug, or suffer the consequences should she step on it barefooted later that day.

  She twisted her wrist, trying to locate the pearl head of another pin, finding one, then slipping it out of its secret fold that like the other would keep her own person safe and secure.

  And promptly dropped that, too. This was proving more difficult than she could imagine.

  A light sheen of perspiration peppered her brow, her heart thudded, and her face felt flushed with heat as she attempted to locate a third pin.

  “Are you ready to give in, my lady?” Lord Fairhaven asked, seeming to have the patience of a rock.

  She smiled as her fingers touched another pin, and she pulled it loose. The fairy saying,

  “Three’s a charm,” would hopefully work for her in this case.

  This time, she thought she had nicked the vine looping around her wrist and dangling below it, right before she dropped the blasted pin. The problem was her hands were growing numb.

  The vine began to loosen to such a marginal degree, she was certain Lord Fairhaven didn"t see the change. She tried to keep her expression unemotional although she was ready to shout in exaltation. She spoke nonsense words in silence, only her lips moving, pretending to cast a spell over the plant.

  Lord Fairhaven gave her a smidgeon of a smile.

  The vines began to droop even further, and then all at once, the sleeping potion she used on them took full effect and the plant fell to the rug on the floor.

  “Bravo,” he said, closing the distant between them. He crouched before her and lifted a limp vine and examined it, then looked up at her with speculation written all over his face.

  “What did you do to it?”

  Though she wanted to knock him on his butt with a poke of a pin and put him to sleep, she did nothing of the sort, intending to prove only that she had enough skill to defend herself, nothing more. She didn"t have powerful magical skills, but her wits and her knowledge of potions could give her the advantage in a deadly confrontation.

  She shook her head, not about to tell Lord Fairhaven exactly what she had done.

  “I will make Master Travis comfortable,” Lord Fairhaven said, “and when you have done your job for me, I will repair his heart so that he will have many more years to live. And maybe he"ll even gather up the courage to marry your head cook, who he has a yearning for. Plus, you know as well as I do, your people will lose faith in you if you do not fight for them.”

  “Why do you think I can handle this assassination of yours?”

  “If you have been doing your father"s work for four years, then you may just be the one to handle the job when others have failed.”

  Others had failed? That wasn"t a good sign.

  “I have learned all I can about your father"s, and it seems your work. You both use similar techniques, killing without leaving any evidence of a crime having been committed.

  Since women are never master assassins, no one would suspect how dangerous you truly are. In any event, do you want the job, or not?”

  Not, but she felt she had no choice. “Who am I to kill?”

  “Queen Quinnette.”

  Sessily stared at him in disbelief. The sorceress queen? The woman was said to be invincible and evil to the core. She ate assassins for breakfast, at least any who had attempted to end her rule.

  “A life for a life?” Lord Fairhaven asked.

  Sessily had never failed, never conceded to failure, but this time…

  “If I fail? What becomes of Master Travis?”

  “Don"t fail,” Lord Fairhaven said. “I"m not one to give anything away freely if the job is not accomplished in a satisfactory way.”

  Right at that moment, Sessily wanted to kill one pompous lord, contract or not. What would Guild Master Lyon say to that if she started killing the men he sent to her who had signed assassination contracts with him?

  ***

  Lord Creshion Fairhaven studied the fae woman, beautiful beyond words. Her dark hair curled about her shoulders, her tresses as dark as her eyes. Her greens gowns made her appear as though she was a woodland sprite blending into the forest, just like those who visited the human world would do when they wanted to play some mischief on hikers and campers in the woods.

  He still couldn"t believe that Sessily had been the fae watching him from the woods. He had thought it was her father, the master assassin himself, assessing Creshion"s every move.

  Creshion would have expected nothing less from the lord to see if Creshion was even worthy of his time.

  But to think the daughter had been appraising him instead?

  Her cool dark eyes giving him grief was what he enjoyed about her the most.

  Maybe that"s why she had been so successful as a master assassin. Not only would no one suspect she was one because she was a woman, men would be so captivated by her appearance, they"d forget themselves.

  He thought back to when he"d first seen her dressed as a boy. He"d only thought her a thief. But when he had seen her inside Lord Davenport"s manor house, Creshion knew there was something more to the woman than that.

  Even as hard and unyielding as he normally was, he found himself having a difficult time concentrating on why he was there. When he first had laid eyes on Sessily jumping down from a tree as if she was a child, he"d dismissed her as some spoiled lord"s daughter who thought she could dictate who her father was to see. Until he saw who she really was.

  But even so, he had sensed something different and darkly challenging about her. She was no child, having mastered her father"s skills in half the time it took for a master assassin to learn them. She"d maintained her estates and kept her people employed without any help from anyone. And she was fixedly determined not to help him, except to aid her beloved servant.

  Creshion had never loved anyone enough to put his life on the line to save another.

  Although if his twin brother or cousin had been at risk, he would have done anything he could to save them, he suspected.

  Sessily tilted her chin up in a no nonsense way. “I will have your word that you will save Master Travis"s life if I agree to do this task for you whether I succeed or fail.”

  He admired the woman"s tenacity for continuing her father"s work at the same time continuing to give him credit for it. A lesser fae would not have been so humble. The guild master had to know that Lord Fairhaven would learn the truth of the matter soon enough, and then take him to task for it. Or maybe Guild Master Lyon thought she could actually accomplish what a male assassin had not been able to do, and Creshion would be so pleased he would not terminate the guild master for it.

  She was petite, quick-witted, resourceful, and not easily flustered. But could she manage against his aunt-by-marriage?

  In the meantime, Creshion wasn"t about to let Sessily tell him what he would or would not do. “I will not pay for your services, if you do not succeed. Why should I pay for a service that I don"t get full recompense for? Your man will suffer nothing until you accomplish or fail the mission. If you fail, you won"t be around to worry about it, will you? But until that time, he will be as well as if he no longer had the heart condition in the first place.”

  The more he watched her stubbornly resist his dictated rules, the more he loved trying to see the emotions flickering just beneath the surface. She was good at hiding them, he had to give her that. He didn"t think any woman would be up to the task. But even so, he saw the tightening of her lips and the narrowing of her eyes just the slightest degree that indicated how perturbed she wa
s with him.

  He respected her for her self-control, leashing the barely constrained anger she harbored that if she hadn"t needed him to save her servant, she would most likely have let loose her fury on Creshion. Good thing he had some leverage. He didn"t wish to hurt her in order to coerce her agreement. But the more he thought about it, the more he believed she just might be the one to succeed where others had failed.

  He"d waited long enough to hear her answer. “Are we in agreement?”

  Still she hesitated. It was killing her to say yes. Was she that afraid of the queen? Well, the queen did have powers that rivaled most, which was one reason why no one had been able to assassinate her— yet.

  Sessily said, “No. I won"t do it. Master Travis will join my father if it his time. If you can"t guarantee that you"ll save his life if I fail, I won"t be party to your plan to assassinate the queen. Now if you don"t mind…” She motioned at the door as if dismissing him.

  Creshion couldn"t have been more furious. No one turned him down! And no one dismissed him as if he was of little consequence, except the queen!

  Certainly, he couldn"t allow a mere slip of a girl to do so.

  “You will go with me whether you wish it or not. And that is my final word on the matter.” He had thought he would be dealing with an older man, a guild man, a master assassin.

  Now he would be stuck with this young woman, hoping she would be successful when others much older had not, and accomplish a job he only thought a man would be capable of doing.

  So be it. Before she could apply a defensive spell or retaliate with her own offensive magic, he cast a sleeping spell over her. Her eyes widened fractionally as she saw him move his hands and speak the words silently, but before she could react, she crumpled in a heap of green gowns.

  Pleased with himself, he smiled.

  Lying on the floor, her face cloaked in sleep, she looked like an angel. Yes, his angel assassin.