Assassin's Past (The Assassin and her Dragon Princes Book 2)

by Ivy Clyde

  Bringing the tips of my fingers together, I closed my eyes. It was time to get to work. Don’t distract me, heart, I commanded as the vision of Daria’s pretty face refused to leave my mind’s eyes.

  Exhaling a long breath, I let the smile teasing the corner of my lips spread wide. The archives were the one place in the entire palace of Baledonia where I wouldn’t be disturbed. No one ever came in unless forced to. So, over the next few minutes, I let my mind think of her.

  The last few days had been perfect. Daria brought out a side of me I never knew existed within me. It was a raw, desperate kind of passion. My mother made me suppress my emotions since I was a child. Not only was I the last to be in line for the throne, I was also the son of a concubine. While she was never mistreated, the late queen, as well as her children, were cold towards us. After my father passed away, Mother made sure I stayed away from politics and the fight over the throne.

  “It’s the only way to keep you safe,” she insisted.

  While my brothers were taught archery and sword fight, my mother firmly let me grow up without any martial art practice. I suppose it kept me out of my brothers’ ways. They never considered me a threat. While things went according to my mother’s plans, I began resenting my own weakness. For years, I felt inferior to my brothers and friends.

  Still, I kept my feelings suppressed deep within myself, channeling all my efforts to become a scholar. I was able to teach myself the ancient tongue as well, the language in which all ancient scrolls were written in. As far as I knew I was one of the few alive who could do it. Emperor Ivan had most of the scholars from the previous dynasties slaughtered.

  The only time I’ve truly felt equal to my companions was when I was with Daria. She had a way of treating us like she really loved us. I’d been apprehensive of the arrangement, not really sure how three men would handle belonging to the same woman, but somehow, it was only getting easier as time passed.

  While Daria was deeply concerned about Norvin not waking up, she never ignored me or Cain. I’d been deeply intimate with her the past few days, yet when we were together, it didn’t feel like I was sharing her with anyone. When we were together, she was mine alone.

  Perhaps, Cain was right. We had to give it a try. If a man could handle a harem of women, Daria could certainly do it too. We just had to give up our prejudice of thinking women were in any way inferior to men.

  The more time I spent with Daria, the more I was convinced of the fact.

  Daria was lesser to no man.

  She was beautiful, intelligent and a strong warrior. I doubted anyone could compare to her in the four kingdoms. And she was mine.

  As a smile hovered on my lips, my mind stabbed at my happy bubble by reminding me of Norvin. While he was fully healed, thanks to Daria’s fatal energy transfer, he was still not waking up. If it went on any longer, his life would be in danger again.

  “Why do you look so glum?” said a deep, familiar voice from in front of me. Looking up, I saw Cain leaning down on the table. He was garbed in a servant’s attire but still managed to look like a king. The cloth over his broad muscular shoulders stretched tight, giving a glimpse of the impressive physique underneath. Among the three, Cain was the best warrior. And in my opinion, the most handsome too.

  He poked me in the forehead with his finger. “Why do you look like that, Adal?” he asked with laughter in his voice. “You’re completely unfocused. I have never seen you like this.”

  I could say the same to him. Cain rarely let down his guard. However, he looked completely at ease in a strange palace, away from his kingdom.

  “I was thinking of Norvin,” I said. “I’m wondering what Mekhi did to him to make him like that.”

  Cain’s features hardened at once. “He killed many of my people to force Norvin into submission. When we found him in the tower, we couldn’t even recognize him. Mekhi hurt him so much, he was just a battered pulp.” His fists balled together. “I am going to kill him the next time I see him.”

  “If Daria doesn’t beat you to it.”

  Cain smirked at that. “She’s adding names to her list. Helena is on there too.”

  Helena…the adopted princess of Drakhaven, the legendary saintess who could cure any disease. It had all been utter bullshit. From the time, I heard of her prowess, I was suspicious. Daria proved it to be true, but letting her go was a mistake. But I couldn’t blame Cain for it. Killing her would have brought Ivan’s wrath upon his people. It would have been an open call for war with Drakhaven.

  “Did you get started yet?” asked Cain, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  “I was about to…” With his gaze on me, I took the long cylinder and dropped the scrolls on my desk. Opening them, I flattened them. Cain came around the desk to help place weights on the corner. He leaned down beside me, staring at the page.

  “Can you read this?” he asked, staring intently at the parchment.

  “Of course.”

  I took up my brush and soaked in the black liquid ink. Pushing the original scrolls to my left, I placed a fresh parchment before me.

  “Don’t hover, Cain,” I said, beginning the translation. “Take a chair and sit down.”

  As the minutes passed by and I got engrossed in my work, Cain shifted his chair to the window and sat looking out of it, keeping his legs resting on the ledge. He gave me the space to go through the dozen parchments that had been tightly packed inside the container.

  A few hours passed.

  I already learned what the scrolls said while translating. However, I kept my surprise to myself, hoping to share the incredulity with Cain after he finished reading it too.

  Cain was already fast asleep, snoozing in the chair with a towel over his head to keep the sunlight out of his eyes. Getting to my feet, I stretched out my arms. I often forgot to move around when I was engrossed in reading or writing, leaving me with sore muscles.

  The information in the scrolls was far too enticing and engaging for me to stop to take a break. Even my eyes were tired.

  The late afternoon sun shone brightly over the garden down below. Before waking Cain, I took a moment to soak in the peaceful environment. Once I let out what I learned, there wouldn’t be any peace for us.

  “Cain,” I said in a tight voice, shaking a shoulder.

  He shifted in the chair, opening one silvery eye to squint up at me. “Are you done yet?”

  “I am.”

  “Does it say anything important or is it recipes for fruit ales?”

  I shook his shoulder more urgently, urging him to wake up and get serious.

  “Okay, okay…” he muttered, straightening up and yawning. “What does it say?”

  “It tells us exactly how we can turn into our true dragon forms.”

  “What?” Cain was suddenly staring at me with his intense gray eyes. It was the reaction I was hoping for. “How? Is it something to do with the sacred chambers?”

  “It’s got to do with both the temple chambers as well as Daria,” I said. Going to my desk, I stacked up the sheets of the translation. They came out to be thirty pages. Taking them, I went back to Cain. “Here…read it.”

  He took it from my hands and set the stack on his laps. “Just tell me what it says,” he said in a low, tense voice.

  I sighed, taking the sheets back from him. “It repeats the facts we already knew. To turn into our true dragon, we have to mate with a blessed Fire Clan woman or a female dragon. Simply being intimate in a room wouldn’t do it though. It has to be in a place where the sacred energies of heaven and earth are concentrated. For us, that’s the location of the dragon temples in the four kingdoms.”

  “So when I was intimate with Daria in the sacred chambers, it triggered the process?”

  I nodded. “You and Daria must have ventured into the mating chambers of the temple. The magic is strongest there.”

  “We were led by the paintings,” he said in a low voice, his eyes closed. “We bathed in the pool there and proceeded to the
most massive chamber in the temple. It even had a bed ready for us. It was dusty but the way we were feeling, neither of us minded.” His eyes opened as he grinned.

  “That’s how you were able to shift into your true form. But Cain,” I said, my voice still tensed. “It also means that Daria is a blessed woman of the Fire Clan.”

  “I already suspected it,” said Cain. “However, she remembers nothing about the past before she came to Linmoor.”

  I knew that too. The strange conversation between her and my mother flashed into my mind. She’d claimed her handmaiden knew something about her but would reveal it to her only if she remembered the woman. Daria was already frustrated with her own memories that stubbornly refused to let her recall anything.

  “Adal.” Cain was suddenly upon me. “You can shift into your true form as well.”

  “I know.” The idea was so overwhelming, I didn’t even want to think of it but my mind refused to settle down. Just the thought of it filled me with nervous anticipation. “What is it like?”

  Cain smiled exuberantly. “It will feel like you’re being killed, but once that’s over it’s incredible.”

  “It hurts?”

  “Oh yes, my friend!” he said, gripping me by the shoulders. “You will go through hell before experiencing heaven.” He was clutching me hard enough to make me wince. “But Adal,” said Cain, his voice grim. “Do you understand what it really means now? We can go up against Ivan. If the three of us can shift into our true forms and defeat him, Daria will be safe and we can claim back our kingdoms from Ivan.”

  Tears pricked my eyes as deep emotions welled up inside me. We’d been under Ivan’s thumbs for far too long. We could finally fight back.

  “Aren’t you glad Daria never chose between us?” asked Cain. “If she had, only one of us could ever achieve our true forms.”

  I nodded, feeling gratitude and incredulity well up inside me. “It must be fate,” I said. “The goddesses have answered our prayers and it came to us in the form of Daria. She was fated to be our mates. I felt the bond with her the moment I laid eyes on her.”

  “It was the same for me.” He smiled, glancing at me with a shrewd look. “Do you remember how you acted the first time I told you about her?”

  I remembered. Cain paid the innkeeper in Oakhedge to keep the tavern open all night so he could meet Daria again. It had annoyed me to see him so besotted over a woman he’d just met on the streets. If it had been me in his place, I would have been just as desperate for her.

  “I apologize, Cain.”

  He waved his hand at me, moving closer to drape an arm over my shoulder. “Forget it. We should go tell Daria and drench Norvin with a bucket of ice-cold water if that’s what it would take to wake up the wanker.”

  I laughed at Cain’s crude language. I suppose we’d never felt this free until now. We were closer than ever to defeating Ivan. With Daria by our side, nothing seemed impossible.

  The last rays of the sun shone into the darkening library hall. Before Cain could steer me away, I halted. No servants would be coming in anyway, but I wasn’t taking a chance. Too much was at stake. Going to the desk, I picked up the ancient scrolls as well as the pile of translated pages. Blue flames erupted in both my palms, flaming the parchments.

  “Good thinking,” said Cain, coming to stand beside me. His silver eyes mirrored the dancing blue flames as the pieces of parchment smoked and curled up into ashes.

  16

  I lay back against the pillows, looking around at the thick tomes Adal kept in his study. There were no windows in the room, making it feel even more claustrophobic. After staying locked in my mind, I yearned to venture outside to breathe in some fresh air and feel the warmth of the sun on my face but Daria refused to let me step outside.

  “We’ve got to disguise you better before you leave the study,” she insisted. “I don’t want anyone else finding you out while we stay here. Please wait here until I get back from the royal pharmacy.”

  “Pharmacy?”

  She nodded. “I am going to make some changes to your appearance so no one can tell it’s you. Please, just stay here.” Her sparkling green eyes widened adorably as she beseeched me.

  “Fine,” I’d relented, letting her skip out of the room in excitement.

  Once she left, I fell back to contemplating my last memories. While I stayed locked inside my mind, thinking it was the best way to protect myself and others, the realization that I was only hurting myself came a little too late.

  Mekhi was one mindfucker I’d love to get the chance to kill someday. He took such pleasure in peeling every inch of my face and then proceeding to tie up Daria, threatening to do the same to her. It was at that instant I decided to give up. I couldn’t bear to let her get hurt when she risked her life to save me. I was so badly injured, I knew I wouldn’t be able to save her. I’d retreated into a dark corner of my mind, hoping to never see the light again.

  Daria brought me back from it all, saving me from the torment I was inflicting on myself.

  A desperate kind of hunger consumed me when I found Daria unhurt. She looked beautiful as always, her body soft and warm against mine. I let my need for her drown me, taking her for the first time. The fact that she’d already been shared by both Adal and Cain didn’t matter to me any longer. As long as I could have her with me, nothing else mattered. I loved Daria. If an unconventional relationship was the key to stay by her side, then I would gladly be part of it.

  Now that I was back to the world of the living, my mind went back to the incredible news she’d shared with me. Cain achieved his true dragon form right after being intimate with her for the first time. The jealous part of me wondered if it meant he had greater right to her than me or Adal.

  I clutched at my hair, trying to suppress the waves of jealousy that rose within.

  With it, came guilt.

  Neither Cain nor Adal ever reacted like me. They were always calm about the unconventional relationship between us all. Why was I the only one who couldn’t keep the jealousy in check?

  “What are you doing?” Daria’s familiar voice spoke from the doorway.

  Raising my head, I looked at her. She carried a tray of food in her hand. The sight of it made my stomach roar. Jumping off the bed, I was before her in an instant.

  “Give this to me.” Taking the tray from her, I set it on the low table in the corner. This was probably Adal’s desk judging from the stacks of parchment and books covering the surface, but for the moment I pushed everything away to place the tray. “I’m starving.”

  “Of course, you are,” said Daria, coming to sit beside me as I shoveled rice into my mouth along with strips of meat in a saucy gravy. “Slow down,” she said, rubbing my back. “You’ll die choking.”

  I muttered an incoherent response, proceeding to wash down the mouthful of rice and meat with a large gulp of hot soup. Baledonian food was exceptionally flavorful despite the lightness. My mind forgot about everything as I continued to devour the food.

  When everything on the tray was cleared and I’d burped heartily, did I look up at Daria who was watching me like she was fascinated. Part of me felt really glad she could stare at me with such adoration. I brought nothing but trouble to our group.

  “Did you get whatever you needed from the pharmacy?” I asked.

  “Yep! She brought forward a small basket and removed the cloth covering the top. Among the large lemons peeking out, there was a heavy pouch.

  “What will you do with these?” I asked.

  “I’m going to use the lemons to clean this room,” she said as a fierce blush rose on her cheeks. “This is Adal’s private study, after all. We shouldn’t stretch our welcome too much, don’t you think?”

  I grinned, not at all worried about Adal smelling my scent on her or his study.

  “What about this?” I asked, picking up the pouch.

  “That’s dried henna. I am going to dye your hair.”

  I made a face at that. Henna had
a horrible way of leaving the skin and hair tinged with a shade of revolting orange.

  “It will hide your identity,” she pressed. “Your eyes and hair give you away far too much.” When I wasn’t convinced, she added, “You’ll still be handsome even if your hair turns orange!”

  I chuckled.

  “Stay here. I’ll be right back!”

  Over the next hour, I watched Daria clean and wipe every corner of the study. The scent of lemons hung in the air, bringing freshness to the closed space. I pulled away the blankets and sheets from the cot to help Daria in her mission of ridding the obvious evidence of our lovemaking.

  “All done!” she finally announced. “After I fix your hair, maybe you can stay with Cain in the servants’ quarters.”

  I scoffed. “I am staying with you.”

  “I wish you could,” she said in a sad voice. Moving the buckets away, she sat down beside me and laid her head on my shoulder. I took her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers.

  “You just want me to be safe?” I asked, easily guessing her argument.

  “It’s only for a few days. You can leave with me when I go to Drakhaven. Cain can remain here or come with us. We will have to plan things later. But for now,” she said, getting to her feet and hauling me up. “We are going to the bath and giving you a new look.”

  A defeated sigh escaped me as I let Daria drag me to the bathing chamber.

  “Get in,” she said, gesturing at the circular bath sunk into the center of the floor. Bending down on her knees, she opened the faucets. Spring water gushed in, steadily filling up the bath. “Come on, Norvin.”

  “Only if you get in with me.”

  “Not yet.” Getting up, she brought an earthenware bowl from a cabinet. “I need to work on your hair first. Please, just get in first.”