Two-Faced (Assassin at Court Series Book 1) Page 7

  Jacob did not stand outside of my locked cell and threaten me like the other guards did. Instead, he unlocked the door then locked it again behind him. He leaned against a wall adjacent to the bars. He looked at me with murder in his eyes. “I do not come to you with threatening words in hopes of coaxing the truth out of you.” As he spoke he took one step after another toward me. When he reached me he yanked my head back by my hair and pressed a short sword to my throat. He dug its sharpened point into my flesh, forcing red liquid forth. “The king refuses to torture the information out of you until it can be proven that you are not who you say you are. Torturing nobles, even lesser ones, is impermissible according to Anthame custom.” His blade dug deeper into my neck. “But I don’t care who you are or what House’s blood may or may not run through your veins. I will spill every drop of it right now if you do not tell me everything you know. My Prince is missing and I will do whatever it takes to find him.”

  I smiled against the pain of the blade biting into my flesh. “Good, I was hoping you felt that way.”

  Chapter 23

  Jacob carted me from my cell in chains and a hooded robe. The clanking sound of the set tangled around my ankles echoed down the halls. They made so much noise I was sure someone would notice us. We were supposed to be leaving the palace inconspicuously. I tried to tell Jacob as much but he ignored me.

  “The only way I am letting you out of this cell is in chains,” he had told me.

  I did not like it, but I was in no position to argue. I had just confessed that I was in fact not a lesser noble, but an assassin who had come to the palace to kill his Prince. It was easier to convince him that he needed to help me escape because I was the only one who could find and save Zander and Kiera than I thought it would be. The gods must have been on my side because he readily agreed, with stipulations of course. The chains secured around my wrist and feet were one of them. The pleasure of his company was another. Clearly, the jackass I originally pegged him as had not been a misjudge of character. How someone like Zander and someone like him could be friends I had no idea.

  I waited outside a tavern in Pleith notorious for lots of booze, a rowdy crowd, and loose females. If Kade stayed in town for the night to enjoy the city’s baser pleasures, which he usually did when traveling, it was the one place I was sure to find him. I wanted to go in and drag his sorry ass out myself, but that was hard to do in chains. Damn it, I needed to convince Jacob to remove them. I could not do what needed to be done with them in tow. Said, jackass, was currently inside the tavern looking for Kade. If he was inside, the description I gave him would be sufficient enough to pick him out in a crowd: he would be the tall, dark-haired one with ice blue eyes surrounded by women and throwing money around like there was no tomorrow. A couple of minutes ticked by and Jacob was forcibly removing him from the tavern. He at least had enough of a conscience to look guilty.

  “Talk, now!” I spat in his direction. If my hands were free I would have wrung them around his neck. There was more at play then he earlier led me to believe. He came with the message that I had two nights left to complete my contract, implying that the benefactor would wait and see if I did before taking alternative action. Zander and Kiera were kidnapped long before I met with Kade if they never returned from their morning ride. So either Samael sent him with the message with duplicitous intent or the benefactor was now acting independently of Samael.

  Kade must have seen his death in my eyes because he immediately spilled what he knew. “Samael sent me with the message and told me to keep you busy for the rest of the night. I swear I don’t know why but he did not want you to return to the palace until tomorrow morning. I suspected he was setting you up to take the fall for something, so I delivered the message but I did not delay you from returning.”

  “Gee, thanks for that,” I said sarcastically. This was why we never worked out. I could never take his advances seriously. Kade was out for the good of Kade, always. Even when he tried to do the right thing, he only halfway did it so that his own ass was still covered. I could never fully trust him.

  Jacob hit him in the stomach with the hilt of his sword. Kade grunted in pain. “Enough! Tell us who took the Prince and Princess and where they are be headed.”

  “I don’t know,” Kade wheezed out.

  Jacob jammed the hilt into his stomach more forcefully this time.

  “I am just a messenger.”

  “Next time I strike with the other end,” Jacob growled.

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Kade held out his hands as if they could shield him from the next blow. “I really don’t know where they are, but Samael has a safe house about two hundred miles north of here. It sits in the woods just shy of the border of the neighboring kingdom of Manascus.”

  “That is where they are taking them,” I said to Jacob. “They wanted me away from the palace overnight. It would take about fifteen hours to get from here to there on horseback. I imagine they are not traveling by foot or they would have planned to delay me double the amount of time. Whatever they are planning, it will be done by morning. You may not like or trust me, but if you want to save Zander and his sister you need to get over it. You need to unchain me, you need to get us horses, and we need to get to that safe house.”

  “What about him?” Jacob still had his sword pointed at Kade. “We can’t leave him. He could warn them.”

  Kade began to tremble in fear for his life. “No, no I won’t,” he stammered. I should have been okay with Jacob putting the sword through his abdomen. Hell, I should have had no problems doing it myself. But some small piece of me did not want to see him die regardless of how much I loathed him at the moment. I glared at my ex sort-of-sometimes boyfriend. “Him we can tie up with a note to whoever finds him that should they escort him to the palace they will be handsomely rewarded. Isn’t there a standing reward offered by the King for any information that leads to the identification of a member of the Assassin’s Guild?” I smiled wickedly at Kade.

  He did not bother trying to talk his way out of it. We both knew I had granted him a boon in the form of his life. As a messenger and not an actual assassin, the King would not have him executed. Kade would be imprisoned in the palace cells.

  Chapter 24

  I raced with Jacob by my side against a ticking clock on a pair of horses borrowed from the tavern owner. I was no equestrian, but the rides with Zander had taught me enough to not fall and break my head open while the stallion raced at breakneck speed. We needed to make up the difference of the few hours Zander and Kiera’s kidnappers had ahead of us.

  Jacob and I both saw the wreckage at the same time. I pulled back on my horse’s reigns exactly when he did. We dismounted the horses and slowly approached the overturned wagon on foot. A lifeless man lay face down beside it in a pool of his own blood. I let out a relieved sigh to see that his hair was a ginger hue. I heard a barely audible groan from the trees nearby. Another body lay behind them. This one had a sword still sticking out of its chest. I bent down to check for a pulse. Dead people do not groan. Then I saw him and my heart froze in my chest. Zander was sprawled across the damp grass a few feet away with a knife sticking into his neck at an odd angle. I ran over and dropped to my knees beside him. His eyes glinted with recognition. He tried to say something but all that escaped his lips what a wet, gurgling noise. Then he lost consciousness. Tears stung my eyes. This was my fault.

  “Shit!” Jacob cursed behind me. He dropped to his knees and immediately checked for a pulse.

  “He’s alive, for now,” I said weakly. “I heard a noise. It’s why I came over here.”

  “If he dies, you will never make it back to the palace to be executed. I will kill you and leave your body to rot in the woods.” His rage and grief was like a well-honed blade that struck me straight in the chest.

  I shook it off. We did not have time for me to wallow in self-pity. I ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of my skirts. “On the count of three,” I said to Jacob, “yanked the kni
fe out as quickly and as cleanly as you can.”

  He looked at me as if I had sprouted another head. “He will bleed out! We have to get him back to a palace doctor.”

  I shook my head. “There is no time. If we don’t stop the bleeding he will bleed out long before we reach the palace. And Kiera is still out there. We still need to get to her too.”

  When Jacob pulled the blade out a spray of blood rushed out behind it. I quickly applied pressure with the piece of fabric. I directed Jacob to cut another strip from my skirts and help my tie the wound off so continuous pressure would be applied.

  “I need to clean the wound, but I need clean water and a safe place to do so. He won’t make it back to the palace and we can’t stay out here,” I said to Jacob. “Kiera is not around so there is at least one other kidnapper. He is probably still in route to the safe house and will contact Samael from there. He will send someone back here to dispose of the wagon and the bodies. He won’t take the chance of either being linked back to him.”

  He inclined his head to the east. “The waterfall and cave are about 30 miles that way. It shouldn’t take you long to reach it on horseback. They’ll provide both the clean water and a hiding spot. You take Zander, I am going after Kiera.”

  “You were reluctant to remove my chains a few hours ago and now you want to leave me alone with Zander while he is mortally wounded?” I questioned him.

  “Whatever else I think of you,” The look he gave me said exactly what he thought of me, “I no longer think you would hurt him.”

  Jacob loaded Zander into the wagon while I hitched it to one of the horses.

  “Expect the ten mile radius around the safe house when you near it to be heavily booby trapped,” I warned Jacob. It was a feature all of Samael’s safe houses had in common. He was the overly paranoid type. His actual house would have been as well if it were not in the middle of the city.

  Jacob nodded at me in acknowledgement and set off after Kiera.

  I gave my horse a mild kick to get him moving at a quick but steady pace. I wished I could travel faster, but too rough of a ride might have aggravated Zander’s wound and exacerbated the bleeding.

  Chapter 25

  We made it to the waterfall and thank the gods Zander was still alive when we did so. I gently draped him across my back and carried him to the cave. It took all of my will power not to buckle beneath his weight. I guess it is true that people can find enormous strength they never knew they had when faced with extreme circumstances. Inside the cave I unwrapped the fabric from around Zander’s neck. The flesh beneath it was raw and bloody. I used fresh water from the cave and an antiseptic to clean it out as best I could and then set myself to the task of stitching it up with supplied from the medic kit I found in the wagon. I was not surprised it was there. Most assassins in the guild traveled with one. Killer for hire could be a dangerous line of work.

  Once Zander’s wound was stitched closed and bandaged properly I built a fire to keep the cave warm through the night. I positioned a still unconscious Zander as comfortably as I could on the cave’s hard floor, then I went outside to keep watch. Jacob did not think anyone would stumble upon us, but the wreckage and the cave were too close in distance for my comfort.

  I was swaying on my feet a little after sunrise, when I heard movement from inside the cave. I found Zander looking at his surroundings in bewilderment.

  “Kiera, where is Kiera?” He asked in dread.

  “She was not with the wagon when we arrived. There is a safe house about half a day’s ride northwest of here I think the men who have her are headed to. Jacob went after her last night. He should have caught up with them by now.”

  He nodded, but the tension within him only marginally relaxed.

  “What happened?” I asked him.

  “Kiera and I were coming back from the waterfall. Shortly into our ride three men ambushed us. I would have fought them but they went for Kiera first. They threatened to kill her if I did not go willingly. Something in its path spooked the horse carrying the wagon. He stopped abruptly and the man riding him was thrown from his back and instantly killed. In the commotion, I launched for the kidnapper’s sword next to. While I fought him the remaining one grabbed Kiera and took off on horseback. I killed the man I fought but not before he buried a knife in the side of my neck. I don’t know how long I was bleeding on the ground. I had accepted that I was going to die in the forest. Then you and Jacob came along before I passed out. Why were you two together and how did you find me?”

  Blood seeped through his bandages. I crossed the cave and took his hand. “Sit down, I need to check your stitches and change your gauze. Then we need to talk.”

  “My real name is Skyler Errin. I have no middle name. I was born a Common Person. I am not a noble. I am an assassin. I was contracted to get close to you and kill you.”

  Zander stared at me. His expression went from disbelief, to shock, to denial, to acceptance, to anger, to pain and then finally into a smooth mask of blankness. His spine straightened and his shoulders squared. His voice held no emotion when he finally spoke to me. “Well here I am. You have me alone, miles away from the palace and injured. Fulfill your contract, Assassin.” He flung the word at me like a curse.

  I flinched in response. It hit me square in the center of the chest. My heart twisted then broke into a million tiny pieces. “I don’t want to kill you.” My voice came out sounding small and dejected. I had no right to feel hurt, but I did.

  He lips curled back in a contemptuous sneer. “Did you know about the kidnapping? Is that why you insisted Kiera and I go alone?”

  “Gods no! I was going to tell you the truth yesterday morning at breakfast, but then Kiera came. I would never endanger her or you. The Assassin Guild’s master realized I would not go through with it and took matters into his own hands.”

  “You were going to confess inside the walls of the High Palace to conspiring to kill a royal?” His tone said he did not believe me.

  “Yes,” I firmly nodded my head.

  “You would have been executed.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why?” His mask broke and his expression revealed how desperately he was struggling to understand my motives.

  “Because I love you.” I uttered the words so quietly I was not sure if he heard them.

  Pain marred his features a second before he put the mask back in place. He spoke his next words with cold detachment, even though they indicated anything but that. “I love you too. And because I do, I cannot see you put to death for treason.” He moved passed me. Keeping his back turned he added, “I am headed back to the palace to retrieve a horse and men. Then I am going to look for Jacob and my sister. You need to disappear Skyler. Not just from Pleith but from Anthame. I will tell my father everything and he will scour the kingdom until he finds you. Don’t let him find you.”

  I’m glad his back was turned. He did not see the tears that escaped down my cheek. Fate was such a bitch. When two people confessed their love for one another it was supposed to be under happy circumstances. Then they were supposed to embrace and live happily ever after. At least that is how it was in the childhood fairytales that had been read to me by my parents’ countless times. Even as a child, I listened to them with a cynical ear. It was hard not to when you were read stories of Princesses and Princes dancing at fancy balls and living in extravagant castles right before going to bed with hunger pains because your family did not have enough food for everyone to eat their fill. As a common person I knew my life was and would continue to be anything but a fairytale. Yet, I could never quite dismiss the overly romantic notions of love that came with them. I knew I would never be anything close to a princess, but I dreamed of maybe one day meeting and falling in love with a boy as handsome and as nice as the princes in the stories. My dream had finally come true, but there would be no happily ever after for us. I told Zander I loved him and he told me he loved me back. But the moment was steeped in bitterness and regr
et. The day before he was hinting at wanting to wed me and spend the rest of eternity with me. Now he was warning me to disappear not only from his life, but also from his entire kingdom forever.

  I wiped the moisture from my cheek and pulled myself together. Now was not the time to wallow in my own angst.

  “There is one more thing I need to tell you before you go back.”

  He stopped walking, but he did not face me.

  “The man who wants you dead, who hired me, I believe he is a Lord of one of the High Noble Houses.”

  He turned around with fire in his eyes. “Who?” He asked in a growl.

  I instinctively took a startled step back. I had never seen him upset before.

  “I…I don’t know his name. I only recently learned that I have seen his face.” I stuttered, still taken aback by Zander’s uncharacteristic anger.

  “Describe him.”

  “He has dark eyes, a crooked nose, and a faint scar above his left eye,” I said only remembering the last bit as I thought back on what the stranger behind the cape looked like in Samael’s home.

  “Krishna.” Zander’s eyes darkened. “You said you know where my kidnappers were taking me?”

  I nodded.

  “Let’s go, now.”

  “I thought you were going back to the palace for reinforcements. And I thought I needed to disappear,” I said confused at his erratic behavior.

  “There is no time. If Krishna is behind this then my sister is in grave and immediate danger. I need to find her quickly, before he decides she is a loose end that needs to be tied up.” He looked at me with aversion. “Unfortunately, I need you to find her.”