Chapter 15
15
FRIDA
W ith a sigh, I crossed the garden and sat heavily on a mossy stone. The buzz of insects serenaded me. I pulled my legs up to my chest, leaning my chin on my right knee. The scent of petrichor mingled with the smoke that drifted from Rune’s cottage. Insects darted through the humid air, and the rustle of the wind through leaves swallowed up the static in my head. Closing my eyes, I tried to settle my thundering heart.
When I’d trained for the guild, I’d never faced anything like this. The drills were routine affairs with clear decisions and a kind of cold formality. Emotions and moral quandaries were not a part of the deal.
An owl hooted, so loud it sounded as if it was right beside my head. My heart leapt into my throat. Pressing a shaking hand to my chest, I loosed a nervous chuckle and looked around, and nearly startled again when I spotted the brown barn owl perched beside me on the stone.
A very familiar barn owl, the only one I’d ever seen with a patch of white on his back in the shape of a heart—or at least that was what I saw when I looked at him.
I smiled and stretched out my hand. “Ottar? What are you doing here?”
He was a very long way from home.
Ottar tip-tapped his little talons against the stone, coming closer. And that was when I noticed the folded piece of parchment attached to his left leg. Dread curled through me.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
The guild kept an owlery, specifically to send messages to assassins and thieves who were out in the field. Sometimes, assignments changed or new information came to light. Could Erik have discovered the same thing I had? Did he know he’d given me the wrong mark?
Would this letter command me to steal from Lilia instead?
With a trembling hand, I unhooked the message from Ottar’s leg and rolled it open.
Assassin’s Guild Assignment for Frida Rurik
Disregard all previous orders. The Isles are protected by magic. It prevents anyone from travelling there who intends to harm a resident. We gave you a false reason for your journey in order to gain you access. The dragon does not exist, and you are not required to steal one. Instead, your true assignment is to assassinate Rune in accordance with guild rules.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I crumpled the parchment in my fist. Blood roared in my ears, and the world around me seemed to tilt. Erik hadn’t sent me here to steal a dragon. That was why I’d found no evidence of Rune having one. It was never about that.
This was meant to be my first assassination.
My heart lurched, tears stinging my eyes. I should have known. I had known. Deep down, I’d suspected something was off from the moment he’d given me this damn assignment. And if I’d actually asked more questions on the ship ride over, I would have realized what I was truly up against. I would have learned of the island’s magic.
“Frida?” Rune’s deep voice sounded from behind me, putting pressure against the splintered glass that was my heart.
How could I turn around and look at him, knowing the true reason I was here?
“Frida?” he repeated. “Are you all right?”
“No,” I choked out. I was not all right, and I didn’t know if I ever would be.
My first mark—the very first life I took—was to be one of the kindest people I’d ever met. He took care of people. He built them homes without demanding trunks of gold in return. When someone was in trouble, he put himself in harm’s way to help them. Perhaps he’d run from something in his past, something he wished he could undo, but he was good now. I knew that in my bones.
He came around to kneel in front of me, and his eyes searched mine. “What’s going on?”
My fist tightened around the message. “I…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. Once I said this, there was no taking it back. All my plans…all my hopes for a future surrounded by my loved ones. They’d be gone. But as I sat on that stone, gazing into the soft eyes of my mark, I realized I never would have done it. As much as I wanted to be part of a family again, I couldn’t kill for it.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I whispered.
Rune nodded. “All right. Let’s hear it.”
“I know you already suspect me of…something. And you were right to feel that way.” I sucked in a deep, steadying breath, then loosed my confession as quickly as I could. “I was sent here by a guild back home. This was to be my first assignment. An induction of sorts. They wanted me to find you and steal your dragon.”
His brow furrowed. “But I—”
“Don’t have a dragon. I know.” I held up my fisted hand. It was shaking violently. “I just received a message. This was never about a dragon. It wasn’t even about theft.”
Grim understanding shuddered across Rune’s face. He rose and took a step back—away from me. Away from the monster I was. “Let me guess. You’re from the Assassin’s Guild, and you found a way around the magic that protects the island inhabitants from harm.”
“No.” Heart pounding, I shoved off the stone. “I mean, yes, but no. I’m from the guild, but I didn’t find a way around the magic. Erik did.”
He glanced away, a muscle feathering in his jaw. “I wanted so badly to believe you weren’t what I thought you were. You don’t seem like the type, but here you are. Well, good job, Frida. Because despite all the evidence that was right in my face, you tricked me. I’m sure you’ll do well in the guild.”
“Rune,” I said with a shuddering breath. He kept his gaze locked on the forest, refusing to look at me. I could hardly blame him, though. “I’m not going to do it.”
For an aching moment, a tense silence thrummed between us. And then he slowly turned his gaze back my way. His expression was inscrutable. “What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said. I’m not going to do it.” I held up my fisted hand, then tossed the crumpled message away from me. “My entire family is a part of the guild. Fate, they’ve been a part of it for several centuries. If you know anything about the guild—and I believe you do—you know they don’t let their members associate with anyone who isn’t one. For a long time, I refused to join, but…I got so lonely, Rune. I missed my family, and I wanted to be a part of something again.”
He arched a brow. “By killing.”
I flinched and looked away. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They told me their marks were always folk who had committed terrible crimes, folk who’d escaped justice. My brother believes what he’s doing is actually helping the world.”
“And if I’m on their list, I must have done something terrible,” he said flatly.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m trying to—”
“I have done terrible things.”
My breath whistled out of me. “What?”
“A long time ago, I was a member of the guild, but I was just a thief,” he said, running his hand along the top of his head. “I hated it, and eventually I decided to get out. The leader agreed. On one condition. I had to complete one final assignment. Only this one wasn’t for the thieves.” His gaze went hard. “It was for the assassins. So I did what they asked, and when I tried to leave, they told me my skills were far too valuable for them to lose. They said if I tried to escape, they’d stop me. And so I said fuck that and left anyway.”
“What?” I whispered.
My mind reeled, and my thunderous heartbeat roared in my ears. This kind of trick sounded exactly like the kind of thing Erik would do if one of his assassins wanted to escape from the web in which he’d trapped them.
I’d never heard of an orc named Rune before Erik had given me my assignment. The guilds normally had around a dozen members each at any one time. Everyone knew everyone else’s business—the good, the bad, and the excruciatingly ugly. Everyone lived on guild property, all bunched on top of each other. Few left. Those who did were reviled, and their names were repeated like swears every time something went wrong.
The wind swept through the garden, spraying leaves across the dirt and interrupting the strained silence.
“I’ve never heard of you before,” I said. “How is that?”
“When I left, Erik wasn’t in charge yet. His father was. He tasked Erik with finding a way to convince me to stay. When he failed, he didn’t want his father to know what had happened. So he told him I’d died.” Rune shrugged. “That’s what my contacts back in the city told me, at least. We’ve exchanged a few messages over the years.”
“That must be why my father didn’t recognize your name,” I murmured. “And why Erik sent me , someone who had never met you. He still doesn’t want anyone to know.”
“He wants to get rid of me quietly.”
“And that’s it? That’s the whole story?” I asked.
“That’s the whole story, Frida.”
For a long moment, the tension between us crackled like hearth-fire, but Rune’s steady gaze never wavered. Either he was remarkably good at lying, or he was sincere. If I were a betting kind of girl, I’d choose the latter. At this point, there was no reason for him to hide his truth from me. He knew why I was here.
Loosing a long, ragged breath, I folded my arms and tried to think. My emotions were a wild storm inside me. Erik had sent me here on a personal vendetta that had nothing to do with the guild’s official codes. Rune wasn’t a criminal who had escaped the noose of the law. He was someone who’d been trapped in a world he didn’t want to be a part of, one they’d tried to force on him. Someone who’d come here to build a better life for himself that didn’t involve theft and killing.
And against all odds, he’d succeeded. Until now, when Erik had finally found a way to get to him.
Well, I wouldn’t be the conductor to this discordant orchestra. I would return to Vilmar and tell the guild everything I’d learned here. It might just be enough to unseat Erik as the current leader, and my father could take his place.
I started back toward the cottage. Rune hastened across the ground, falling into step beside me. He took my arm and pulled me back, but there was still something gentle in his touch.
“I can’t let you go back inside, Frida. Lilia and Ragnar have nothing to do with this, and I don’t want to get them involved,” he said quietly. “They’ve worked hard for their quiet life.”
A spike of pain went through my heart. He thought I was wicked enough to drag two innocent brewmasters into this. “I’m just getting my things, and then I’ll be gone. I won’t even say goodbye to them.”
His grip on my arm loosened. “You really did mean what you said, didn’t you? You’re not going to attempt your assignment.”
“It’s about ten days until the ship returns to collect me. I’ll camp on the beach until then. When I return to the guild, I’ll tell them you’re not here.”
I pulled away from him and went inside the cottage. Ragnar and Lilia huddled together at the table, exchanging feverish whispers. When they heard my footsteps, they fell silent and looked my way, but I didn’t dare interact with them. Tears pooled in the corners of my eyes. If I thought too hard about what I was doing, they’d fall.
After I’d collected my pack and my arrows, I pushed outside again. Rune waited by the door with his arms folded over his broad chest. My steps slowed, and I opened my mouth to offer an apology, but stopped when I saw the dark expression on his face.
Rune didn’t want to hear an apology from me. I was an assassin who had been sent here to kill him. Even though I’d decided against it, that didn’t change the truth about who I was.
All I could do was give him a nod, then dash into the trees. The forest swallowed me whole.