Chapter 48
Forty-Eight
A queen does not get caught hiring assassins.
Fucking Jace.
- King Richard
As silently as I can, I creep over to my bedroom window in the dark of the night.
Although I’m not making any sound, tension radiates up my spine with every step.
Jace’s hearing is fucking mental, and he’s asleep right there on the sofa.
Not to mention, he’s been extra paranoid since I ‘tried’ to kill myself yesterday.
Easing the glass up ever so slowly, I strain my ears, listening for any noise from the living room. When all is silent, I roll out the window and spread my wings. I turn around to close it behind me so he won’t hear the noises of the city.
A hand shoots out of the bedroom and grabs my arm. “Get back in bed,” Jace growls.
“I’m going to see her.”
“Is that all you’re going to do?” he says, holding up an envelope.
“Yes.” My gaze flickers to it in curiosity.
“So I’m not holding a letter to the infamous Smoke, the greatest assassin ever, hiring her to kill Arienna?” he says, each word clipped.
Terrified, I turn for the barracks. “Smoke’s made it past Evangeline not once but seven times. If someone’s hired her, we have to –”
“Evangeline gave me the letter, dipshit,” Jace says as he crawls through the window to join me rather than pulling me back inside. “Smoke gave it to her and collected the reward money Evangeline offered to anyone who had legit information on any assassination attempt on Arienna.”
My jaw clenches. The bitch. “I paid half upfront.”
“And Smoke made sure to tell Evangeline to tell me to tell you that it’s non-refundable.” He shakes his head as he tosses the envelope back into the room. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I did it two days ago, when I didn’t know where she was. And I didn’t hire her to kill her,” I say dryly. “I hired her to not kill her.”
Jace studies me with narrowed eyes. Then he closes them briefly. “Please tell me your plan wasn’t to scare her into coming back to the castle.”
“Of course not.” That wouldn’t have got her to talk to me. “I was going to ‘save’ her.” Then she’d have to talk to me. At the very least, she’d have to say, “Thank you.” She would probably even hug me.
“Fuck, Richard, you’re smart as out, but you’re dumb as shit sometimes. She needs space.”
“She’s had space,” I snap. “It’s been six full days, Jace. I’ve ended sieges in less time.”
“You’re being a bit drastic.”
“Of course you’d say that,” I spit in disgust. “She’s not avoiding you.”
“That’s because I didn’t make her feel inadequate.”
“When the fuck have I ever done that?”
He looks at me dryly. “You stole her crown from her. What do you think she’s thinking?”
I open my mouth, then lock my jaw. My eyes skirt over the darkened city. This used to be my favourite time of day: when the world is asleep. When it seems almost peaceful. Now it seems just as restless as the rest of the time.
“You know that’s not why I did it,” I say softly, my wings flapping quicker behind me.
“That’s exactly why you did it. You compared her to Aurelia and panicked.
” He drifts towards me while I stay still, letting him close the distance.
“But she didn’t sacrifice herself because she was weak.
She did it because she knew you were stronger.
You’ve changed this world a lot since she was alive, Dickie.
She would’ve been queen if she was born today.
” His words are rough and raw, but I can hear the truth within them.
My hand burning, I lift my arm. I can’t see the scar in the dim light of the night. I can’t see the only reminder I have of her. Darting through the tree, I head for the barracks, and this time, Jace doesn’t try to stop me.
Landing in the square, I look at him. He sighs and nods at the building to the south before taking point so I can follow him. The hallways look exactly the same as they did when we trained here – polished and pristine by recruits well punished.
Walking through them at this time of night –when even the night training is done for the day– is making my skin crawl.
Echo does not take kindly to any recruits sneaking around.
Evangeline, Jace, and I were caught every time we tried, and the punishment was always a snapped neck and a wake up in the latrines.
Deirdre and Aurelia were smart enough to stay in bed.
He stops outside of a door and places his hand on its knob. “I really hope you don’t fuck this up even more.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” I say dryly.
Shaking his head, he opens it, then turns to leave. “I’ll be outside. If Echo comes, you’re on your own.”
“I am king, you know.”
“Uh huh.”
Ignoring the prickling of my skin, I step into the room.
I glance at the two bottom bunks first, but they’re empty.
It’s odd that she hasn’t picked one of them.
Shaking my head, I tell myself she isn’t training here like I was.
She is only hiding out. Of course she’d have the energy to climb into a top bunk at the end of every day.
Seeing her in the first one I look in, I feel a prickle of uncertainty tightening my gut. She looks peaceful here, not like how I last saw her, crying in both anger and pain.
Shifting on my feet, I look at the door. Shit.
Even my own fucking body is against me these days.
“She needs space.”
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
She hasn’t even opened the gifts I sent her yesterday. They sit across from the door, a blatant sign that despite what I want, she does not want the same.
I ignored her safe word twice already.
I won’t disrespect her wishes again. So for her, I’ll figure out how to wait weeks, months, years. Lifetimes…
Gods, please don’t let it be that long before she’s ready to talk to me.
My fingers itching to hold her, I stare at her for a while longer. Then I head for the door, open it, and slip into the hall. I turn back to look at her one last time. She sleeps soundly, peacefully, no pain on her face.
My hand tightening on the handle, I pull the door shut.
Feeling a presence behind me, I start to tell Jace we’re good to go, but two small hands grab my head and quickly wrench it sideways.
Pop.
For.
Fuck’s.
Sake.
My neck hurts like a father fucker.
But not one of those happy FILF fuckers.
More like Oedipia –who was adopted out but then ended up accidentally killing her birth mum and fucking her dad– sort of pain.
The kind that hurts fucking everywhere.
Echo, the head of my own damn Royal Guard, snapped my neck last night and left me to sleep in the…
I sit up, confused as to why I’m in a bed instead of in the latrines.
Feeling uneasy, I slowly roll to the edge of the bed.
My skin crawling, I ready myself to look under it, certain there will be an elite soldier ready to drag me off and give me the beating of a lifetime. When I trained under Echo, those sorts of things weren’t rare.
A noise comes up from below.
I freeze, half-way off the bed. Telling myself I’m not a kid anymore, I grit my teeth and look all the way under.
Jerking, I fall onto the floor as some thing hisses at me. Scrambling out on its hands and knees, it lunges for me, and I struggle not to pull out a knife.
“I’m the fucking king, you little shit,” I say as I block the punches to my face.
“Why would the king be here?” it –a feral girl– asks, not letting up in her attack. She has clearly been the victim of Echo’s ‘tests’ before, and her panic is bringing up more nightmares for me than I care to admit to having.
Grabbing one of her fists, I toss her over my shoulder.
“Attack!” A boy bolts up from underneath the covers the girl landed on. He lunges at me with a scream. Another girl jumps down from the top bunk and onto my shoulders. I yank her off as I stand. The boy scrambles for me, so I throw the girl at him, knocking him back.
Something much bigger than these little kids drops onto my back. The shock of the impact brings me to my knees. I grunt in pain as the first girl kicks me in the balls. Then yelp as the thing on my head bites my ear.
“Fuck’s sake!” Reaching over me, I yank the big bastard off before they can do any proper damage. As I start to toss them at the wall, they – Arienna looks up at me in surprise. “Richard?”
Jerking in an attempt to stop the throw, I lose my balance and crash to the floor with my queen cradled on top of me.
“He’s down!”
“Get him!”
The three little shits don’t hesitate to kick me anywhere they can reach.
“Wait, stop!” Gasping, Arienna swats at them as she sits with her knees up on my chest.
My head falls back onto the floor. The muscles that have been tense for the last week finally relax at the feel of her against me. Even if her weight on my chest is making it hard to breathe.
“He’s not a test,” she says.
“Are you sure?”
Little shit number one kicks me in the ribs again.
“Yes. Stop it, Stevie. He’s the king,” she says, a soft giggle escaping.
“Why would he be in here?” The little boy doesn’t sound convinced.
“Because Echo snapped my neck and tossed me in,” I say, not even mad anymore as I bask in the feel of my queen. Exhaustion pulls at my eyes as I feather my thumbs across her hips. I haven’t slept in so long...
“You fought Echo?” Stevie looks at me in admiration.
“No. She kicked my ass. I didn’t even see her.”
“But you’re the king,” the other girl says. “I thought you were a good fighter.”
“You’re thinking of Jace,” the boy says. “He’s the good one.” His eyes lighting up, he says, “Is he here?”
“You know he’s just a royal guard, right? Below king?” I ask dryly.
“And you’re below a newbie,” Stevie says, snickering as the other girl giggles.
My arms tighten around Arienna as I feel her shift to get up. Then I reluctantly let her go.
She rises quickly, but I take a moment to breathe before sitting up. My eyes linger on her. She doesn’t look at me.
The non-Stevie girl looks between us and then elbows Arienna in the hip. “Oooh. I think he loves you,” she teases. “He looks at you like Daddy does Mum.”