Chapter 25
Kace hadn’t changed—the same short, trimmed beard, same big smile and tied-back chestnut hair, same confident swagger.
It took only a moment for all the old, familiar feelings to come rushing back.
I didn’t realize how much I’d missed him.
I jumped up and in a few long strides he lifted my feet off the ground, squeezing the air from my lungs.
“Kace! It’s so good to see you.” I gripped tighter around the back of his neck. “How are you?”
He set me on my feet but kept hold of my elbows.
“Someone told me they saw two assassins come in on the main road, so I had to see for myself. But forget about me. What about you? Are they treating you well? Did you get my letter? My father and I have been doing everything to get you back, but we’ve been stonewalled at every turn.
That’s the ducai for you, though. They don’t care what we want. ”
“I know.” I agreed like I wasn’t one of them. “I did get your letter and my things. I appreciate that you’re trying, but I’m in it for life now, and I’ve accepted it. Once my apprenticeship is finished, I’ll be able to visit more.”
He pulled me into another hug. He smelled pleasant, like leather and the sage his mother burned at home. “You look good in that uniform,” he said quietly in my ear. “Doesn’t leave much to the imagination with how fitted it is.”
I pulled back with a grin and playfully shoved him. We fell right back into how we were before I left. “You haven’t changed.”
He chuckled. “Nope. I’m the same old Kace. You, however—I hardly recognized you. You just, I don’t know, look more mature. Beautiful, as always, too. Your mother would be proud.”
I had noticed the past few months my face looked leaner from training and had lost that young-girl roundness. I also had more defined muscle than I ever had before, from moving my body constantly. “Thank you.”
“And I don’t want you to worry, we check on your family often. Your mother’s loss is felt through the entirety of Neverglade. We’re a family here.”
I pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I know. Neverglade is a wonderful community. I miss it.” It was small and inviting.
I’d taken it for granted while I lived here.
I’d come to love Nighthaven for its amenities, safety, and the man I’d been living with, but even as closeknit as LOA was, it didn’t feel the same as where I grew up.
“How long are you staying?”
“Not long. We have to head back tonight.” I glanced up at the sky. Time had gone by fast. It was already late afternoon.
“Whose we?”
“Me and my trainer, Viper. He’s—” I turned to point him out and was surprised to find him only a few steps away.
His icy presence made the hair on the back of my neck rise.
I didn’t see my brother. He must have gone back into the house.
Kayda slowly rose up and brushed the stray grass off her pants, looking everywhere but at us.
Yet the little eavesdropper wasn’t going inside. “Uh, Kace, this is Viper. Viper, Kace.”
The air had shifted from an excited reunion to a coming storm that put me on edge.
Vander gave him a curt, close-lipped smile. “The chieftain’s son, I presume.”
“The trainer?” Kace replied, giving him a once-over. “Nice dagger.”
“Thanks.” I hadn’t realized how much taller Vander was than Kace until this moment. At least five inches.
“Kace is my friend that I told you about,” I added to the intense silence.
“I remember. I’ll give you two a few minutes to catch up, but we need to leave soon.”
Kace glared. “A few minutes?”
“That’s right. We need to get back to Nighthaven.”
“I didn’t think assassins were afraid of the dark.”
Vander gave him a cold smile. “We’re not.”
“Then she can decide for herself how long she spends with me. You don’t get to tell her what to do here.”
Oof. “Kace,” I warned softly.
“Actually,” Vander smirked, “I do. But please, by all means, take your few minutes. I get to have her all the time.”
Astonished, I slowly turned my head to look at him. What game was he playing? Last night he crushed me and now he wanted to taunt Kace?
“Come on, Kace, I want to talk.” I hooked my arm around his elbow before he could say anything regretful and led him away.
I peeked over my shoulder to find Vander staring after us.
His jaw muscles tensed, and his eyes glinted with violence.
The hot and cold from this man was going to drive me into madness.
“Tall, dark, and creepy back there makes me nervous. Are you comfortable with him as your trainer?”
I shot him a glare. “He’s not creepy, and yes, he’s respectful and professional. He’s also a friend now.”
Kace narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like the way he acts like you’re his property.”
“He’s a high-ranking assassin and I’m an apprentice.”
“And I’m the chieftain’s son and never treated you like that.”
“The League of Assassins is much different than Neverglade. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Well, you might not have to deal with them much longer.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He tucked a stray lock of chestnut hair behind his ear. “Well, remember your father told you I intended to marry you? I still want to marry you, Aesira. My father and I have already sent a letter of intention to King Sigurd.”
My stomach dropped to my heels, and I swallowed to wet my suddenly dry throat. I’d given up on a life with Kace. I peeked again at Vander, our gazes met just before he stepped inside and my spine tingled. “Uh,” I croaked. “You sent him a letter about what exactly?”
“We’ve been going over the laws. Because I’m the future chieftain, if you marry me our marriage contract could negate the assassins’ guild claim on you. We only need permission from King Sigurd. Then you would be free of them.”
“I’m in the League of Assassins until I die,” I said, confused. I’d heard that enough times for it to be branded in my mind. I almost pulled down the collar of my shirt to my shoulder to expose my LOA tattoo to prove it.
“The king can overrule guild laws. My father knows him. I’m sure we’ll get a meeting.”
“I thought you said you were stonewalled?”
“We have been so far, but if you and I go to the king together, we could convince him to let us marry.”
My heart was beating too fast. “I—I don’t know. I need to think.”
“Think about what? You want to come home, don’t you? We were always going to get married.” He smiled and tugged on a stray hair that had escaped my braid. “I told you the day I met you, do you remember?”
I drew a deep breath. “Yes, I remember.” My stomach was in knots. “But Kace, my life is there now. I’ll be done with my apprenticeship soon. I can make a difference fighting vampires. I can save people.”
“You can take night watch with me if you’re convinced you need to make a difference.
You can help from here at home.” He took my hands and rubbed his rough thumbs over my knuckles.
His brown eyes pleaded—begged. “I love you, Aesira. I always have. The only reason I didn’t ask sooner, and take my courting of you seriously, is because I had to wait until after The Sorting Rite.
My father wouldn’t let me. I’ve already started building us a home.
You can pick out all the decor and make it yours. I just want to be with you.”
My head was spinning. I hadn’t thought of coming home to live since those first few weeks in Drakthar. I hadn’t thought of marrying Kace in as long. Guilt gnawed at my gut. I hadn’t thought about Kace much at all, but he’d clearly not forgotten about me.
The only man I thought about was the one I shared a room with. The one who made my heart beat faster. The vampire I couldn’t have. It would be stupid of me not to take this chance when Vander had made his feelings clear, but the pull to him was unbearable.
“Kace, I—I can’t leave.”
His brows pinched. “Is it because of him?”
“I want to be an assassin.”
“More than you want me? More than you want to see your family? You don’t belong there with them. They’ve never cared about us. You hated them as much as anyone in Lothleton. You belong here with your people.”
I glanced down at our joined hands, and the thought that came to mind was that his fingers weren’t cool like Vander’s.
I slammed my eyes shut. So many times I’d dreamed of a life with Kace.
I even had an old wood slat in my closet with our names Aesira + Kace carved into it with a heart around them.
“Most of them aren’t as bad as we thought. And I am ducai, Kace.”
“Not bad? Have you forgotten they leave us out here to be hunted? Have you been safe inside the wall so long, you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be vampire feed?”
I frowned and my heart sank. “No, I haven’t.
But I can make a difference from inside the assassins’ guild more than I can here.
We rescue humans. We protect them by killing as many vampires as we can.
I’ve been on hunts to help villages just like Neverglade.
I like that I’m no longer so afraid of vampires. I don’t want to be prey anymore.”
He put a finger under my chin. I lifted my eyes to his. The intensity in his face was all-consuming. I didn’t want to hurt him. Part of me desired to give in, but my mind pulled me back to Vander and Drakthar like a hypnotic melody I couldn’t shake.
He whispered my name, then his lips crushed into mine and his arms tangled around my waist, pulling me against him.
My heart beat hard. I gripped the front of his shirt and let his lips move against mine.
I’d waited years for this kiss. I expected to feel the rush of excitement and for the butterflies to take flight in my belly.
But that feeling never came. One look from Vander from across the room pulled more desire and longing from me. I wanted it to be Vander’s arms around me. His kisses on my mouth. His face was all I saw in my mind.
I leaned back, breathing heavily. Kace’s lips were swollen and red. My own throbbed with heat.