5. Lunette
LUNETTE
L unette couldn't help the smile she flashed at Basilious when he finally noticed her at the back of his throne room.
She'd been there the whole time. She had heard today was the day for public petitions, and she wanted to see what sort of king he was.
Their encounter last night had left her confused and, frankly, incredibly sexually frustrated.
Watching him work hadn't helped with that last bit, unfortunately. He was kind and confident, and clearly beloved by his subjects. He asked his advisors for help on matters they were experts on, and it was possibly the most attractive thing she'd ever seen.
She was very annoyed with him about it.
She had never backed out of a job. Her family had a reputation to uphold after all.
She didn't know what to do. Obviously the man who'd hired her had something against king Basilious, and now she wanted to know what.
This whole situation was turning into a mess.
Typically, when she accepted a job, she had some inkling of the motive.
This time, she'd gone against her intuition and taken the job without knowing anything about why.
Now she cursed herself for being so careless.
She turned her attention back to the dais, where Basilious was listening attentively to an older woman explain that her fence was badly damaged and in need of repair to keep her flock of sheep from escaping.
By the old Gods, this minotaur was going to make her ruin her credibility as an assassin because Lunette was fairly certain she couldn’t go through with killing him.
Even if he had happened to be the worst villain on this island, she still… wanted him. She was curious about what it would be like to be with him. Their verbal sparring last night had been a revelation, and she wanted more.
Other members of her family took contracts for their own reasons, but she had always quietly chosen to take only jobs where her target seemed evil somehow.
No one in her family had questioned her–she made enough coin that no one quite cared how she did it.
She was so careful about the jobs she took because she knew, deep down, that she had the conscience that the rest of her family seemed to lack.
She scolded herself internally. She needed to pull it together. She had to finish this job—none of this other nonsense in her head mattered. She was a professional. She could do this, and she would.
Tonight. She would try again tonight.