3
“We need her on our side.” I say bluntly to Cole, no room for question in my voice but I know he won’t give up that easily. Even though I’m his King, I have never and would never pull rank on him.
“It doesn’t seem like she wants to be.” Cole pushes.
He’s been the commander of my royal guard ever since I became king and he’s been my closest friend for longer, but we don't always see eye to eye. He was also a bit pissed that I didn’t just kill the assassin when she was here. I don’t blame him but curiosity just got the better of me.
“She could be the difference between winning and losing this war, she’s a highly trained assassin and is somehow immune to my powers, what else could she be immune to?” I say, throwing my hands up.
I have never met any fae who was immune to my powers.
“But you won’t be able to trust her, she didn’t even hesitate to turn down your offer to work with you and she killed half our good soldiers.”
“Killing our soldiers just shows how good she is, not to mention those men were a weakness to our army for underestimating her.”
Cole sighs and crosses his arms. “I guess her invisibility would come in handy for what we have planned.”
“Exactly Cole, now you’re getting it.” I say smiling as I clap my hand against his shoulder.
He shrugs it off. “You still can’t trust her.”
I walk over to our temporary bar cart that I had one of the soldiers bring in after the fight. I pour two drinks of the amber liquid waiting there.
“We can get her to trust us, then she’ll be an asset.” I tell him, grabbing the drinks and walking back over to my commander.
“How are you going to do that?” Cole demands.
“Tell her the truth, at least some of it. I doubt she knows what her side is actually doing and if she heard what our meeting was about, no doubt she’s already rethinking the side she’s on.”
“She’s an assassin, I doubt she cares unless there’s money involved.” Cole rebuttals bluntly.
“If that’s the case, we use that to our advantage and hire her instead.”
Cole considers this for a moment as he takes a drink.
“She’s just an invis Cole, she can’t have blocked me out, that’s not her power. You can shield and even you can’t block me out. We need her on our side.” I plead with him, begging him to understand why I’m pushing this.
Cole sighs and runs a hand over his face. “How do we find her?”
“She stole the very thing that we can use to track her.”
I say smiling slightly. I noticed the artifact was gone before the fight was over.
She’s good but I’ve had my experience with thieves and pickpockets over the years.
I let the assassin leave with it because I had already asked my tracker, Fray, to track the artifact anyway. I knew I would be able to get it back.
“She stole the artifact?”
“Yep.” I reply tightly and take another sip of my drink.
“Well at least we know she’ll be useful in helping us steal anything else we need.”
I nod and take a seat in the chair behind me. Cole reaches next to him and picks up one of the toppled over chairs, before dragging it over to sit opposite me.
“So what’s the plan Xander?”
I sigh knowing I’m going to get yet another argument from him about the plan.
I look at him plainly. “You get the assassin and I’ll get the artifact, I’ll meet you both when I’m done and we’ll take her home.”
Cole looks at me incredulously, like I’ve just suggested he should jump off a cliff. “Okay sure, that sounds like a solid plan, let me just go and grab the girl who just killed half the men in here without a second thought.”
I almost laugh at my commander but I hold back. “You’re a shielder, she won’t be able to touch you and you’re not going to just grab her, you’ll drug her with a tonic. She’ll be defenseless.”
Cole lets out a sharp breath. “She’s not going to be happy.”
“Not my problem, she can be pissed off all she wants, as long as we can get her to work for us.”
Cole says nothing for a moment while he takes another drink.
“We’re going to have to figure out why you couldn’t read her, that just makes her so much more dangerous.” He says as he drops his head into one of his hands. “Especially if we’re inviting her into our home.”
“It makes her dangerous but it also makes her an asset, no fae has ever been able to resist my powers. Maybe there’s other powers she can resist too.” I say, sitting back into my chair for a moment and dropping my head back.
“Or maybe, she’s so much more important than that.”
Cole looks across at me, alarmed. “You’re not seriously considering that she’s–”
My commander stops himself, unable to continue his train of thought but I know exactly what he means.
I pick my head up and shrug. “It’s possible.”
Cole sighs in defeat and I smile at him.
“So when are we doing this?” he finally asks, the fight clearly over.
“Tonight.”