Chapter 34 Ask Your Wife to Trust You #3
“I don’t know who hired the assassins, if that’s what you’re asking.
” Zaraiah’s smile returned, sharper now, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Not while a shadow dragon was staring at her like she was dinner.
“I heard you’d shut down all transportation out of the Spire—that kind of dramatic gesture gets attention even across the sea.
So I came to see what chaos you were stirring up this time.
That’s when I heard about the attempt on Lady Blackrose’s life.
” Her expression shifted, the mask of the information broker sliding into place.
“I’ve been asking questions since I arrived.
They were hired here. In the Spire. Within the last two days. ”
My fury sharpened into cold calculation. “So it was an impromptu attempt.”
“Yes. They were looking for an opportunity, and one presented itself.” She glanced between us.
“Whoever hired them had to know you were in the God Spire, had to have access to the kind of networks that can arrange an assassination on short notice, and had to be confident enough in their anonymity to risk making a move in neutral territory.”
“That could be every member of the Syndicate,” Arabella said flatly. Apparently, her truth-sense wasn’t pinging.
“Could be,” Zaraiah agreed, sliding farther away while keeping her gaze on Nyx. “Or it could be someone with Syndicate connections who isn’t a chair. The God Spire attracts all sorts.”
“Who would have that kind of information except a chair?” Arabella asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” When no one stopped her, Zaraiah eased toward the end of the corridor, clearly eager to put distance between herself and us. “But whoever it is, they either have resources or friends in the right places.”
She paused at the corner, looking back. Her gaze lingered on Nyx one more time before returning to us. The dragon huffed uncertainly, looking between Arabella and Zaraiah like she was trying to decide whether to eat the Chair of Whispers anyway.
“For what it’s worth, Kazimir,” Zaraiah said. “I prefer my enemies alive and suffering, not dead and beyond my reach. I didn’t hire them.”
Then she was gone, crimson dress disappearing into the shadows.
I stood there, breathing hard, my entire body trembling with the effort of not pursuing her. Of not giving the fragment what it wanted.
“Kaz.”
Arabella’s hand found mine, her fingers threading through my clenched fist. The touch was gentle, grounding, and it cut through the fragment’s screaming. I forced myself to breathe, to focus on the warmth of her hand instead of the cold rage trying to consume me.
“You were right to stop me,” she continued. “I wanted to kill her. Still do, honestly. But you were right—we don’t need to fight a war on multiple fronts. Solandris first.”
Despite everything, my lips twitched. “Bloodthirsty, aren’t we?”
“She hurt you.” Arabella’s voice went soft and fierce simultaneously. “I don’t forgive that.”
The fragment purred its approval, twisting her protectiveness into something possessive and dark. She’s yours. She defends what’s yours.
“We should head back,” I said abruptly, needing to get away from this corridor, from the lingering scent of Zaraiah’s perfume, from the memory of how close I’d come to losing control. “We’re not finding anything else tonight.”
The walk back was tense and silent. Thorne kept his professional distance, pretending not to notice the way my shadows kept reaching toward Arabella without my conscious direction.
Nyx kept phasing in and out, completely oblivious to the human drama unfolding around her. At one point she emerged from a wall with someone’s boot, looked confused, and phased back in to return it.
We heard a distant yelp of surprise.
When we reached the apartment, I headed straight for the library, intending to lock myself away until I had this thing under control. But Arabella and Nyx followed.
“Kazimir, please. Talk to me.”
I stopped at the doorway, my hand gripping the frame hard enough to make the wood creak. “I can’t be near you right now.”
“What?”
At the pain in her voice, I forced myself to turn, to look at her.
Nyx had positioned herself protectively beside Arabella. The dragon’s silver eyes fixed on me with unmistakable wariness, her tail lashing once in warning. I didn’t know how much the dragon understood, but she knew Arabella was upset and I was the cause.
I couldn’t even be angry about it. The dragon’s instincts were better than mine right now.
Arabella was quiet for a long moment. Then: “What happened during the ritual with the Alchemist?”
Everything. Nothing. The end of the world as I knew it.
I released the doorframe. “We need sleep.” I adopted my best irritating smirk, though it felt like a mask that didn’t quite fit anymore. “Unless you’d like to kick the dragon out of our bed, I’m sleeping in here, so if you don’t mind…”
The words were meant to be final, though not cruel. Arabella narrowed her eyes at me before turning toward the bedroom with Nyx squeezing down the hallway after her.
I closed the library door and leaned against it, letting my head fall back with a dull thud.
Soon, the fragment whispered. Soon you’ll understand. Soon you’ll accept what you are. What you’ve always been.
Mine.
I slid down to the floor, wrapped my arms around my knees, and prepared for a very long night.