2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Konrad
I have always prided myself on my instincts and being able to detect my bounty’s next move. That is why I’m one of the most sought-after mercenaries in Middle Imparia and my clients pay premium coin for my services.
But my latest bounty kissing me? Did not see that coming.
Well, that answers whether she has a brand-new bridegroom.
Valda’s hand slides from my face to behind my neck, tangling with my chin-length hair. Her other arm wraps around my waist. And her lips . . .
I’ve never come across such skill, and I follow her lead into the kiss. Follow her lead into the room. Fall into the trance of her scent— a perfumer’s combination of lavender, violet, and bleeding heart. But there is something else— something I can’t quite pinpoint . . .
She kisses my bottom lip in a way that makes me want to devour her. I want to completely lose myself in the essence of her. Flowers, sweets, and ale.
That bitter taste entwined with the sweet startles me. I stiffen, unfolding my hands from my back. Then I place them on Valda’s shoulders and gently push her away from me, breaking the intoxicating connection between us .
Her bedroom door is closing behind us, and I kick one foot back to stop it before it seals me into her bedchambers.
Valda blinks up at me, her lashes fanning her face, but her eyes are strangely alert. “Is something the matter?”
“I, er—” I ease backward, not sure what to say. “This is hardly proper.” Which should be something a Baroness like herself would be concerned about, not the mercenary seeking vengeance against her father.
“That’s all right.” Valda steps toward me, her hands resting on my chest. “I can be quite improper when it pleases me.” Her nails bite into my shirt.
I slip my hand around the door I’m keeping ajar with my foot. “You’ve had a few sips of ale too many, methinks. I’ll leave you to sleep it off—”
Her face falls, and she releases her hold of me to wrap her arms around herself. A moment ago, she had seemed magnificently larger than life, drawing me toward whatever destiny she determined. Now, she looks once again like the damsel in distress I plucked from the bar.
I glance between the sliver of hall and her, not sure what the best course of action is just now in terms of either chivalry and my mission.
None of this is going according to plan.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, her bottom lip trembling innocently, like it wasn’t kissing me moments ago. “This is my first time on my own, and I’m frightened by the thought of being alone. Which is foolish, I know. I ran away to be alone because I wanted to be free, and now I’m terrified.” Her words become incomprehensible past her sniffling.
I almost reach out with my free hand to comfort her, but I realize it might have ulterior motives and stuff it into my breeches pocket instead. “You’re not foolish.” The lie slips from my lips so easily. She doesn’t even know how foolish she is, inviting the man who’s been tracking her since she departed from her father’s baronage yesterday eve into her bedchambers.
“And now I’ve finally found a gentleman, but I’ve driven you away . . .”
“I’d hardly be gentlemanly if I didn’t step back. You don’t even know my name.” Hoping that will sober her, I open the door wider and step back into the hallway.
“I’m Valda,” she murmurs, glancing up demurely, her hair a curtain around her face.
“Konrad,” I offer before I can consider the consequences of honesty.
Valda smiles. “Would you mind staying with me tonight, Konrad? You can have the second cot— it wouldn’t be outrageous at all.”
I glance toward the cots in question, both far nicer than the ones in my room. Is it just the men downstairs that have her so alarmed? Or was it the sense of being followed by me that has her so on edge?
Either way, I shake my head. I did not come prepared for a late-night abduction.
That I even am thinking such things is unheard of. I adhere to the rules of the Mercenary Guild, which, in turn, obey the laws of the land. The only deviation from the rules I’m guilty of is being a werw?lfe when my kind is sentenced to be killed on sight.
Even now, my vengeance follows the guideline of the kinsman avenger. Except for the part where the innocent aren’t supposed to be involved. “My room is just down the hall. I’ll hear if there is any trouble. But in the meantime, I have someone waiting for me in my own room . . .”
Valda’s eyes widen, and even in the candlelit dimness, the darkness of her gaze glitters. “Oh! I did not realize you already had . . . a companion. ”
“Not like that,” I say quickly, before she can make any untoward connection between Eloise and me. “I, uh, just need to leave. But tomorrow?” Tomorrow, everything is laid out nicely. It will be even nicer if she walked into the trap beside me.
My bounty’s face brightens. “I have no plans tomorrow. We could see the city together?”
Trotzdem doesn’t offer much to see except the ocean, but the wharf is exactly where I need to take her. “It would be my honor to escort you.”
She closes the distance between us, a small smile on the lips I tasted just moments ago. “So, until dawn, then?”
I tip my head. “Until dawn.” Then I close the door between us.
“What was that?”
“Son of a werw?lfe!” I hiss at the sweet voice. Then I wince again as I turn to the thin form standing in the hallway. “Um, don’t repeat that.”
Eloise stares at me with her large green eyes that are currently the same shade as the sea. “Why not? I’m a daughter of a werw?lfe . ”
I quickly glance around the hall to make sure we’re alone before ushering her into our room. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you.” She stares at me, the picture of innocence. Her golden-brown hair— only coincidentally the same color as mine— hangs down her shoulders, strategically arranged to disguise her pointed ears as I taught her.
We both have aspects of our nature we need to keep hidden from the mortals that outnumber our kinds.
“But I told you to stay in the room until I returned.”
“I recognized your footfalls. They were so loud.” She twists her face, reminding me what an insult that is from an elf, or a kinfolk as she prefers to be called.
“Yes, well, I was still . . . interacting with our bounty. ”
Eloise crosses her arms and gives me a look I didn’t think I’d have to worry about until her troublesome years. But life has unfortunately aged her beyond her eight years. “You mean when you were kissing her?”
I groan and try very hard not to think of the memory and risk flushing. “ She was kissing me .”
“I thought it took two people to kiss.” She cocks her head to one side.
“I’ll . . . explain when you’re older.”
She throws her hands into the air. “You always say that!”
“Trust me— there is plenty you don’t want to know.” I sink onto the edge of the bed.
“Like how evil mortals are?” Eloise sits at the edge of her own cot without making a sound, a skill she learned from the parents who brought her into this world. The ones who knew what they were doing raising a young girl and didn’t have to yank her around on jobs.
Soon, though, I’ll be able to provide a proper home for her. After this final job. The only one that’s ever been personal. Despite my Guild master’s warning.
“The one and only rule of the mercenary trade is to never be your own client. The job must always be impersonal. The moment emotions get involved, you’re through.”
Eloise kicks her breeches-clad legs back and forth. It’s a reminder that cannot even afford to buy her a nice dress— yet. “Because I already know about that evil.”
My shoulders sag at the reminder of what I wasn’t in time to prevent. The tragedy that left me as Eloise’s guardian after I failed to protect the rest of her family. The rest of my family.
The Night of the Broken Walls, when lawlessness against the good citizens of Constantinium was legalized. Specifically, it was allowed to prevail against those with pointed ears to differentiate from mortals— elves like Eloise and our family .
I clear my throat, trying to think of anything to say to steer our minds from the subject. “Well, Valda doesn’t understand evil.”
Eloise raises one thin eyebrow. “Valda?”
“ Lady Valda.” Not that she kissed like a titled noblewoman ought to, but that is neither here nor there. Besides that skill, her naivety was overwhelming. “As well-acquainted as her father is with wickedness, one would think he would warn her.”
“Do you think her father loves her?” Eloise’s eyes widen as she hugs her thin legs to herself.
“Why would you even ask that? Do you think you aren’t loved?” I frown at how frail she looks in this light. “Are you still hungry? Was the supper I sent up not enough?” I stand to run down and grab another bowl of gruel.
Eloise rolls her eyes. “I’m fine , Abi . I’m just nervous about Baron Schwerin not paying the ransom for Lady Valda and this all being for naught.”
“Oh, he will against the good citizens of Constantinium if only to save his pride. We both know he doesn’t actually have the heart to protect what he’s called on to protect.” Kicking off my boots, I fall back onto my cot. “You know, you don’t have to call me ‘ Abi .’ ‘Uncle’ or ‘cousin’ will do.”
“But you’re not my cousin anymore. You’re my guardian and my family’s kinsman avenger.” Eloise yawns dramatically despite her grave words. “And my guardian and my provider. So that means you’re my abi . Not my aba , though. He’s gone . . .” Her voice breaks, and she glances away.
I tilt my head to face her, feeling that constant sensation of overwhelm that has been a merciful distraction from the grief. I have been failing miserably on all accounts, but once this bounty is completed, I shall have achieved vengeance as well as finally be capable of providing for Eloise in all the ways a young girl deserves .
“Oh!” Eloise perks up for a moment and points to a glass vial on the table between our cots. There are a few drops of a green substance within. “I finished brewing that sleep tonic you requested.”
“Thank you, pup. You make an excellent accomplice.”
She grins before a flash of grief passes across her face again, never truly far away. I wish my own grief were less so I could comfort her more.
“Can you tell me a scary story to put me to sleep with?”
Our loss. What I’ve done. But neither are worth repeating.
I raise an eyebrow. “If you don’t go to sleep soon, the spirit of a vampiric estrie will float through the wall and drink both your blood and your memories.”
“ Boring .”
“But true.”
Eloise’s eyes widen. “Really?”
“Yep.” I push myself up the cot to the straw pillow. “Now get some sleep, Eloise. We have a kidnapping in the morning.”