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SORCHA TELEPORTED AROUND the Fae District a few times before heading home. Her jubilation at spending time with Kade had faded. Any joy she experienced would be short lived until she could break free from her masters.
Something hit her bay window and she jolted in surprise. The storm hadn’t arrived yet, but lightning was striking the edges of the city and it was raining hard. Another object bounced off her window, but she figured it was just hail. Two more came in quick succession as she sat down on her gold divan. She frowned when she saw the drapes were slightly parted, then drew them open.
Her head jerked back when a projectile hit the glass directly in front of her face. Looking down, she saw someone standing beneath the feeble light of the streetlamp. Gladness surged through her when she recognized Kade. She waved at him when he went to throw another pebble at her window. He waved back and nodded when she crooked her finger at him. It was enough of an invitation for him to be able to enter the mansion. She crossed to the door to her apartment to wait for him.
Hearing the door open and close down below, Sorcha made sure she was standing in front of the image on her door as the courier ascended the stairs. His clothes were soaked as he trudged up to her, but they became clean and dry as she watched. Her smile vanished when she saw his grim face beneath his hood. “What’s wrong?” she asked, noticing he wasn’t carrying his parcel. He hadn’t had time to deliver it and return to her home this quickly.
“Who do you work for, Sorcha?” Kade asked. His tone was as cold as his purple eyes. Before she could come up with a lie, he took hold of her by her shoulders and pulled her away from the door. He showed no surprise when he saw the dagger that was embedded in the wood. “You’re an assassin,” he said. It was a statement rather than a question.
Sorcha knew she couldn’t come up with an excuse that would absolve her of her crimes. She’d known all along that they couldn’t have a lasting relationship, but she’d hoped it would last longer than it had. He was better off without her and his life would be far safer without her in it. “That’s right,” she said, holding her head high and clenching her hands so he couldn’t see how badly they were trembling. “I work for the Immortal Triumvirate. I kill the targets they send me after.”
He dropped his hands as if he’d been burned and took several steps back to distance himself from her. His expression was betrayed and accusing as he looked at her with utter scorn. “I knew there was something off about you, but I refused to see it,” he said almost to himself. “You killed that fairy the first night I saw you standing on the sidewalk.”
“That was me,” she confirmed, willing her voice not to quaver.
His disgust was plain when he looked her up and down as if she was a diseased whore. “You might look beautiful on the outside, but you’re a monster on the inside,” he told her. “I don’t want anything to do with a killer like you.” With the pronouncement, he turned on his heel and loped down the stairs.
Sorcha waited until she heard the door slam shut before shambling into her apartment. She shut the door, then turned to the wall. The sorceress held out her hands and unleashed her rage, pain and despair. For a moment, she felt the barrier Lord Dallinar had placed in her mind to control her magic waver, but she lost her concentration before she could break it.
When she dropped her hands, a mural had been blasted onto the wall with ice. It was the same six figures who were confronting the Immortal Triumvirate, but two of them now had faces. One of the cloaked men was Kade Sinclair. She was the woman standing at his side. Their hands were clasped and their fingers were entwined in solidarity.
Tears overwhelmed the assassin and she dropped to her knees to weep brokenly. She wasn’t hurt that a mere courier had just told her she was a monster. She didn’t care about Kade’s origins or about his position in the Magic Guild. Sorcha cared about his opinion of her and he’d just shown her how low his regard for her was.
When she’d finally worn herself out and her tears petered to a stop, Sorcha looked up at the mural. The ice had melted, but the images were engraved into the gold wallpaper. Her expression was fierce, yet serene in the etching, as if she’d found her place in Nox and knew she was where she was meant to be. Kade’s expression was determined as he faced the trio of lords who had created the City of Night.
She wasn’t sure why her mind had conjured up these images. For some strange reason, her subconscious had decided Kade was one of the rebels who would fight to right the wrongs within Nox. The notion was ridiculous, since he was just a low-level member of the Magic Guild. It was just wishful thinking that he could be powerful enough to help her fight her enemies.
Her despair lingered as she climbed to her feet and crossed to her divan. She sat down and ran her hand over the velvety fabric. The memory of being with Kade was burned into her brain and nothing could take that away from her. He’d grown suspicious of who and what she was after she’d received the assassination order. Seeing the dagger on her door had confirmed his hunch. The courier was smart and had good instincts. If he’d had more power, he would probably have risen high within the Magic Guild.
“The Immortal Triumvirate probably would have ordered me to kill him,” she said dully and drew her knees up and hugged them to her chest. A cup of tea appeared on the windowsill, but it went cold as she gazed out at the storm that had picked up in intensity. Her mind and soul were in turmoil, but she reached a decision that calmed her down again. It was time to put her childish fantasies aside. The gypsy fortune teller’s prediction had been wrong. Sorcha didn’t have an important destiny. She wasn’t fated to meet a man who could save her from her misery. She was an assassin and a monster and that was never going to change.
A fresh cup of tea appeared, replacing the cold one. She took a shaky breath, then picked it up and sipped the steaming brew. A bleak smile formed when she realized it was infused with one of her calming potions. Her thoughts cleared enough for her to work out her options. There was really only one course of action she could take now.
Her wanderings through the Vampire District had finally given her a lead about Sebastian. She would watch the mansion with the crowned bat and the dagger on the door until she ascertained whether the master vampire she was hunting lived there. If she could confirm her target resided in the mansion, she would devise a way to kill him.
Eden and Malachi had both died trying to attain this goal, but Sorcha wasn’t deterred. If she died while trying to assassinate the leech, then so be it. It would be better to die than to continue to live this wretched existence she’d been forced into.
