Caroline followed Adriana up the steps into the Italian villa, her heart pounding in her chest. It was just over three hours since she’d woken up, an hour more of the flight, and then a slow journey north from Venice, and she’d spent the time imagining all manner of horrors that could occur once they arrived. She’d heard plenty about the Council in the past two years, everyone in the Den regarding them with a strange mix of respect and annoyance, and in her experience, that meant that they were hard task masters, setting arbitrary rules for the sheer pleasure of it, but more than willing to kick anyone’s arse if they broke them.
The foyer was beautiful, white marble and ornate light fittings, and in her long grey robe, smeared with dirt and grass stains, Caroline felt completely out of place. They were going to take one look at her and kick her out. Or tell her to go and have a bath.
Footsteps, and Caroline held her breath. If not for the leash around her neck, she might have been tempted to run away…
An elegant looking lady stepped into the foyer from behind a carved wooden door, and Caroline tried not to cringe. This woman was aristocracy, there was no doubt about it. Tall, dressed in a flowing blue dress, a light application of make up giving her a sophisticated look that made Caroline feel like pond scum. She wore no make up herself, and her hair looked like she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, as the Grey Watch had placed very little importance on physical appearance, far more interested in one’s capabilities at hunting and tracking.
“Eleanor,” Adriana said from beside her, offering the woman a respectful bow. “This is Caroline.”
Eleanor took one look at the collar around her neck and let out a heartfelt sigh. “Is that really necessary?” she asked of Adriana, without even saying hello, and Adriana held her gaze unapologetically.
“Yes, it is.”
Eleanor’s mouth tightened in an expression of displeasure. “Well you can take it off her now.” Adriana didn’t look convinced. “There are guards at the door,” Eleanor said patiently. “And Caroline… no doubt you understand by now that there are some very serious charges against you. This is not intended to be a prison, but if you attempt to leave-”
“I know, I know,” Caroline said, unable to overcome her own impertinence, nervousness showing itself as irritation. “The next assassin you send will just shoot me.” Adriana had informed her of that possibility on the way here, along with a long lecture on how lucky she was to still be alive, and for all her earlier bravado and her resentment of her capture, the idea of dying, now that she’d had the chance to think about it, was rather more frightening than it had been a few hours ago.
Eleanor looked faintly amused. “Good to see you have a grasp of the situation. Please, Adriana, release her.” Adriana did so without a word, unlocking the padlock and sliding the collar off from around her neck. “Now, if you’d like to come upstairs, I’ll show you to your room, and I’m sure you’d like a shower, after your trip.”
Well, she’d been right on the bath side of things, at least, Caroline thought, not quite able to understand the woman’s congenial attitude. She’d rather expected to be locked up straight away, and if anything, the luxurious room she was shown to only made her feel more out of place. Her heavy boots were still caked with mud from the forest, and she paused at the bedroom door to take them off, not wanting to track dirt across the thick carpet.
“There’s a spare change of clothes in the wardrobe,” Eleanor told her, her expression never changing from the look of calm politeness she wore. “Once you’re ready, come downstairs. The rest of the Council is eager to meet you.”
Yeah, right, Caroline thought, as Eleanor left her alone. More like eager to punish her. But there was nothing to be gained from waiting. She headed for the bathroom, scowling at the thick, fluffy towels hanging on the rail, and stripped off her clothes. Time to make herself presentable, before she faced her doom.
Half an hour later, Caroline sat at a long table in a room that looked a lot like the Den’s library, only larger, its high shelves containing thick volumes that seemed ancient. The titles on the spines were in many different languages, Caroline recognising some of them as Spanish, Italian and French, and then there were others, in a script and language she had never seen before.
The room was bright and airy, wide windows giving a view of a sundrenched garden outside, a perfectly blue swimming pool set amongst colourful potted flowers, stone statues and creeping vines. Exactly the sort of setting she’d imagined for a bunch of hoity-toity aristocrats.
But then there were the Council themselves, twelve men and women of various ages, and Caroline was a little startled to see that not all of them were dressed like Eleanor. One of the men wore simple jeans and a t-shirt. One of the women looked like she’d come in straight from the gym. And there were several who seemed to be dressed for combat, encased in black leather, weapons secured about their bodies. Huh. Not quite the rich, poncy line up she’d been anticipating, and the realisation left her feeling a little off balance. She found herself feeling a grudging respect for some of them, the warrior types in particular, and her initial resentment slipped a little. There was no sign of Adriana or any other guards, and Caroline wasn’t sure whether it was because they were confident she wouldn’t try to run away, or because the Council was more than capable of stopping her themselves, if she tried anything.
The hearing was brief. Kendrick had already filled the Council in on Caroline’s actions, and she was given the chance to either confirm or deny the story – she didn’t see any point in denying it, so she simply admitted to everything he had told them – and then she was asked to explain her actions.
The explanation was simple, as far as Caroline was concerned. Her father had killed her mother, possibly with Greg’s involvement, and since the police investigation was not achieving anything useful, she had taken it upon herself to deliver justice. Her anger was understandable, the Council conceded, but in the end, it still broke Il Trosa law, and so they delivered their decision. She was to be ‘retrained’, and Caroline shuddered as she tried to imagine what that could mean.
What were they going to do to her? Would they cage her, as the Den did with new recruits who struggled to merge with their wolves? Beat her? Fuck, she’d put up with enough of that to last a lifetime. Torture her? Starve her? Each new idea conjured up an onslaught of even more terrifying options, Caroline’s imagination running wild as she tried to envisage what her life was going to look like in the near future.
“Excuse me a moment,” Eleanor said, rising gracefully from the table, and she let herself out of the room. Moments later she was back, a young man in tow, and Caroline braced herself for the first wave of this unknown new horror.
“This is Andre,” Eleanor told her. “He’ll be overseeing your training.”
Caroline stared at the man in front of her. He was tall, slightly older than herself, but not by much. He had a warrior’s body, toned muscles, shoulder length hair and two days worth of stubble on his chin. But at the same time, he had a gentleman’s air about him, a look of refined intelligence that made Caroline feel common and stupid.
“Ma’am,” he greeted her respectfully. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Caroline said nothing, confused by such a congenial greeting from the man who had just been assigned to making her life hell for the foreseeable future.
But it was the man’s quiet peacefulness that held her attention. Odd, for someone no doubt trained in violence and prepared to enforce strict rules. There was something unnervingly calm about him, and though Caroline was reluctant to admit it, something inherently trustworthy as well.
“What are you going to do to me?” she asked, her anxiety finally getting the better of her, and the man smiled in a way that was supposed to be reassuring.
“Don’t be concerned,” he said calmly. “We have only your best interests at heart. If you’ll come this way, we’ll get started.”
Andre led Caroline out of the villa and into the wide gardens. Though he was making an effort to appear calm and in control, he was actually nervous as hell. When the Council had been informed that Adriana was bringing Caroline in, they’d called him in for a meeting and told him he was being assigned to retraining duty for the young woman. After Kendrick’s appeal, they’d decided that option was worth a try, rather than putting the young wolf down, and their decision would only change if Caroline herself proved to be unreasonably uncooperative during the meeting.
While he’d been expecting such an assignment sooner or later – studies into psychology were a mandatory part of an assassin’s training, after all – he had become concerned when he’d read the woman’s profile.
“I was wondering if you would consider reassigning Caroline to another trainer,” he’d said to Eleanor, after grabbing a moment to speak to her in private.
“Oh?”
“She’s had a highly traumatic past and is in a very fragile mental state. Her recent actions have been fuelled by a great deal of anger and fear. Perhaps she would be more suited to someone who could better empathise with her situation.”
“On the contrary,” Eleanor replied enigmatically. “I believe you are far better suited to this job than you realise.”
Andre shook his head. “I was raised in a stable, loving home, with a supportive community and a clear purpose for my life. She was raised in a nest of violence and turmoil and has had to fend for herself since she was a young girl. I loved both my parents from the bottom of my heart. She wants to kill one of hers. With all due respect, I’m failing to see any common ground here.”
Eleanor eyed him with an air of indulgence. “Let me first say that I admire your concern for her wellbeing. Even if that concern is a little misplaced. You are more talented than you realise, and I wouldn’t be assigning her to you if I didn’t think you were capable of fulfilling your duties. But aside from that, keep in mind that this is as much about your training as it is hers. Find your common ground. And then everything else will fall into place.”
Eleanor’s confidence in him had done little to reassure him – despite the fact that he was to be overseen by a more experienced staff member. So as he led Caroline outside, his mind was working overtime, reviewing the information he’d been given about her, and trying to come up with a plan of action that had at least a moderate chance of success. Digging up her past was going to be unpleasant for her, and the last thing he wanted to do was make things worse.
They came to a pergola where there were cushioned seats and a view of the forest stretching out below them. “I realise this must all be quite unsettling for you,” he began, seeing the scowl on Caroline’s face, which, if he was right, was a cover for her fear as much as it was an expression of her dissatisfaction with her current situation. “So I thought we would begin with teaching you some meditation techniques.”
Caroline snorted. “Meditation? You want me to sit in the lotus position and say ‘om’ for hours?”
Andre allowed himself a small smile. “There’s far more to meditation than that. It’s a process that quiets the mind, turns it inwards and allows you to discover your own motivations and re-evaluate your beliefs. It allows you to travel to the source of your own thoughts and feelings, and to view them with a level of objectivity.”
Caroline raised a sardonic eyebrow at him. “Believe me, the last place I want to be spending time is inside my own head.”
And that, right there, was one of their first problems. Caroline’s impulsiveness and rebellious attitude were likely due in part to her own reluctance for introspection.
“We’ll be taking small steps. And you’re free to discuss any concerns with me as we go along. So please, take a seat. Make yourself comfortable. We can start with some simple breathing exercises.”
“Look… what’s the deal here?” Caroline interrupted, completely ignoring his instructions. “I thought I was brought here for ‘retraining’. Aren’t you supposed to lecture me on loyalty and how breaking the rules is a betrayal of your values and a risk to security, and then assign me to toilet-cleaning duty if I don’t agree with you?”
Andre shook his head, grateful that he had a naturally patient disposition. Because he was beginning to get the impression that Caroline was going to be pushing his patience to the very limit. And they hadn’t even begun yet. He’d never met anyone quite so defensive about the simplest things.
“Coercion and force have never made anyone change their mindset in the slightest,” he explained, “unless it was to make them even more stubborn and rebellious. My job here is to help you see new perspectives on life, to consider points of view that you haven’t considered before. The idea is to let you reach your own conclusions about all this, not force my views upon you.”
Caroline looked utterly confused, and if it was possible, even more defensive.
“Please, sit down,” Andre said again, taking a seat himself. “There’s nothing to be worried about. Let’s just take this one day at a time.”