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A sharp blade pressed against my neck. I froze. Blood pounded in my veins beneath the cold kiss of steel.
“If I hadn’t turned down the contract offered by the Builders’ Guild, you’d be dead right now.” The sword left my throat. “Lucky you.”
“Shade.” I blew out an exasperated chuckle. “Always a pleasure.”
A late summer wind blew its warm breeze across the rooftops as I rose and turned to face the Master of the Assassins’ Guild. Red and orange streaks from the setting sun painted the city in colorful hues all around us. I let my stiletto blade disappear back into my sleeve as I studied the assassin through narrowed eyes.
“The Builders’ Guild wanted to put a hit on me?” I frowned. “Why?”
Shade tilted his head slightly to the right. “You did assassinate their Guild Master, remember?”
“Well, yeah, but no one’s supposed to know that. How the hell did they find out?”
“Don’t know. But when I turned down the contract I told them it was because I knew you hadn’t done it so there’d be no point in carrying it out.” He offered me a light shrug. “They seemed to take my word for it.”
I lifted my eyebrows at him. Huh. That had been uncharacteristically generous.
When Shade noticed the expression on my face, he cracked a lopsided grin. “Also, they didn’t pay enough. If they’d offered more money, I’d definitely have taken the contract anyway.”
“Obviously,” I replied with a short shake of my head. “So, what do you want? I’m assuming you’re not just here to tell me the Builders’ Guild is stingy with money.”
For a moment, the Master Assassin just leaned his shoulder against the brick face of the chimney and regarded me with that soul-penetrating gaze of his. Below us, the chatter of people moving around the Merchants’ Quarter mingled with the distant squawk of seagulls. After he had let the silence stretch a while longer, Shade uncrossed his arms and straightened.
“I am here to offer you your deepest desire.”
Surprised laughter erupted from my chest before I managed to slap a hand over my mouth. Well, hadn’t that been an unexpected statement? Especially coming from him.
“That right?” I replied once I’d let my arm drop back down. “And what would that be?”
He gave me a quick rise and fall of his eyebrows. “Come with me and you’ll find out.”
“As a matter of fact, I can actually tell when I’m being set up for a sales pitch, you know.”
Shade’s black eyes glittered in the golden light. “Fair enough. But aren’t you curious what I’m selling?”
I was. Very curious, in fact. Usually when he wanted something from me, he blackmailed me or manipulated me into doing it for him, but not this time. This time, it seemed as though he wanted me to agree to it willingly. How odd. I wondered what had changed.
However, before I could open my mouth to voice any of that out loud, he simply cracked another lopsided smile, turned, and strode away while leaving me there to decide what my next move would be. Blowing out a noisy breath, I threw my hands in the air and stalked after him. Curiosity hadn’t killed anyone. Well, maybe some people. But not me, I hoped.
We jogged along the Thieves’ Highway in comfortable silence before climbing down the side of a dressmaker’s shop at the expensive end of the Merchants’ Quarter. People from all steps of the social ladder bustled past us, trying to finish their afternoon activities before darkness blanketed the city.
“You have a lot of enemies,” Shade suddenly stated.
A group of seamstresses carrying bundles of colorful fabric blocked the way so I had to weave through them before I could turn back towards the assassin. “Well, yeah, so do you.” I frowned at him. “What’s your point?”
“Yeah, I have enemies too,” Shade confirmed before leveling piercing eyes on me. “But very few of them dare come at me. The point is, you are not powerful enough to make your enemies leave you alone.”
Not powerful enough, huh? And yet, here I was. Still alive after everything they’d tried to bring me down. A smirk spread across my face. “Let them come.”
Shade released a pleasant chuckle and shook his head just as the hulking shape of the Silver Keep became visible in the distance. Its white marble walls gleamed in the afternoon light. A sense of déjà vu flashed through me. Now that I thought about it, I realized that all my most recent adventures had begun with a meeting at the royal palace. Goosebumps prickled my skin. This is how it starts.
Not wanting to show the Master Assassin just how curious I was about this deepest desire of mine that was apparently located in the Silver Keep, I simply continued following him through the silver-speckled passageways in silence. The doors to King Edward’s study had been left gaping so we both slid through the opening without knocking.
“Ah, you’re back.” The young king looked up from his messy desk and gave us a bright smile. “Perfect.”
“Good to see you,” I said with a nod.
It felt a bit inadequate after everything we’d survived together at the beginning of summer, but making conversation wasn’t exactly my strong suit, so it was the best I could do.
“And you,” he replied before motioning at the two chairs in front of the desk. “Please, have a seat.” After I’d dropped into the empty one next to Shade, King Edward continued. “I, well, we, have a proposition for you.”
“Yes, I was promised my deepest desire,” I said with a glance at the assassin next to me.
King Edward chuckled. “Yes, Shade seems to think so at least.” He cleared his throat. “At the end of the week, that tall ship in the harbor will leave for Pernula. How would you like to be on it?”
I sat back and blinked at him. How would I like to be on it? I knew they’d been getting ready all summer to send a ship across the wild sea and I had spent many a night trying to figure out how to manipulate events so that I would be on it as well. But my scheming had been quite unsuccessful. Or so I’d thought.
A wide grin threatened to appear on my face so I ran a hand across my chin to wipe it off. “What’s in it for me?” I said instead.
Shade whipped his head towards me and drew his eyebrows down. “Oh, shut up. Of course she’s in,” he said and cast a quick look at King Edward before turning back to me. “Being on the first ship to the continent? There’s no way you’d pass that up. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Fahr brothers vowed to come back and kill you, so going after them first is in your self-interest.” He looked me up and down. “And if there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you do whatever it takes to survive.”
My mouth was left open without producing any sound. After William and Eric Fahr had left with the Pernulans a few months ago, I’d been getting ready to go after them so I could end the threat to me and those I care about before it got started again. I’d even started learning Pernish. Hmmph. Shade had calculated the situation exactly right. Damn him for seeing right through me.
The excited smile I’d tried to hide earlier settled on my lips. “Yeah, alright.” I let out a small sigh and shook my head at the Master Assassin before turning to the black-eyed king. “I would love to be on that ship.”
King Edward matched my smile and gave me a nod. “It’s decided then.” He leaned back in his chair. “For the operation we have in mind, we need a small team with a very specific skillset and Shade suggested that you would be a perfect addition to it.”
“Did he now?” I said and raised my eyebrows at the suddenly very flustered-looking assassin.
The young king suppressed a chuckle. “Can I assume Liam will be joining as well?”
I nodded. “Yeah, there’s no way I’ll be able to talk him out of it.”
“Good. From what I’ve been told, he possesses charm that...” He cleared his throat. “...other people in our elite team lack. And it saves me from having to send an unknown to fill that position. I need people I can trust for this mission.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You trust me?”
Edward cocked his head slightly to the right. “Oddly enough, yes, I think I do.”
The King of Keutunan trusted me? Huh. Did so not see that coming. I wasn’t even sure I trusted me.
A metallic ringing echoed through the room. King Edward whipped his head towards the large clock by the wall. Scrolls sailed through the air and landed on the floor in a rustle of paper as he flew up from the chair. We both stared at him in surprise.
“By all the gods, the Council of Lords!” He rounded the desk and marched towards the doors. “I forgot about the special meeting I called. Shade, fill her in on the rest and then see if you can find us that last recruit.”
“Will do,” Shade replied but Edward was already gone.
Turning my head, I looked between the assassin and the empty doorway. Shade pushed off from the chair and smirked at me.
“Told you you’d get your heart’s deepest desire.”
I snorted. “Uh-huh.”
“Come on, your first assignment as a member of this team starts now.” Without waiting for a reply, he strode towards the door.
After an irritated shake of my head, I followed. Well, to be fair, I might’ve been annoyed that he was once again ordering me around, but nothing could dim the excitement sparkling in my chest. I would be on the first boat to Pernula. There was no telling what extraordinary wonders we might find there. This was what I’d been waiting for. I grinned to myself as I caught up with Shade in the corridor. Adventure lay waiting for me in the land beyond the horizon – and I was so ready to meet it.