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Full of cake and lemonade, as Zaina had explained the drink was called, we left the cozy café behind. Hopefully, we would get to visit the Lemon Tree Café many more times before our mission in Pernula was over.
“Alright, I need to go take care of some things with my gang but you can find your way back to the school, right?” Zaina said.
She had previously explained that their Underworld wasn’t organized in guilds, it was made up of gangs. I still found that word funny. Gang. As if they were a bunch of unruly street urchins. I suppressed the chuckle building in my chest and instead nodded in response to her question.
“Good. I’ll see you tonight then.” She fired off a quick salute before trotting off down the street.
“I’ve actually made friends with a nice couple who sell hats,” Liam said. “I promised to join them for tea this afternoon.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” He lifted his shoulders in a light shrug. “Norah introduced me to them. They’re actually pretty influential with people who sell clothes and stuff so if I can get them on our side, they’ll be pretty good for our campaign.”
Why had I bothered to raise my eyebrows? As if Liam making connections was in any way a surprise. That boy could make friends with an anti-social pine cone if he really wanted to. Everyone who met him liked him.
“We’ve actually also got somewhere to be,” Haemir said and waved a hand at his sister. “There’s this... debate club, kind of, that we’ve been working on getting invited to.”
“Great, stay on that,” Shade said. “I’m going to head to Blackspire and pay Marcellus a visit.” He turned to me and arched an eyebrow. “Wanna come?”
At first, I drew back a little in surprise but a grin quickly descended on my face. “For sure.”
Elaran huffed and crossed his arms. “I guess I’ll just go back to the school then. And... strategize.”
I had to twist away and pretend to look at a passing couple so that the grumpy elf wouldn’t see the amusement on my face. Once I’d finally managed to wipe the self-satisfied smile off my lips, I turned back.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. “See you guys later then.”
“Later!”
“Yep, see you!”
After we’d exchanged goodbyes with the rest of our group, Shade and I started towards the palace. A horse carriage thundered down the road, which made people leap out of the way. I nimbly stepped around it before rejoining the assassin on the other side.
“So, we’re gonna break into Blackspire?” I said.
He snorted. “Yeah, right.”
When I just furrowed my brows and kept staring at him, he seemed to finally realize that I was being serious. His pleasant-sounding laugh filled the air.
“You seriously believed we were going to break into the castle, the castle, blind and in broad daylight – and you still agreed to come?”
I lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Well, yeah.”
Shade tilted his head slightly to the right while studying me. “You really are quite something, aren’t you?” He let out another brief chuckle. “No, we’re going to do something even better.”
He paused dramatically, waiting for me to ask what it was, but I just spun my hand in the air a couple of times, motioning for him to get on with it.
The Master Assassin shook his head. “We are going to walk straight in through the front doors.”
Now it was my time to stare at him in surprise. “And how exactly are we gonna accomplish that?”
“Wait and see.”
Damn assassin and his damn secrets. Again. However, I knew it was no use trying to pry the information from him. If he didn’t want to share, he wasn’t going to share. And besides, I didn’t want him to see how much it irked me when he did stuff like this. So instead of asking more questions, I just gave him a lazy shrug.
We moved through the rest of the Inner Ring in comfortable silence. Zaina had explained that the city was divided into three rings, starting from Blackspire with the Inner Ring, then the Middle Ring, and lastly the Outer Ring. The inner one was the most expensive and then property value decreased the further out you got. Despite that, Pernula’s Underworld gangs seemed to somehow be present in every ring, which I found rather fascinating.
“When we get to the gate, let me do the talking,” Shade said, interrupting my musings.
“Fine.”
In front of us, rays hit the palace’s slick black surface, making it gleam like a dark jewel in the midday sun. Two guards in full armor protected the gate we approached. Before we reached them, I had time to wonder how insufferably hot it must be standing there in those clothes while heat bore down on them from above.
“Who are you?” the blond one on the left demanded.
“Oh, you might have seen me up on the stage earlier today,” Shade said in a pleasant voice. “My name is Shade. I am one of the candidates for the position of General.”
The blond guard’s partner nodded in confirmation. “He is. I remember him.”
“Great,” the Master Assassin continued. “I am here to speak with General Marcellus. Candidate to candidate.”
Both men shifted their eyes to me. “And who is this?” the dark-haired one on the right asked.
“This is my assistant.”
It took all my self-control not to burst out laughing. Assistant? I had to have been the most well-armed assistant they’d ever seen. He’d have been better off telling them I was his bodyguard.
“You’re going to have to leave all your weapons before you enter Blackspire,” the blond one informed us.
“Of course,” Shade said with another pleasant smile.
After a curt nod from the guards, they pulled open the gate and ushered us through. Inside we were met by more armed men and also a bunch of clerks who recorded our inventory and promised we would get them back when we left. While I removed my blades, another clerk explained different palace rules that I only half listened to, until at last a bespectacled man arrived to guide us into Blackspire.
“You have a few left, don’t you?” Shade asked me, knowing I would understand that he meant knives.
“Mm-hmm. You do as well, right?”
The Master of the Assassins’ Guild gave me a lopsided smile in reply. I shook my head at the memory of the guards back at the gate. Such amateurs. In front of us, our guide blabbered on about the gardens on either side of the stone path we followed. Flowers and bushes didn’t excite me that much but I pretended to be fascinated by them while mapping the area in my head. Though, it was pretty. Even I had to admit that.
“Here we are,” the clerk said as we stopped outside two very tall double doors. “Now remember, don’t touch any of the paintings.”
Frowning, I was just about to question why in Nemanan’s name someone would want to touch the paintings, but a sharp look from Shade stopped me before the comment made it past my lips.
“Of course,” the eloquent assassin said instead.
The bespectacled man gave us a satisfied nod and then pulled open the doors. A long hallway met us on the other side. Red carpets, paintings, and other details of the same color, complemented the polished black interior. Craning my neck, I looked up at the high ceiling. Okay, this was rather beautiful.
“Follow me, please,” our guide said and started down the corridor.
While he led us deeper into the palace, I continued adding to my mental map. By the expression on Shade’s face, he was doing the same. After a while, we arrived at a pair of closed doors. The clerk knocked twice.
“What is it?” a voice called in Pernish from the other side.
“You have two visitors, General,” our guide replied.
“I’m in a meeting.”
“I apologize, General. I will tell Candidate Shade and his assistant to come back later.” He turned to us. “I am sorry, but as you can hear, General Marcellus is busy. If you want you can–”
One of the doors was thrown open. In the doorway stood the man who had tried to kill us and take over our city.
“Candidate Shade,” General Marcellus said and flashed a brilliant smile. “And the Oncoming Storm. I think I can make some time for you.” He pushed the door open wider. “Please, come in.”
The clerk who had guided us here inclined his head towards his general and stepped back. Shade and I exchanged a look before striding across the threshold. The door clicked shut behind us.
“We were just talking about you,” Marcellus said while two blond men stood up from their chairs.
Oh. Them. I felt the comforting weight of the knives in my sleeves.
“If it isn’t William and Eric Fahr.” Shade’s eyes had taken on a predatory glint. “The brothers who murdered the Queen Mother and betrayed their country.”
“Shade,” the younger Lord Fahr spat before turning cold blue eyes to me. “And I see you brought the thief who butchered my son.”
“I did, yes. But in my defense, I didn’t know I would find you here, advising a ruler of Pernula.”
Marcellus barreled past and took up position in the middle of the room full of murderers. “Why are you here? And more importantly, why are you running for General in my country?”
The Master Assassin turned hard eyes on the General. “You tried to mess with my country. Now, I’m going to mess with yours. Well, you, specifically. You are going to lose this election. To me or someone else. Unless... you give me what I want.”
“And what would that be?”
“Before this election is over, you will have signed a peace treaty between Pernula and the nations of Keutunan and Tkeideru.”
Uncontrolled laughter exploded from General Marcellus’ chest. “I have a better idea. How about I kill you right now and bury you in a shallow grave?”
Shade tapped a finger to his jaw, pretending to think hard. “You could. But don’t you think murdering your opponent would, I don’t know, taint the election? If I were to mysteriously disappear only hours after I challenged you publicly, how do you think the fine citizens of Pernula would react?”
Marcellus opened his mouth but then closed it again. The Fahr brothers just continued watching the exchange with venomous stares.
“How unfortunate that your horse ran away today so that you made a bad first impression,” the assassin pressed on. “It would be a shame if something like that happened again.”
The General’s eyes widened as realization dawned but before he could say anything, a vicious grin settled on Shade’s lips.
“Come find me when you’re ready to sign that peace treaty.” And with that, the Master of the Assassins’ Guild turned and strode towards the door.
After giving the Fahr brothers a smile as sharp as one of my knives, I followed Shade out the door. It banged as I pulled it closed behind us. I let out a soft chuckle as we started towards the exit. Damn. Shade sure was an arrogant bastard if I’d ever met one. And I kind of liked it. I would’ve handled the situation in that room in almost exactly the same way.
We’d had our ups and down over the years. And by that, of course, I mean we’d threatened, blackmailed, and outright tried to kill each other on more than one occasion. Not sure if that would qualify as ups and downs for other people, but for us, it was pretty normal. Anyway, I was glad we were on the same side this time. I glanced at the athletic assassin next to me as we finally reached the outer doors. The two of us working together. Not just trying to manipulate each other but really working together. I released another soft chuckle. Oh, imagine the damage we could do.