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Shocked black eyes met me as I climbed onto the platform. I smirked at him. Shade waited in the row at the back of the stage with the rest of the candidates and their attendants. Crossing my arms, I took up position next to him.
“I thought I told you to say away,” he said in a low and deadly voice.
“And I thought I told you that following orders isn’t exactly my specialty.”
He barked a short laugh and shook his head. “If this goes sideways, we’ll have to fight our way out but there are no weapons allowed on stage.”
“You mean, there are no visible weapons allowed on stage.”
His mouth curved into a smile as he glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Correct.”
I flicked a discreet hand in the direction of a building across the square. “The twins are waiting on that roof.”
Blackspire cast long shadows in the setting sun, making it too dark for human eyes to see them from this distance, but Haela and Haemir had said they’d be there so I knew they were. Shade stared across the sea of murmuring people.
“Elaran?” he asked.
“Don’t know. I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Haemir said he often disappears when he’s not sure where he stands. He likes to think alone, apparently.”
The Master Assassin nodded. “The others?”
“Out there in the crowd somewhere. They wanted to see how it ends but promised to stay away from any fights.”
“Unlike some.”
I snorted and was just about to retort when the large man with the double chin who had been moderating all the speeches and debates stepped up on stage. All around us, the audience fell silent. He ran both hands down the front of his shirt to smoothen it before making his way to the front of the stage. I drew a deep breath. This was it.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he boomed across the area. “The votes are in.”
My heart hammered against my ribcage. Zaina had explained that they would announce the exact number of votes each candidate had received from the different social classes. Since we already knew we were screwed with the nobles, the only votes that really mattered were the ones that would be announced after that. The workers. That included everyone. Merchants, sailors, laborers. Soldiers.
I had no idea how large a percentage of the citizens actually voted. All of them? Half? Ten percent? Estimating great numbers wasn’t something I’d done often so I didn’t even know how many people lived in this city. Therefore, when they announced the votes for one candidate, it was impossible to know how many had already voted and how many votes remained in each class.
“As usual, we will start with the position of High Priest,” the heavyset man continued.
It took all my self-control not to pace back and forth across the stage while the votes were announced. The audience clapped and cheered enthusiastically when High Priest Sorah was announced as the winner. Sorah? I recognized that name. Wasn’t he the current High Priest?
When the votes for Master of Knowledge were announced and Herodotos was named winner, my stomach twisted. They had both been the current holders of their position. Maybe this really was how all Pernula’s elections went. The same three people were voted in again and again until they died. If that was the case, what chance had we ever really had to win?
“And now, for the position of General,” the election supervisor called. “From the nobles we have the following votes. For Marcellus, nine thousand six hundred and fifty-three.”
It’s over nine thousand? Given that the number of nobles living in this city couldn’t be all that many, I shook my head. I might not be able to accurately estimate population numbers but even I could figure out that we would get next to no votes from the elite class.
“For Konstantin, zero,” he continued. “For Gregory, zero. For Suleiman, one hundred and sixty-three. For Jeremiah, zero. For Shade, forty-two.”
Man, wasn’t that depressing? Marcellus had gotten over nine thousand and Shade had only received forty-two. But the nobles had never been our target anyway, so I wasn’t too discouraged.
“And now, to the votes from the workers. For Marcellus, one hundred and twenty-three thousand five hundred and twelve.”
My eyes widened. That was a lot of people. I wondered if that was only people living in the actual city of Pernula or if that included people who lived out in the country. Why had I never asked Norah or Zaina about how many people lived inside the city walls and how many lived out on the land surrounding it?
“For Konstantin, zero. For Gregory, six hundred and seventy-two. For Suleiman, sixteen thousand eight hundred and six. For Jeremiah, two hundred and ten.”
That treacherous heart of mine beat so hard I thought it would rip from my chest. I drummed my fingers against my thigh. If my calculations were correct, we needed one hundred and thirty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty-four votes to win. Was that even doable? How many soldiers were there in this city? How many of them voted? Had any merchants voted for us? I swore I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. Gods damn it. We had to win.
“For Shade...”
I held my breath.
“Eighty-six thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight.”
Everything, the noise, the people, the stage, seemed to fade away as the whole world crashed down around me. We had lost. I forced short breaths in and out of my lungs. After everything we had done, after all the fights and assassination attempts we had survived, we had still lost the election. And now we would die.
“Arrest the terrorists!” General Marcellus bellowed across the stage.
I whipped my head towards Shade. He looked as stunned as I was but he recovered quickly and magicked two long daggers out of his clothes.
“Now we fight,” he whispered to me.
Armed guards barreled onto the stage, heading straight for us, while the rest of their comrades formed a ring around the tall wooden platform. Shade’s assassins would have a hard time getting here. I shot two stiletto blades into my palms and twisted around until I was back to back with Shade.
“General Marcellus!” the election official cried. “General Marcellus, what are you–”
Victory mixed with vengeance in the General’s eyes as he raised his voice to carry through the evening air. “I didn’t want to disrupt the election but now that the people of Pernula have chosen wisely, this terrorist will answer for his crimes before he can disappear back into the shadows he crawled out of. You see, I have come across incontrovertible proof that this assassin and his accomplices were behind both the warehouse explosion and the false star elf attack. But fear not, justice will be served.”
“General Marcellus!” The announcer of the votes looked distraught as he tried to make himself heard over the clamor. “The–”
“Take them!” Marcellus screamed and stabbed a finger at us.
As the guards closed in, I gripped my knives tightly and crouched into an attack position. On the streets below us, black-clad men fought the ring of guards. Shocked gasps and cries of outrage floated up from the gathered audience.
“Why aren’t the twins firing?” Shade hissed.
“I don’t know.”
Back to back, we moved in a slow circle while the guards and the General advanced. Malice gleamed in Marcellus’ eyes as he enjoyed the moment for another few seconds before he spoke up again.
“Before you do anything stupid, I suggest you look at that roof over there.” He pointed to the flat one close by that we had watched the duel from yesterday.
“General Marcellus!” the moderator tried again.
“Quiet!” the General boomed.
Since I had my back to the indicated roof, I trusted Shade to find whatever it was Marcellus wanted us to see. When the assassin just came to a screeching halt without saying anything, I twisted around as well. Oh no.
On top of the roof were three armed humans. In front of them, on his knees, was Elaran. Two men held swords to his throat while the third pressed the bolt of a crossbow into the back of his head. Now I knew why the twins hadn’t fired any arrows. One wrong move and Elaran died.
“You have three seconds to drop your weapons and get down on your knees or your friend over there dies,” Marcellus said.
Shit. I knew what I was going to do. That damn elf might be the grumpiest and rudest person I’d ever met but for some weird reason that only the gods knew, I considered him my friend. And I take care of my friends. There was no question about it. I was going to surrender.
“One...” Marcellus began. “Two...”
The problem was Shade. He was always a wild card since I never knew what his endgame was. If Shade refused, even if I surrendered, Elaran would die. I opened my mouth.
“Back!” Shade called over the ring of guards.
Just as I snapped my head towards him, two things happened. The commotion down on the ground stopped as the black-clad men withdrew and two daggers clattered to the floor. It took half a second to realize that they hadn’t been mine. Quick as a snake, I dropped mine as well.
“Good,” General Marcellus said. “Now, on your knees.”
Still holding our hands in the air, Shade and I got down on our knees. I glanced at the Master Assassin. He had actually surrendered to save Elaran. Shade’s words from yesterday drifted through my mind. There’s nothing I won’t do, no lines I won’t cross, to get what I want. It seemed as though there were lines he wouldn’t cross. I wasn’t sure if I was surprised or not.
Cold steel kissed my neck. Without turning my head, I watched another guard place a sword against Shade’s throat as well. My heart slammed against my ribs. As long as he didn’t plan on executing us right here, we would have a chance. The Assassins’ Guild could rescue us from a dungeon but not if we were already dead. I closed my eyes. It couldn’t end here.