Bramwell grabs the neckline of the black, baggy shirt. The sound of fabric being torn has Casimir turning back to face us. The color of emotion that had been painted across his features has mostly been wiped away now.
I expect to see a chest as scarred as the hands I’d held up a moment ago. Instead, two small but perky breasts with near perfect warm brown skin are exposed. Bramwell pulls his hand away as if suddenly burned by the body. I choke on air.
A woman?
“That is, uh, unusual.” Bramwell speaks first.
“Who would only send one assassin to eliminate the heir to the throne? Much less a single female to do the job?” I rub at my chin, noticing that my hands are cleaner than before. That must have been Valentina’s doing.
“An idiot,” Casimir mutters.
“Are we sure Basilus isn’t to blame?” Bramwell offers a sarcastic grin. “Get you out of the way and take out Casimir, too, who would likely seek vengeance for your death?”
“That’s a thought, something we should consider.” I move on to the assassin’s face,herface.
“That was a joke.”
“Well, I’m serious.”
Death has taken the warmth out of the body, now clammy under my touch. I turn her face toward me, wondering how I hadn’t seen the femininity in her features before, even with her short-cut hair. I suppose I’d been too distracted fighting for my life.
Her mouth has slackened, and I peer in, examining her teeth. Indeed, a black false tooth near the back of her jaw is still oozing poison. I try not to take in the real details of her face, lest I humanize her after what she did. Instead, I scan for anything out of the usual. Of course, there is her hair, a style worn by many assassins across the continent who work in guilds underground and only come out at night, but there... by her ear. Three swirling tattoos.
I point out the unknown symbols to Bramwell, who raises his brows. “What do you think those mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Casimir stands behind me now, looking over my shoulder to watch Bramwell dig through her pockets. He pulls out a blackened coin, turning it over in his hands. I pull her arms from her sleeves. Nothing but brown skin adorned with the occasional scar here and there. Likely from training and completed jobs.
“Let me grab her blades. Maybe that will tell us something of use.” I stand, turning to look for the dagger she’d fallen with. Casimir skims the floor as well, both of us finding it weaponless. I hurry to where I remember kicking the other dagger away, that too gone. “Where in the name of the goddess did her weapons go?” Heat warms my cheeks as my anger swells.
“Are you sure she had weapons?” Bramwell asks, earning himself a dark glower from me.
“Yes, I’m sure!” Lifting the torn fabric off my side, I point to the wound that had been made. The guards still posted outside my room startle when I make my way to the door and throw it open. “Did you allow anyone to enter?” I snap.
“No, my prince,” they answer with fear in their eyes.
“Not a single soul?”
“No one, my prince,” One of them answers again, certainty in his voice.
I slam the door closed. “Daggers don’t just grow feet and walk away.”
Casimir looks at the still-open window. “No, but perhaps there was a third attacker?”
“If there was, if there is, surely the guards would have spotted them or will be shortly.” Bramwell interjects, offering the black coin to me.
It’s heavier than I expect. Rougher, too, as if it has been created from sandpaper, aside from one smooth spot that looks as though it has been worn with age. My eyes squint at the insignia stamped onto its top. A snake head with an eye too large for its face. Turning it over, the back is empty of any type of markings.
“It’s better than nothing to go on.” Bramwell shrugs. Gently, he takes the tattered pieces of her shirt and lays them back over her to cover her chest.
I pocket the coin, look Casimir dead in the eye, and swear. “Whoever was behind this will be brought to justice.”
Chapter Eleven
Merrick
With the body removed, my room cleaned, and the castle secured, I tossed and turned in my fresh sheets. My skin was scrubbed until I’d turned pink and it hurt to touch. I made sure to close and lock my windows, now covered by thick curtains.
