But Asher climbs off the body of my fallen soldier, and he grabs my arm.
“Get up,” he growls. “Walk.”
I don’t move. I make myself a deadweight. I hope my eyes are issuing every deadly promise I can think of. I’m going to cut him into pieces and feed him each one. I’m going to pour honey into his eyes and let insects devour his face. I’m going to—
Asher leans close, until his eyes are all I see. “Get up and walk, or I will drag you into the hallway. And then I will wait for the rest of your men, and I will kill them one by one as they enter this room. While youwatch.”
That same conviction rings in every word. He killed Nikko in a matter of seconds. One of my best soldiers. One of my closest friends.
Against my will, my eyes look away from Asher to find the body, crumpled on the stone floor.
Is his chest moving? Is he breathing? I can’t tell.
Emotion grips my throat, but I shake it off and harden my thoughts. I’ve watched men fall in battle. I’ve been in bad situations. I know how to keep my wits about me.
When I look up, Jory is watching me.
“This wasn’t—” Her breath hitches. “I promise. This...this wasn’t...”
Her voice trails off.
“It was,” says Asher.
His voice is cold.
Every emotion in my head ices over in response.
No time for regrets now. I need to wait for an opportunity.
Asher grabs my arm and gives it a tug.
This time, I stand.
Chapter Ten
The Princess
My heart is a wild thrum in my chest. I feel like I can hear every beat. Bile keeps threatening to escape my stomach, and I’m desperately trying to keep it down. I follow Asher through the king’s rooms numbly, wondering how we reached this point.
He killed someone.
Hekilledsomeone.
I feel terribly naive, because it shouldn’t be surprising. It’s not as if he hasn’t been clear about his occupation for years now. It’s not as if I haven’t seen violence and treachery before, either. But Asher stood in my chambers and tried to warn me, and I didn’t listen. He showed me what he was capable of, and I ignored it. Maddox Kyronan is surrounded by guards. So am I. The thought of an assassin sneaking past our defenses to kill anyone seemed impossible.
But he did. Of course he did.
Worse: I helped him do it.
Oh, I’m such a fool. To think I cavalierly begged him to figure out a way to bring the king with us. Like we’d just lead him out of here, the way we used to sneak off to the stables. Like this would be the kind of grand adventure I’ve been longing for.
Asher killed one of the Incendrian soldiers. This...this is an end I didn’t foresee.
See if you can get him alone,he said to me.See if you can get him to disarm again. I know a way out of the royal guest suites.
I thought he was worried about the king attacking me when I tried to explain. I thought he was prepared to act if it went badly. I just didn’t realize Asher would do...this. I can’t quite think straight—and I lost a minute to pure shock when he dropped from the rafters. There’s a part of me that wants to shout for Captain Zale and the rest of the soldiers. There’s a part of me that wants to shout for mybrother.
But there’s no relief here. We’d hang. Or we’d be handed over to Maddox Kyronan himself, because he’d be within rights to claim justice.
