The instant a spark forms, I feel it in my bones, like a surge of energy I can’t ignore. It’s stronger than I ever remember, but maybe the length of time away from any kind of flame made my magic desperate. The kindling catches, and I jerk at my bonds involuntarily. Every muscle in my body goes taut, my hands fighting to form a sigil before I’m even aware of what I’m doing.
Nothing. I’m bound too tightly.
But the sudden effort makes me gasp, and Asher and Jory both snap their heads up to look at me. Inside the stove, the fire catches the wood, and warmth swells into the room, quick and intense. This close, I can feel every flicker, every plume of flame, like a beckoning. Even without sigils, any fire in my presence responds to my magic, burning hotter and higher than normal, like an eager student awaiting a teacher’s instruction.
Asher draws back, but Jory quickly shuffles forward on her skirts, holding out her hands toward the stove.
Asher is watching me instead. His throat jumps as he swallows. Even with my hands bound, the fire makes him anxious, I can tell.
I might be willing to tear him to pieces if I get loose, but I don’t want him anxious. At any moment, he could decide my survival means too much risk to them both. I’m surprised he hasn’t already.
So I lean against the wall and slide down to sitting, and I take theedge out of my voice. “So you have no plan.” I tug at the leather straps trapping my arms. “I am to be your captive in this tiny room for...ever?”
“You’re not our captive,” Jory says, and her voice is quiet. She glances from me to Asher. “Asher brought me his orders, and I...I didn’t know who I could trust.”
“I am bound, and he is not. The aim of your trust is clear.” Her frown deepens, so I continue, “You said you had proof of these orders. Show me.”
Jory reaches into the bodice of her dress and pulls folded parchment free, then crawls in her skirts to stop in front of me. She pushes the hood of his coat back, and a few curls escape her pinned hair, leaving tendrils to twist around her jaw. She looks so small and helpless. I cannot believe this is the same young woman who helped an assassin steal me away from the palace.
Actually, yes I can. She already hid her identity once. Then I believed all her words about hope and need and wanting the best for her people. When she seemed so afraid, when she so guilelessly asked me to disarm a second time, I did it.
Bleeding skies, I amsuchan idiot.
“Look,” she says, holding up the parchment.
I study the shimmering seal that I recognize from documents Dane and I have already exchanged, then look up. “Who is the Hunter’s Guild?”
Asher raises a hand. “Me.”
“They’re assassins,” Jory says, and her voice has gone a bit hushed. “They can be hired by anyone.Foranyone.”
I glance between them. “Foranyone? And your king allows this?”
“The palace pays the Hunter’s Guild quite a bit.” Asher must have decided I can’t incinerate him, because he’s finally moved closer to the fire. He drops to sit beside Jory. He pushes hair back from his face, and the fire turns the strands to gold. “The Guildmaster approves every job before they’re revealed to the Hunters. I shouldn’t evenhavethose. We’re supposed to burn them after we read them, but...” He gestures to me. “Well. It’s rumored that any killings of political import aresanctioned by the king himself—or Dane, now that he’s regent. That’s why there’s a seal—so we know we’re not riskingtreason.”
“Is this how you know each other?” I say, glancing between them both. “The princess of Astranza is secretly ruthless with her pet mercenary?”
“No!” she cries, just as Asher growls, “I’m no one’spet.”
I raise my eyebrows and look back at them.
Jory looks right back at me. “Asher’s my friend,” she says. “I’ve known him all my life.”
“Just a friend?” I say. “Or more?”
“Afriend,” she says, but her cheeks flush. “He wasn’t always a...a Hunter.”
Asher says nothing. His jaw is set.
I lean back against the wall, trying to take some of the pressure off my wrists. It doesn’t help. “Fine,” I say. “But there’s absolutely no political benefit for anyone in Astranza to kill me—least of all King Theodore, or even Dane. Draeg forces threatenbothour countries. There’s no love lost between me and your brother, but we’ve been working toward this alliance for months. Why kill menow?”
“I don’t know,” Jory says. She wets her lips.
“Maybe becauseyourpeople hired us to kill his sister,” says Asher.
“But theydidn’t.” This feels a bit like arguing with my army captains when they can’t decide on a plan of attack. I heave an impatient sigh. “Show me the other one.”
Jory reveals the second page, and there it is, the order for her death, paid in Incendrian silver. Alotof silver. More than we would have carried with us.
