I take a few steps. But he’s in front of me, barring my way to the stairs. And he doesn’t move.
I tip my head back and then back a little more, painting a carefully bland smile across my lips. “Oh, by the by, I don’t believe I caught your name?”
Though I leave a gap for him to supply an answer, the stranger merely bows. “If you ever require my assistance again in similar capacity, you might consider…asking next time.”
Marvelous. Now another flood of heat is roaring up my neck. Just when I’d gotten the worst of my blushes under control! I grip my skirts tighter, resisting the urge to clap both palms to my cheeks. My skin is burning hot, and wouldn’t it be just my luck if, after all this fuss and bother, sheer embarrassment was all it took to bring my so-called “gift” blazing to life?
Not today. Not if I can help it.
With a little dart, I sidestep around him and hasten to the top of the stairs, desperately hoping I don’t look like a panicked deer in flight.
“Princess?”
I stop. Wince. Gods, but I really hate that title! Grimacing, I look back. He’s moved out of thescintillight. It’s impressive how thoroughly he fades into the background. Most people wouldn’t notice him at all, not unless they really knew where to look. “Yes?”
“How did you see me? Standing where I was?”
“You mean behind the curtain like some sort of sneak thief?” I smirk. “Easy. I can see in the dark. Mostly. I always thought it was just a knack, but they tell me it has something to do with my heritage. A dragon trait, or some such nonsense.”
“Ah.” His chin tips up slightly, his eyes catching the light in a brief glimmer. “Interesting.”
“Yes. I suppose it is.” I hesitate, lick my lips. “Well—”
“Princess Roselle!”
A startled thrill jolts up the back of my spine. Whirling in a flurry of skirts, I gape down the stairway to see Lady Philippa appear, lifting a handheldscintilto illuminate me from below. It casts strange highlights across her face, making her appear quite ghoulish from this angle. A furious spark glints in her dark eyes.
“I’ve been looking absolutely everywhere for you!” she cries, raising the front of her voluminous skirts and mounting the steps with a practiced grace that quite shames me. “The Presentation is tonight, don’t you remember? You were supposed to return from your lessons with Master Gormon an hour ago, and when I tried to find Captain Norlan to ask after your whereabouts, he was nowhere to be—Goddess spare me!” She stops dead halfway up, her mouth rounding in an O of horror. “Whathave you done to your bodice?”
I grimace, my hand flying to my bosom. “It’s all right. The laces got a bit snarled, but he got them undone easily enough, and I don’t think any—”
“What?” She is up the second half of the stairway in an instant, an avenging angel on a mission of swift and terrible justice. “Who was undoing your laces? Where is he? I demand to know!” Her hand latches on to my wrist even as she swings herscintil, casting its light into the stone passage behind me.
“Oh, no, it was nothing like that,” I protest. “He was very helpful and respectful, and…” My voice trails away as I look back over my shoulder.
The stranger is gone. As though I’d merely conjured him from shadows.
3
Valtar
Her waiting woman urges her down the staircase into thescintil-lit passage below. She looks back only once, those large gold eyes of hers flashing like a cat’s. I hold my breath. Will she spot me where I hang from two hand-hooks among the stalactites crowding the passage ceiling overhead? But her gaze merely searches the floor where I stood a moment before. She doesn’t think to look up; why would she?
One does not expect one’s guardsman to boast the skills of a dracori assassin.
I wait until she is out of sight, then wait a count of twoscore longer before relieving the barking strain in my arms and abdomen. Unhooking from the stalactites, I lower myself to the floor. The drop is several feet, but I land in a crouch. Rising slowly, I release a breath, measured and silent, emptying my lungs completely before sucking in an equally measured inhale. My heart, which has been galloping strangely for some minutes now, at lastresumes a more natural beat. I roll my head, first to one side, then the other.
“Damn.” The word is soft. So soft, only the barest trace of sound vibrates the air on the brink of my lips.
I had it all planned. Down to the last second. In the last week since her arrival, I’ve learned my mark’s routine and the routines of her guards and attendants. I’ve timed the distance from this very corridor to the black crevice where I intended to deposit her heartless corpse, and from there to the delivery shaft where, every five days, fresh goods are lowered to stock the king’s larder. When the crates descend, the counterweight stones rise—a perfect conveyor for a single, silent figure on a mission of utmost secrecy.
“Damn.” The word rumbles a little deeper this time, a low growl in my chest. The delivery is complete by now. The shaft won’t be opened again for another five days. The drugged guards will be wary now of any unexpected taste in their midday grog—I will not be able to simply drug them a second time.
The opportunity which I have taken such pains to construct is lost.
I should have killed her when I had the chance. When she was there in my arms, her warm, soft, vibrantlyalivebody pressed fully against mine, making me aware of each and every curve right through the protective barrier of my stolen cuirass. How easy it would have been to slip my knife into her kidneys. Even now, I can almost feel the little start of surprise that would rip through her body…can almost hear the soft intake of breath that would suck through her parted lips as she drew back from me. For an instant, the life-spark would flare in her brilliant eyes. Then her knees would buckle, her spine would go limp, as she crumpled in my grasp.
It would have taken three minutes, no longer, for me to carveopen her breast, remove her heart, wrap it in the silk bag I’ve prepared for its transportation, and clear the hall. All trace of her vanished from this world. Only that gods-damned prince stepped in and threw off every hard-earned moment.
