1
FRIDA
Ibalanced on the sloped rooftop, aiming the tip of my arrow at my prey. My heartbeat was a steady beat beneath my ribs that counted down the seconds I had left to take my shot. A gentle breeze pushed into the courtyard, dashing my mark’s yellow hair into his flat eyes, momentarily blinding him. I smiled. My opportunity would get no better than this.
I steadied my aim, squinting beneath the orange glare of the evening sun, and the bowstring went taut. Breathing calm and mind clear, I checked the sight one last time, then loosed. The arrow hissed through the air, spinning away from me. Only two heartbeats later, the sharp tip punched into my target’s soft, squishy head. A spray of black sand exploded from his face.
I leapt to my feet and threw my fisted hand into the air, a celebratory shout bursting from my lungs. Down in the courtyard-turned-arena below, several leather-clad figures wandered out from the protected observation stand, washed in the sunset’s glow. A few lifted their bows and aimed up at me.
Smiling, I slid down the sloped rust-red tiles in the opposite direction, and launched onto the ground, where I landed in acrouch. City dust plumed around me. My horse, a mare named Stella, neighed and shook her long black mane around her powerful shoulders. I leapt onto her back and urged her through the streets.
As her hooves thundered across the cobbles, wind tore through my hair and an exhilarating sense ofrightnesssettled over me. Heart pounding, I leaned forward, my hands against her slick neck, using my decade-long practice to keep my balance. A sense of wild freedom filled my chest, the drab city nothing but a whorl of nothingness surrounding me. I was loath to turn her back toward the courtyard, but I had no other choice. The others were waiting for me.
Because somehow, I’d done it.
I’d actually passed. That meant I was now an official member of the guild. Which wasamazing. Dreams do come true.
But an unexpected tremor of unease went through me as I turned Stella back around. It was all quite sudden, really. I’d expected it to take more than a year for me to earn a coveted spot in the most infamous guild on the continent. That would have meant at least a few more months of freedom before I was bound to them for the rest of my very long life. As an elf, that meant centuries. Apparently, it had taken my brother a full three years before he’d passed his induction. For some recruits, it took even longer.
But, of course, I’d been an archer all my life, which had given me an edge. My mother had handed me a miniature bow before I’d even taken my first step.
Besides, this was what Iwanted. My mother had served in the guild before her illness. My father still did, along with my brother, my uncle, and my cousins. The Assassin’s Guild was a family affair, and I wouldn’t be the first Rurik to turn her back on it forever.
When I returned to the courtyard and dismounted, several figures were waiting for me. All politely clapped, save my brother, Logi, who whooped and hollered. A little over a year ago, he’d come to me and had begged me to join the guild. And when I’d finally relented, he’d spent every spare moment of his time training me.
“Yes, Fri!” he shouted, his long chestnut hair a wild tangle around his broad shoulders.
Behind him, I spotted my father striding through the makeshift obstacles with a twinkle in his eye. The black leathers he wore signified his spot as a high-ranking member of the guild and gave his muscular form a dangerous edge.
“I don’t think any of us doubted you could do it, but well done, Frida. Excellent archery skills, as always,” he said in that great booming way of his. His voice always struck me as the complete antithesis of everything else he was. When he wore his assassin role, he rarely spoke. And if he did, his words were whispered, barely loud enough for one to hear. His skills of stealth were something of a legend around these parts. He liked to say the assassin was a mask he wore to hide the loud, thundering mass of a man he truly was.
Although I sometimes wondered if it wasn’t the other way around—if the assassin was the real him, deep down. To me, it didn’t matter either way. I loved both sides of him.
“Thanks, Father,” I said, beaming at his praise.
“Yes, well done, well done,” came the nasally voice of the elf who was the true leader of the guild. Erik was the head of the Conung family, who also led the Thieves’ Guild. It made him the most powerful person in the elven kingdom, after the queen. Although many considered his power to exceed even hers.
It did in the streets, at least.
He wore his long silver hair slicked back and tied into an agonizingly tight bun that made it look like his skin was beingyanked off his face. His head-to-toe garments were a mottled gray—the color signifying him as our leader. He said it was the best color for blending in with the city’s cobbled streets and drab buildings. Wearing his trademark sneer, he looked up and down the length of me, like I was some kind of undesirable who’d wandered in from beyond the guild’s gated walls. Someone who didn’t belong.
“I suppose I should congratulate you,” he said after a moment. “But you do understand you’re not a full member of the guild just yet?”
My father frowned. “Of course she is. Her arrow hit the target, and she got away before any of our own archers could retaliate. She successfully completed her induction task.”
“She shot a scarecrow in an entirely fake scenario. It’s hardly a true test of her ability to stay calm under pressure. We need to see her in action—realaction. None of this darting around rooftops and shooting inanimate objects.”
Hands fisting, I lifted my chin. “I don’t understand. You’re the one who set this task for me.”
“Yes, and your passing means you can now be considered a guild member ona trial basis,” he said firmly, in a voice that brooked no argument. “Now you may be given your first quest. Complete it successfully, and you’ll officially be one of us.”
I looked to my father. His brow was furrowed, but he slowly nodded, clearly agreeing with Erik, which frustrated me to no end. I’d done everything he’d asked of me. I’d completed all my training and had devoted the past year of my life to them, even following their ways of celibacy and sobriety, despite my reluctance. And I’d now succeeded at the induction task, the same one every other member had once been given. No one had been required to do an additional trial quest. Until now.
“Hmm,” my father said, scratching his chin. “I suppose it’s a fair requirement.”
My jaw nearly dropped. “Wait, you agree with him? But why?”
When I’d first shown up on the guild’s doorstep, my father had been delighted. More than anything, he wanted me to join. Or at least I thought he had.
