CHAPTER 5

Silas

"She's...different,"Yuma's kid had said when he finally called on his favor in an urgent message.

He'd found me somehow. He hadn't seen my face when he saved me because of the mask I always wore. No one knew the identity of the Shimmering Assassin, but for some reason, Lev knew it was me without hesitation when I showed up without it. Never told me how, but I didn't much care for those details after he showed up looking like his life was falling apart.

The lad looked spooked.

Lev was a far-cry from the lad I'd first met all those years ago. He was taut and roped with muscle, his torso cut strongly like someone formed him out of stone. It was clear he'd bulked up, no longer the lanky, fragile-looking thing I'd met decades ago. But one thing hadn't changed—his eyes were still drenched in kindness. It struck me for a second how he hadn't, after all this time, lost the hopeful gleam in his stare.

I respected the hell out of it.

Still, Lev's shaggy blue-tinted hair and mossy-green eyes reminded me of the evil mistress running their society, who was the Dark Fae second to the one I killed all those years ago. Guess the old hag finally got what she wanted—to rule over the elusive, archaic society.

A load of bollocks if you ask me, but I rarely thought about much outside of getting my mark back then. It did, however, strike me as odd that a hit was put out on their leader, and that payment was three times higher than what I'd typically make on any high-profile Fae kill.

But those were Brotherhood days. My moral compass was severely broken during that time. It would be only two years later when I crossed paths with Nika's father, Bane, where I was jostled out of my arrogance and convinced to finally leave it all behind me.

Well, mostly all of it.

After Crux's assassination was carried out, Yuma and I nearly faced-off. My escape had gone terribly wrong, and I was left without any option but to fight. Later, it was clear whoever hired the Brotherhood to take out their leader never intended to let me live. Every move I made they anticipated.

Tying up loose ends in this business was par for the course, and I was arrogant to think this job didn't ring that bloody bell more than any other had. Truth be told, back then, I was living on luck, anyway.

I could say without a doubt, if not for Lev, that night would've ended with someone else dead. Likely me if it was Yuma who'd hired the Brotherhood. That sea witch was as back-stabbing as they came. It made the most sense for it to be that old bag; she benefitted the most from Crux's death. Unfortunately, I never found out who ordered the hit.

It was on my to-do list.

Lev was younger then. Barely an adult. All bones and soft features. Still unsure of who and what he truly was. Not yet a he, but clearly leaning that direction. It was glaringly obvious the lad was barely out of basic Dark Fae training.

I'd stumbled onto his room after a sensation called me over to it, sword ready to kill another bastard if I had to, but something about the gangly teen stopped me. His green eyes glimmered in moonlight, caught by surprise. But then he beckoned me over like I wasn't the fearsome stranger who'd broken into his room.

I wasn't sure what possessed me that night to trust some strange teen who needed to re-think his blind trust in a Fae holding a sword, but I took a chance and went over to him.

Finger pressed against his lips, the young Fae led me over to a secret passage corridor hidden at the corner of his room, promising he was a friend and hated "that bastard Crux and everything he's done to innocent Fae."

Where had this kid come from?

If I hadn't been so over my head with that wanker who showed up out of nowhere and barred every escape route I tried, I would've spent more time getting to know Yuma's kid. He had an air about him that wasn't anything like his mother, and I was curious about what made him turn on his own kind.

But I slipped into the dusty, tight corridor and found my way to safety. I later tracked down the kid to thank him and pay him for his trouble. He'd saved my undeserving hide, so the least I could do was offer something of value in return. Except, Lev didn't want a reward. Didn't even consider taking the enchanted item I offered instead. Simply said that he hoped I remembered it in the future and that I re-thought some of my choices a bit.

Ironic, isn't it?

At that time, I was blindsided by his maturity and kind eyes, never truly judging me but hoping I'd heed his wise words. It still made me laugh when I thought about it; what courage it must've taken to stare a killer in the eye and tell them you hoped they would consider leaving their career of slaughtering people.

Classic.

So, I'd laughed and tussled the lad's hair before vowing to return the favor, whenever, whatever, however, and left him without another word, a sparkling swirl of blue magic in my wake.

"You have to get Nika to where she needs to go, and quick. They'll all be after her. That night, I saved you not because I ever expected anything in return, but because there's something that's good and just about you." He was the only one who thought so, but I stayed silent. "Now I need you. She's...I can't lose her to them. You have to help her."

Was the kid in love with her? Not that it mattered. I owed him a favor, and I always made good on my promises.

Lev insisted on payment, so I let him throw a couple coins my way. Gave the lad comfort knowing he'd paid for it and could trust that I'd do my bleeding job. But with the entire Dark Fae Society after me, it wouldn't even cover lodging—or the items I'd have to use if we were ever in a pinch.

The green-eyed Fae had recovered something from his pocket and lifted a tiny picture frame, hand shaking, whether from nerves or fear I wasn't sure. Give me a couple days and I'd have Lev mapped out on paper, figured out like every person who'd come before him, but I didn't have time to spare by the sounds of it. An enchanting but mysterious woman stared back at me from the small frame, her eyes penetrating my very soul. The soft curves and dips of her face, paired with a shapely nose and upward slanted eyes drew me closer, beckoning me forward a few steps.

Bloody hell, she was beautiful.

Taking the small picture frame from Lev, I stared down as the woman's lips tilted up sarcastically in the moving image, mocking me without even being there. Her brilliantly luminous eyes seemed to burrow into my chest, and the air caught in my throat. She tucked stray hair behind her ear, mouthing something, and I noticed the small beauty mark beneath her eye.

I'd seen her before. In a dream. The stoic beauty and darkness of her standing in front of flames and smoke, pink magic swirling around her, the whispers of voices in the wind, silver fog creeping like snakes around her feet, was etched into my head for decades.

I didn't believe in fate. Barely believed a man's claim that his daughter would one day be saved by me. It seemed ridiculous to blame fate for anything we chose to do ourselves, but something tugged at my thoughts. Her face sunk deep into my chest, living there for years before this woman materialized in a picture in front of me.

Nothing but fate made sense.

"This the one?"I had asked, acting like a simple picture hadn't rattled me to the very core.

Lev's green eyes danced with emotion, overcome by fear and desperation. He was worried I'd say no. He was worried she'd be killed. He was afraid he'd failed her, and I studied his face as the Dark Fae struggled to keep it together. "Yes. Will you help her?"

The side of my mouth twitched upwards, and I pocketed the picture. "Consider it done."

The same woman whosmiled and tucked silky hair behind her ear on repeat in my pocket had proven far more lethal and captivating than I could've ever imagined.

Maybe this one truly was Lilith in disguise.

But when her shield came down and emotion rose into her face after the little darling on the ground was discovered, I saw a side of the ice princess I never thought lived under the layers of stone—compassion so strong it bled right out of her eyes.

And then like the fucking twatwaffle I was, I said something stupid and gave her every reason to despise me like the rubbish men she likely dealt with on a daily basis. Fuck me, this bird had me all kinds of bumbling troll. I nearly didn't recognize myself as I tried and failed to be suave and clever.

No surprise, the stone-cold princess wasn't buying any of it. If anything, she'd probably pegged me as a daft arse and beyond help. Something I couldn't exactly argue was totally off the mark these days. Despite constant reiteration this was a job and she was my client, my mouth didn't get the bleeding memo. All that came out since meeting her was pure shite.

Just get this darling where she needs to go and file this under things we shouldn't and will never do again.

But the eyes she cast down on the dead Shadow Person were the same eyes her father wore the day he let me live...

"I can't tell you how and I can't tell you when, but one day you'll be the reason my daughter lives..." Bane had shouted, dropping his magical barrier and stopping everything altogether.

Bane was the only person next to my Brothers from the Brotherhood who'd ever seen my face. He'd gotten the heavily enchanted mask off me within seconds of fighting. But the second he saw my face, his expression changed. Something haunted his eyes in those first few breaths he took before retreating instead of landing a killing blow.

I would've gone for his throat. The dangerous wanker left an opening as if to taunt me. As if to say "Try me." I'd go out fighting even if it was against Bane, the most notorious and terrifying Fae of our time. But something stopped me the second he shouted his nutter prophesy. My gut told me to listen when my training—my life's experience—told me to kill him while I still had a chance.

He was our Boogeyman; the name that put every bloody bastard in the business of killing for cash on guard. If Bane crossed your path, better say your fucking prayers because you'd be heading straight to the After. No one who'd ever run into him had lived to tell the tale. They'd just disappear. Even the Dark Fae Society couldn't put a price on his head high enough. Any person who tried to kill him failed. Not even the Brotherhood in its entirety would answer a bounty placed on his head. Bane was untouchable, and no one survived after he'd set his sights on them.

Imagine my surprise when I did survive.

When some nutter put a bounty on his wife's head, the mercenaries daft enough to take the job were hunted down one by one afterwards. Each was killed and never seen again; their entire operation destroyed—easily a hundred Fae mercenaries by my count. But it was never clear who had ordered the hit. Like Crux, the leads ended with the ones who'd been hired.

My money was on blood magic. Someone powerful enough to cover it all up had probably ordered the hit on both, and if Bane knew who it was, he didn't act on it. Not until the day he killed off every sick bastard running the Dark Fae Council.

I couldn't be sure of it, but after Lev came looking for me, I figured Bane finally finished the war they started. But he hadn't killed Yuma, the sea witch probably responsible for everything based on how much she benefitted from it. Bane could easily wipe the floor with that hag, so why hadn't he killed her?

"Someone close to you will betray you, and if you stay, their corruption will become yours. You aren't like them, Silas. There's still good left inside of you, so I'd rethink some of your choices while you still can."

At the time, I scoffed and thought he was feeding me shite. Taking the piss, though he held all the cards. Because then he was gone, and I was left with nothing but questions.

I never thought the same man who put everyone in the Brotherhood on edge would mutter the same words of some lad who'd saved me, but he did. Or that later those words would come true. That one day, someone close to me would betray me and I'd meet the daughter he claimed I'd someday save.

But I'd met him decades ago. Even clairvoyants were never that on the nose.

As I led the lethal beauty who was the daughter of the Boogeyman to the only people in the world I could trust, I had to wonder if maybe...just maybe, the old coot wasn't spitting total bollocks.