Chapter 51

Chapter

Fifty-One

ALYX

I can do nothing but stare into those eyes that are becoming very important to me. This might have started with revenge and a deal, but it is turning into something much more . . . messy. I can’t seem to care, though, especially when Joha smiles at me like that, and instead of me taking his arm once more, as is protocol, he laces our fingers together and tugs me into a walk.

“You are the reason I am here,” he says softly as we walk towards the lake. “If I left that day on the boat, all this would already be in the Queen Mother’s hands. You kept me here, Alyx. You have given me purpose and hope, and I have carried that with me, and now here you are, at my side, doing the same once more. It seems you are always here when I need you.”

We stop at the shore, watching the way the sun reflects on the lake. The trees blow in the breeze, and the flowers grow around us. It’s beautiful, and sometimes I get so lost in the darkness and death of the world I live in that I forget to appreciate it. “I guess I am. It’s gorgeous here.”

There’s a slight pause that makes me lift my head to see Joha watching me, a wicked grin dancing across his lips as his eyes sparkle in the sun. “It is,” he agrees as he runs his eyes over me, letting me know he doesn’t mean the place like I do.

I feel a slight blush tinge my cheeks, and I’m about to taunt him for his cheesy flirting when my eyes catch on something shiny—something that does not belong. If I had not been facing him this way, I would have missed it.

There, upon the peaked roof of the closest building, is a black shadow. My eyes narrow, trying to focus through the sunlight to figure out what it is. My brain catches up before my eyes do. The shine is an arrowhead, and it’s pointed this way. The black shadow is an assassin.

My eyes widen, and my heart freezes as more shadows appear on either side of him until a whole band of assassins are aiming right at us.

Our guards have stepped back, giving us privacy, so they are too far away.

We are exposed.

“Sorry, was that too corny?” Joha laughs self-consciously as I spin to his guards.

“We are under attack!” I scream as I grab Joha’s arm, ready to pull him back to the safety of the buildings, but I hear the bows let loose. The sound of the arrows screaming as they cut through the air reaches us, and the guards do not stand a chance. They turn, ready to defend us from an assault, but as they do, the arrows hit their marks.

I watch in horror as their bodies jerk, and then they fall. Orion ducks behind a tree, his dark, angry eyes turning to us, and we both realise the truth at the same time—the arrows cleared the path, exposing us to their next batch.

Just as I think that, I hear more cutting through the air, and I meet Joha’s scared eyes, but despite his fear, he grabs me and shoves me behind him, hunching his back to protect me.

No, this is not how this will end.

Joha will not die today.

The king will not die protecting me.

In a split second, I make a decision. I grab his arms and meet his eyes as I spin us, giving my back to the arrows heading right to us, and before he can protest, I throw myself into him, knocking him back. He stumbles, grabbing hold of me, and then he falls right into the water, splashing into the deep lake. I dive in after him.

I meet him under the darkness, his eyes wide as he struggles and tries to swim to the surface. Three arrows hit where we were in the water, and I grab him, dragging him deeper into the depths. We need to obscure their view of us, and the only way to do that is to go down.

Turning his face to mine, I cup his cheeks and drag him closer, blowing air into his mouth as we start to sink, our robes weighing us down. My hair comes unbound and floats around us as we stay like that. Amazingly, he does not fight me, trusting that I know how to keep us alive.

I pull away, keeping his body pressed to mine. He swallows, bubbles escaping from his nose, and jerks his head up. Looking at the top of the water, he starts to struggle. He can’t hold his breath for long periods like I can, and the panic of running out of air is a difficult one to overcome. I know I have to take a risk. I swim to the top, peeking my head above the water for a blink of an eye, only to see more arrows heading our way. Sucking in air, I dive back down to give Joha what he needs.

I hear the arrows hit the water around me as I swim hard to get away when one sinks through my shoulder.

I jerk, the sudden agony making me want to scream, but if I do, I’ll choke. Instead, I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes. Ignoring the arrow in my body, I grab Joha and give him my air once more, and then I start to swim towards a murky structure in the distance. He nods in understanding and follows, both of us swimming hard towards the lake house. We can’t stay here, it’s too open, and if they come after us in the water, then we are at a disadvantage.

It’s a hard swim. Each time I move my arms, it pulls on the arrow, sending a fresh, hot wave of agony pulsing through my body. I ignore it as best as I can, knowing I don’t have time to be weak. My heart thrums with adrenaline, keeping me going.

My lungs begin to scream since I gave Joha so much of my air, but I push forward, ignoring it and the pain in my body. I need to get him to safety.

Once there, I surface with a gasp, sucking in air as we cling to the wooden legs of the structure just above the water. The floor of the house protects us from above, and out here, their arrows cannot reach us. My eyes rapidly rush over Joha. He is wet and worried, but unhurt. I look back to the shore to see Orion is gone.

That has to be good, right? He’s not dead. He can’t be.

“Alyx!” Joha gasps, grabbing my injured shoulder, and a pained moan leaves my lips. He freezes and turns me. “You’re hurt!”

The water around us turns red, and I shudder from the chill and shock as I gently tug my shoulder away. “Don’t pull the arrow out. It’s keeping me from bleeding too badly at the moment,” I tell him, fighting against my chattering teeth as the adrenaline starts to wear off. Kicking to keep myself afloat, I rip off a segment of my robe and hand it to him. “Tie it around my shoulder to keep the arrow from moving and block most of the bleeding.”

“We need to get you help?—”

“Joha, now!” I demand. “If they come here, we will be in trouble. I need to protect you, so do as I say.”

I cannot worry about infection or lasting damage, not right now. That will be something we can deal with later if we survive this. Doing as I say with a pale face, he binds the wounds as best as he can as I press my face to the wooden leg and breathe through the pain. When he’s done, he turns me, running his eyes across me worriedly. “We need to get you help. Can we go up?”

“Not yet,” I murmur as I run my gaze over the part of the shore I can see. My eyes catch on the bodies of the guards before I move on. “We need to be sure first. We can stay here for a little bit. It’s a good hiding spot.”

“Orion,” Joha whispers.

“Can take care of himself. That man is un-fucking-killable,” I mutter. “Focus on yourself. You’re all that matters, my king. You need to be kept safe. Do you understand? Do as I say.”

“Okay.” He nods, blowing out a breath as we tread water, but his eyes worriedly glance from my shoulder to the shore once more.

“Don’t worry, I can still protect you like this. I could kill them with one arm tied behind my back, so this is no different,” I joke, and it works, making him smile slightly.

I press my finger to my lips when I hear footsteps, and he stills, nodding in understanding. I slide my hand under the water to my hip and I pull my dagger as the footsteps grow louder.

I count three sets. I show him my fingers, and he nods. I push him deeper under the structure, using the wooden poles to move slowly to the edge where I peer up and over to see if it’s friend or foe.

Suddenly, a hand reaches down, gripping my hair, and I’m yanked up and out of the water with a grunt. I’m thrown over the wood railing, and before they can pin me to the floor, I flip out of their grip, landing in a crouch with my knife held out.

There are three of them in black robes, their faces and heads covered. They are assassins, and not local ones either since they don’t dress like ours. “Guess she’s going wide,” I mutter as I lick my lips. Queen Mother must be running out of options.

“You’re hurt,” one comments, his voice thick with an accent.

“I can still kill you. Come and see.” I wave my hand to urge them on. I need to end this quickly before I lose too much blood and become useless to the king.

I hope Joha stays hidden. I cannot fight them and keep him safe at the same time.

They rush me in practiced formation. It’s clear they are well trained and used to working together. This is no measly assassination attempt, this is a very real one, and if I’m not careful, I could die today. I need to play this smart.

I trust my instincts as they attack, my body knowing what to do before my mind does, and all of my training kicks in. They are worthy opponents, and maybe it’s wrong to think so, but it’s almost exciting to face someone who could actually kill me for once. I have always loved a challenge.

I hold nothing back. I meet them in the middle, ducking under one of their blades and slicing up across another with mine as I twist from their midst. We clash, and I feel cuts opening on my skin as I battle against all three. I kick out at one rushing me, sending him back, all while blocking the blade of another and turning to slice at the third. They stumble back, and I run at one of the posts holding up the ceiling. I feel them chasing me. I get two feet up it and then use it to flip over them, landing behind one. I kick his knees out and drag my blade across his throat. He gurgles as I slice through his neck, choking on his blood as he stumbles forward, hitting the railing and falling over it. He drops into the water, but I know he’s dead.

Something hard hits my hand, making me hiss, and my blade spins out of my grasp and across the room. I dive for it, and my hands have just hit the pommel when I’m yanked back, the force sending my dagger over the edge of the railing and into the water below.

Snarling, I flip and kick the assassin away from me as he brings down his own blade to end me. I roll to avoid it and climb to my feet, facing the two assassins as I pant.

I have no weapon and they do. I’m outnumbered, or so they think.

They should have learned not to underestimate me by now. I reach back to my shoulder, and with a snarl, I yank the arrow out. The agony is excruciating, but I ignore it as I twirl the bloodied arrow, the sharp tip a weapon.

They hesitate and share a look, knowing I’m willing to do what it takes to survive.

“Well?” I spit. “Or are you scared?”

The taunt works, and they lunge at me again, desperate now.

I cannot even go on the offensive. All I can do is defend, ducking and weaving under their blows to stop them from gutting me as we dance across the floor. I manage to avoid any serious blows, but I’m slowing from blood loss. I need to end them quickly. My eyes narrow in irritation as I analyse their movements like Crux taught me. Everyone has a pattern, and as I force them through the motions, I pick up on them quickly.

Smirking, I purposely drop my shoulder for the next blow, leaving my stomach exposed.

As expected, the one on the left kicks out, hitting my stomach and sending me flying back. I hit the railing hard once more, the air leaving my lungs in a whoosh as they come at me. I roll forward to avoid the blade heading for me and come up behind them, stabbing the arrow into the back of one of their thighs. He yells, and I yank it out, spinning and crouching on the floor, but not even that wound can stop them.

I flip backwards to avoid the next blow and sweep my leg out, knocking him down to my level, and then I kick him. He tumbles over the railing but grabs it. It gives me the opening I need.

Using the arrow like a dagger, I grip the slippery wooden shaft and leap at the assassin not dangling from the railing. He ducks under my wild swing like I was expecting, then I turn so my back is to him and stab backwards. There’s a scream, and when I whirl, he’s falling back, holding the shaft as it sticks from his eye socket. Smirking, I leap once more, kicking as I go. My foot hits the end of the arrow and drives it into his skull, and he falls backwards, dead.

I duck under a grabbing hand and spin, sliding between the last assassin’s legs and ripping his robe as I go. Jumping to my feet, I wind the material between my hands and tug it taut as I face him. “Last one, and here I thought you would be worthy opponents. I was wrong.”

This time, I make the first move. I feint forward, as if I’m aiming for his injured leg, and like I anticipated, he dives to protect it. I roll over his back, wrapping the material around his throat before yanking him up and back, choking him.

A dagger skims off my leg as he fights, but I lower to my knees, using all of my body weight to choke him. He slows, still struggling, and a dagger comes at me. I have no choice but to roll away, taking the material with me.

He coughs, but I don’t give him a chance to recover, heading his way again. I block his wild swing and wrap the fabric around his dagger, sending it spinning away. He falls back into the railing, and with a yell, I wrap the cloth around his neck and throw myself over the railing. I dangle there, my feet almost touching the water as I cling onto the material around his neck. Looking up, I see him fighting to get it off, smacking the wood with a snarl, so I use all my weight to drop lower until I hear a snap.

Breathing heavily, I spin midair and grab the railing, then I haul myself up. After ensuring he’s dead, I grab the dagger from the floor and glance around to make sure there are no other threats.

Water and blood steadily drip to the wooden floor from me. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, making my blood flow faster. I can’t see any other assassins, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. We need to get Joha somewhere safe with guards before the blood loss takes its toll. Assassin or not, even I can’t fight that.

I grab the edge of the railing with gritted teeth and peer down, but I don’t see Joha. Good, he’s hiding like I told him to. Holding my bleeding shoulder, I lean as far over as I can. My hand has started to go numb, my fingers tingling, and I know that’s not good. I did some damage when I ripped the arrow out, but I had no choice. “Joha, it’s safe.”

He appears, looking worried. “Are you okay?” he hisses.

Reaching down with my good arm, I offer him my hand. His wet one slaps into it, and I jerk him up. He’s heavy, and I have to haul him back. His feet hit the wooden railing, and he uses it to climb up, falling into me.

We both collapse to the wooden floor, wet and panting. He turns his head, his eyes widening. “Alyx.”

“I’m fine.” I climb to my feet, stumbling slightly. My head feels woozy and my knees give out. I land on them hard with a wince, but I keep the dagger as I kneel before him, facing the entrance to the lake house. I’m weaker than I thought. I lost too much blood.

Fuck! I underestimated the wound. I turn my head, almost throwing up as my vision wavers, to see my entire back soaked with blood. That isn’t good, but I don’t have much choice. I cannot move, I cannot get him somewhere safe, so I turn forward to protect him with my last breath.

“Oh gods, Alyx!” Joha presses against my back. Fighting the dizziness that seems to want to claim me, I narrow my eyes. I need to protect him. I cannot pass out, not now.

“Alyx!” he screams just as the sounds of rushing footsteps reach me.

Orion appears with Crux at his side, both bloody and panting, and I smile. “Thank the gods.” I stop fighting it. My dagger hits the wood as I fall right into Joha’s waiting arms, and the darkness claims me.