Chapter 58

Chapter

Fifty-Eight

CRUX

“ I am sorry, my king. I do not agree with this plan, but it was put to a vote, so there is nothing I can do,” the older male explains, his hands open wide in a gesture of helplessness. He wears the same robes as the other council members and advisors, yet he seems genuinely apologetic about what happened.

The king’s smile is tight, but there is sincere warmth in his eyes as he reaches out and touches the man’s shoulder. “Thank you for coming to see me, Advisor Perin. Your support means a lot to me.” Glancing over the man’s shoulder, he looks at the guards and frowns at their restlessness. “You better return before you get locked in here with me.”

One council member a day has been given permission to enter the king’s palace to update him on everything that was discussed in that day’s meetings. Advisor Perin volunteered to be the go between and is the only one who seems to have stayed loyal. Even though this meeting is council approved, the guards hovering in the doorway are not from the king’s personal protection unit, and they are making it clear that the advisor is taking too long.

Bowing his head in respect, he gives his king a quick, apologetic smile that looks more like a grimace and leaves the room, escorted by the guards.

I wait until I can no longer hear their footsteps, then I ditch my guard position and extend my arms above my head, jumping up and catching one of the ceiling beams. Swinging, I pull myself up and perch on a beam where it crosses with another, giving me something to lean against. With one of my legs propped up, the other dangles down as I carve a small piece of wood. It has only been a day since the king was confined to his palace, and he is already going stir crazy. I learned the art of patience as an assassin, so I’m not bothered. Rushing into any situation is a surefire way to get yourself killed.

Watching the king with a smirk, I count his steps as he paces—ten, pause, and then ten back—a habit I find is impossible to break, but a useful one nonetheless. I continue to whittle my piece of wood, the shavings falling from the beams and landing on the floor, looking like snow floating through the room.

“Can you not find somewhere else to do that?”

The king’s annoyed voice brings a smirk to my face, but I feign innocence as I glance down at him, raising a brow. “I promised Alyx I would keep an eye on you, and that is what I’m doing.”

I’m fairly sure he knows I’m only doing this to annoy him, but if he admitted that aloud, it would prove that it’s working.

Gritting his teeth, he huffs out a frustrated breath and runs a hand through his long, sleek hair. “Well, do you have to do it from the beams?”

Leaning back, I take up whittling once more. “It’s easier to hide if I’m up here, plus I find it comfortable.” While what I say is true, I find pleasure in sitting up here because I know it annoys him, especially now that I’ve picked up a new hobby.

Scowling at the wood shavings on what I’m sure is a priceless rug, he takes a moment to gather his thoughts, most likely to bite back a cutting remark about my presence.

After a moment, he looks up at me with a scowl. “What are you even making?”

I flash him a grin with entirely too many teeth. “That’s a secret.”

Truthfully, I have no idea. Turns out I am really bad at whittling, but it keeps my hands busy, and I am less likely to kill the king out of pure boredom. The benefit of it annoying the crap out of him is also a strong motivator for me to continue.

Joha drops it and returns to pacing. I have no idea how long he’s planning to do that, and I don’t really care, but I know that Alyx would be worried about him. The king’s mental state is not something I care a single iota about, but if Alyx comes back from her trip and Joha’s mind is broken, it will hurt her, which I won’t allow to happen, meaning I have to pander to the needs of the puppet king.

I must be getting soft.

I hold out for as long as I can in the hopes that he will magically sort himself out, but eventually, I have to admit I need to step in. I can practically see the king’s mind unravelling by the minute. He needs something to focus on that isn’t related to the council that betrayed him.

Sighing quietly, I stash my blade and piece of wood away in my secret pockets and drop down from the beams. I land silently, but Joha catches my movement and narrows his gaze on me, recognising the determined look in my eyes.

“Let’s go for a walk,” I say, not waiting to see if he’ll listen to me or not before I cross to the door.

“I’m not allowed out, remember?” Mirth colours his words, but I don’t let that bother me.

“You have this whole palace to yourself.” Glancing over my shoulder, I raise my eyebrows and give him a smirk. “You should take me for a tour.”

The king snorts. “I am sure you have been in every room in this building and don’t need me to show you around.”

He’s right, I have the entire place mapped out in my mind thanks to a few reconnaissance trips. “Maybe the place will look different with the lights on.”

His mouth drops open, and he shakes his head as though he can’t believe I just admitted to searching his palace. I’m not sure why this seems to come as such a shock to him when he already guessed this was the case. I was not about to let Alyx in here without checking the layout of every building on the grounds.

I have never quite understood why the two separate residences for the king and queen were named palaces. I always assumed the larger, more ornate buildings where the court meets and business happens were the palace. From what I have gathered while I have been here, all of the individual buildings make up “the palace,” while the king’s and queen’s palaces are where they can conduct their own business should they want to.

“I really need to get the guards trained better,” Joha mutters to himself, shaking his head. “Assassins just keep wandering in like I left the front gates open.”

What doesn’t help is that he has a huge target on his back and someone with a grudge. If we find the person arranging the attacks, then hopefully fewer assassins will have a reason to enter the palace grounds. However, if he thinks that training his guards will keep assassins away, then he will be sorely disappointed. Assassins are trained for exactly this type of thing, and those who fail die.

Leaning against the doorframe, I cross my arms over my chest as I wait for him to join me. “You will never be able to keep the best of us out,” I chime in, breaking through his mutterings. “Sorry.”

Sighing, he covers his face with his hands and takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes again, the panic seems to have faded, and he meets my gaze. “Okay, let’s go. I need to get out of this room for a while.”

The dining hall in the king’s palace is beautiful and has been kept in immaculate condition, but it is clear it has not been used in years, like most of this place.

“You have all of this space, yet you never use it,” I observe, trying to keep the judgement from my voice.

So far, the only rooms that appear to see any use are the bedchamber, adjoining bathroom, and a small study. The music room has a beautiful piano positioned in front of a large window overlooking the wildflowers in the back, the snowcapped mountains in the background. A look of sadness passed across his features when he looked at it, and he quickly led me onwards.

He has all of this unused space and luxury, when children and vulnerable families are dying in the slums. You can barely move in the worst parts of the slums, the habitats so close together, the paper-thin walls only offer the pretence of privacy. They certainly don’t provide any warmth.

Joha’s expression shifts. “That will be different once we are married. My queen will move in, and more of the rooms will be in use then, hosting dinner parties, caring for our children . . .”

He slows to a stop as he realises what he said and that I am no longer at his side. He turns, his expression tentative as he waits for the backlash of his words, yet there is no apology in his eyes.

Alyx. He’s talking about Alyx—married, moving in, and having children.

I’ve frozen in place, the walls of the huge hall suddenly feeling too small, as though they are closing in on me. They constrict around me, my body motionless but begging to be released, to jump into action and do something, anything , to ease the pain his words cause within me.

“What is the plan once we stop the person behind the attacks?” I snap, needing to know the answer. Why didn’t I ever ask this before? I was so confident in my relationship with Alyx that I didn’t think it was even a possibility that we wouldn’t end up together.

“What do you mean?” Joha takes a tentative step towards me.

Frustrated, I growl low in my throat. “When does this end?” I snap. “Alyx isn’t going to pretend to be a princess forever. Someone will eventually work out the truth. When do I get my Alyx back?”

“Crux, I love her, and I’m pretty sure she loves me too.” Although he looks uncomfortable, he shows no signs of backing down.

Although the words strike a bolt of pain through me, I can’t deny that there is truth to what he says. “Okay, yeah, fine, whatever, but you would see her as a concubine, right?” I ask, needing the answer. “You can’t possibly think you can actually marry her and make her your queen.”

Frowning, he pulls back slightly, pursing his lips. I’ve offended him with my question. Good, he needs to think about this carefully. Glancing away, he pretends to look out of the hall window, no longer able to meet my eyes. “Once we are married, it will be too late, and no one will care about her background.”

Snorting, I cross my arms over my chest. “I’m pretty sure someone will have something to say about the fact that your queen is an assassin.”

Does he really think he can get away with this plan? If his council doesn’t have trust in him now, then they will have a fit once they discover who Alyx really is.

Throwing his hands up in the air, he spins around to stare at me. “I thought we spoke about this. None of us are giving up on her, so why is this such a shock to you?”

“Because she is mine and you are going to take her away from me!” The anger I have been keeping a tight lid on until now bursts out. “I don’t have titles or crowns to give her like you do!”

“She is not just yours anymore. She?—”

I don’t know what he’s about to say next, but a flash of movement in the corner of the dining hall catches my eye. I just notice as a figure dressed in dark clothing lifts a bow, the quiet telltale twang of the string being released my only warning.

I fall into assassin mode, grabbing the king by the shoulders and throwing him to the ground, narrowly avoiding the arrow that was aimed at his chest. Unfortunately for me, the movement throws me forward, and I twist just in time to avoid being impaled. The arrow catches my cheek instead, grazing the skin, but the burning pain is barely noticeable as adrenaline pumps through my body.

Notching another arrow, the assassin aims at the king, his obvious target, but I’m already racing towards the figure. The arrow fires just as I leap forward, and I have to pray that it missed Joha, my full attention on the assassin.

Tackling the male to the floor, I rip off his head covering in the process. I don’t recognise him, but that is no surprise. Alyx already told me what happened with the last assassin and the cyanide pill he was hiding in the back of his mouth, so as I manage to pin him to the ground, I shove part of the bow into his mouth, stopping him from biting down. He bucks and tries to throw me off, knowing what I’m doing, but I’m too quick for him. Sticking my fingers in his mouth, I scrabble around until I find the tablet. I throw it onto the ground beside us, then I reach back in to make sure there isn’t a second.

“Who sent you?” I demand, moving around to keep him down.

He has dark hair, dark skin, and a fine powder on his clothes. He’s one of the assassins from the Burning Lands. Narrowing his almost black eyes on me, he gives me a look full of hatred. “I do not answer to you.”

“Then whom do you answer to?” I counter. “You’re clearly not from around here.”

He grins at me, winding me up. This guy is not going to tell me anything, so I smash my fist into his face. His head slams back against the marble flooring, and he grunts with pain, yet he still says nothing, so I hit him again and again.

“Crux, stop. We need to question him,” Joha calls out from behind me, shock lacing his voice.

“What do you think I’m doing?” I snarl, not having the patience to pander to him right now. “Go back to your chambers and lock the doors. I won’t be long,” I tell him, keeping my eyes locked on the assassin. His head lolls to one side, and a small puddle of blood pools beneath his face, his eyes fluttering as he fights unconsciousness.

I don’t have anything to restrain the assassin with, so I’ll just have to make sure he can’t run away from me. Standing, I take advantage of the fact he’s dazed, and I stomp down on his left leg. The bone snaps beneath my foot.

This wakes him up. His body jerks, and I watch without an ounce of pity, aiming a kick to his ribs. “Tell me who ordered the hit on the king.” I kneel by his side.

“Never.” The assassin smirks up at me despite his pain. “Does it annoy you that assassins are getting into your city and there is nothing you can do to stop us?”

Yes, it does, but I’m not going to tell him that. I don’t want this type of scum in my city, and I will go hunting to make sure none of them are bunking down, otherwise they will spread like mould.

Nodding as though he told me something interesting, I stand again and move over to his right side. I stretch his arm out, stepping on his fingers to keep it in place as I stomp again. He screams in pain.

This is obviously going to take a fair amount of convincing, so I need to disable him so I don’t have to worry about him escaping. Grabbing his right, non-injured leg, I twist it roughly so I can see his heel, then I pull my dagger from my jacket and stab it straight through the skin. The effect is immediate, the blade severing the Achilles tendon from the heel, causing the tight bundle of fibres to spring up and bunch by the back of his knee. I’ve been told the pain is immense, and there’s no chance he will be able to walk now, having lost the ability to point or lift his foot.

Any assassin worth the designation is trained to resist torture, and so far, he’s done well to keep his information to himself. He’s never come up against me before, though, and torture happens to be my speciality.

As I toss my knife and catch it by the hilt, I allow a chilling smile to pull at my lips as I stare down at him. I am not a good man, and I will do what I have to when it comes to protecting my family. Somehow, Joha is included in that now, and this assassin just tried to kill him.

It’s time for me to get to work.