‘You’re lucky I arrived when I did.’
Though you’d have been much luckier if Buttercup had allowed me to intervene earlier.
‘My dear, it’s clear I’m lucky you arrived at all.’ He smiled.
Kaira suddenly felt self-conscious, realising she was looking at him intently. She felt a sudden urge to hurt him, but also to smile back – even thank him for his compliment.
‘So, Palien has sent me a bodyguard? How thoughtful.’ Merrick shifted his weight, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Kaira helped him, moving in close, and as she did so he turned his face towards hers.
That smile again. So close.
She took a step backwards.
‘Would you mind bringing me a mirror, angel? I’d like to take a look at the damage.’ He gestured to his battered face.
Kaira glanced about the room. She had little need for mirrors, only ever relying on them before ceremonies to ensure her regalia looked its best, polished to a reflective sheen, her sword at the proper level on her hip, her cloak draped in the correct fashion. Still, she spotted a hand mirror sitting on the shelf and passed it to Merrick. He paused for a second, as if he was uncertain he wanted to see. Then he held it up before his face, regarding himself at first with disgust, then acceptance and finally approval.
‘Could be worse, I suppose.’
‘It won’t look so bad once you’ve been cleaned up,’ she said. He seemed somewhat reassured. ‘Can you stand up?’
‘Only one way to find out, I suppose.’ He placed the mirror on the bed and held his hands out for her to help him.
Kaira pulled him unsteadily to his feet. He breathed sharply through his teeth, but managed to remain standing.
‘Nothing broken at least,’ he said, taking a shaky step forward.
‘Good,’ she replied, conscious that he was still holding her hands.
He looked at her and smiled again. She wanted to smile back, but tried to resist the temptation. Kaira was not here to make friends; she was here to ensure this man lived long enough for her to finish her mission.
‘You know, you have the most beautiful eyes,’ he said. For all his bluster, his words sounded genuine.
It made Kaira want to hit him more than ever.
‘You should lie down again and rest. Tomorrow you continue with your task.’ She wrested her hands from his and he sank back to the bed with a soft moan.
‘Not one for conversation, are you?’
‘I speak when it’s necessary,’ she replied. ‘Not just to fill the air with noise.’
‘Suit yourself. Just trying to be friendly.’ He adjusted his head on the pillows with a sigh.
Kaira felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps he
was
just being friendly. Perhaps he
did
think she had beautiful …
He is a villain, a trader in human misery, and as soon as you have eliminated the heads of the Guild you might well have to do the same to him.
The room felt stuffy. The smell of blood and sweat, though not unfamiliar to Kaira, became stifling. When Merrick closed his eyes she stepped out into the corridor, taking a deep breath. The air was not much better, but at least she wasn’t sharing it with a man she might have to kill.
When she eventually stepped back inside, Merrick was snoring loudly. Kaira waited in the chair for morning.
It was long after dawn when Buttercup arrived, but Merrick was still sleeping. Thankfully his snoring had ceased as the first light began to creep through the chamber’s single window.
‘Still alive then,’ said Buttercup, as Merrick stirred, then opened his eyes.
‘Another angel,’ he said with a smile. ‘Must be my lucky day. Any chance one of you could run along and find me a cup of wine?’
‘For now, your drinking days are over. Look at the mess it’s got you in.’ Buttercup looked him up and down with a shake of her head. ‘From now on it’s water or nothing.’
‘Water?’ Buttercup might just have suggested he drink his own urine. ‘Are you trying to poison me, woman? Everyone knows what comes down the Storway isn’t fit for dogs or peasants.’
‘Get used to it. And get up; you’ve lain there long enough. You’re not being paid to loaf around in bed. There are things that require your attention.’
Scowling, but not complaining, Merrick sat up gingerly, then pulled himself to his feet. Kaira noted he was much steadier than the night before. Had he been feigning or was he just healing fast? Time would tell.
‘Just for the record,’ he said, vainly trying to dust down his filthy, blood-smeared clothing, ‘I’m not being paid at all. Apparently my debts with Shanka were going to be settled, but if last night was anything to go by it’s not happened, has it?’
‘That’s in hand,’ Buttercup replied.
‘In hand?’ Merrick looked incredulous. ‘In hand? Look at my fucking face.’ He offered up his pulped visage.
Buttercup was unmoved. ‘And it would be much, much worse without our help. Stop moaning like an old washerwoman. Put your boots on.’
Merrick grumbled but began fumbling with his boots.
Buttercup turned to Kaira. ‘See he gets cleaned up, then stay with him … at all times! Don’t even let him use the privy alone.’
Merrick appeared taken with that, but a stern look from Kaira made him shrug and turn back to the boots.
‘Now, if you’re both clear on what’s expected of you, I have business elsewhere.’ She paused on the threshold. ‘And see if you can find him a decent blade. That last one wasn’t up to much. We wouldn’t want our legendary swordsman left holding a useless weapon, would we?’
She winked at Merrick then left. He threw her an obscene gesture – once she was gone.
‘I’m starting to dislike that woman,’ he said. ‘There’s something about her that I just don’t trust.’
You don’t know the half of it.
‘Where are we bound next?’ asked Kaira, keen to change the subject.
‘I have to get cleaned up, obviously. Find a decent change of clothes. Then there’s a lovely tavern in Dockside I was thinking of dropping in on. And you’re welcome to join me. It never hurts to have a beautiful companion on your arm whilst frequenting a favourite drinking haunt.’
‘But Buttercup said—’
‘Buttercup can kiss my arse … if you’ll pardon the phrase. With what I’ve been through in the past few days I deserve a drink at the very least.’
‘Have you not had enough to drink recently?’
He frowned at her. ‘What? Are you thinking of joining the Daughters or something? Live a little. Let your hair down.’ He glanced at her short cropped hair. ‘You know what I mean.’
‘You have a task and it is my job to ensure you complete it. There will be no diversion. No drinking, no alehouses. Nothing must distract you.’
He looked quizzical. ‘Nothing? Are you sure about that?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘And just how are you going to—’
She struck out, grabbing his hair in one hand and pressing hard against the yellowing bruise on one of his eyes. Merrick yowled like a wounded alley cat, reaching up to stop her, but she slapped his hands away.
‘All right! All right!’ he yelled. ‘You win!’ He fell back on the bed, his hand covering his eye. ‘There’s no need for more violence.’
‘Good. Then we understand one another?’
‘I understand that my angel’s turned into a maniac. I’m starting to realise why Palien hired you.’ He gave her a wounded look. Then fingered the bandage around his head.
‘It’s time we left,’ Kaira said. She had made her point, and had shown she knew how to handle Merrick from now on.
Obediently he stood up then walked to the door, finally managing to pull the bloodstained dressing clear and throwing it to the ground.
‘You’re buying me a new sword,’ he said petulantly as he left the chamber before her.
As Kaira turned and locked the door, she couldn’t suppress a grin.
T
he palace of Skyhelm was in upheaval. From two floors above, Janessa could hear Garret barking at his men. Odaka’s bass voice also rumbled along the corridors, frequently clearing them of servants and handmaids even before he appeared.
Janessa sat in her chamber, the governess at her side. Graye stood in one corner of the room, her face anguished. Though the floor had been cleaned of blood, some still stained the rug that covered most of the chamber. Janessa could only stare at that stain, a reminder that River had been badly wounded.
River, who had come to
slay
her as she slept.
Where Raelan was she didn’t know; the young lord had been carried off by a contingent of his father’s bodyguard.
He had saved her life. Or had he? Had she really been in mortal danger? Would River really have murdered her? He had spoken so tenderly to her only the other day. Opened his heart to her. Had it been a ruse, something planned all along? But why had he not killed her when they had first met? It would have been so easy to take her life unobserved at their meeting place. Surely much easier than breaking into Skyhelm.
Yes, he had told her of his life: of abuse, of hardship and being forced to do things increasingly alien to his nature. But never for a moment could she have imagined this – imagined he was … what? A killer? An assassin?
Of course she had wondered at his scars, those marks of maltreatment, but she had never thought …
Perhaps she had always been in danger. Certainly Garret was assuming she still was. He had doubled the number of Sentinels on every post, set about castigating the knights on duty, screaming at them like a madman as he admonished them for their lack of vigilance.
And what would her father do when he found out? The king was battling to save the Free States. But if he knew that his daughter was in danger from assassins, he would almost certainly abandon the defence of his kingdom, if only for a while, and ride back to protect her himself.
She could not impose such a choice on him. He must be allowed to focus on protecting his people.
Janessa stood up, making Governess Nordaine, who had wearily succumbed to sleep, stir from her slumber.
‘I must speak to Odaka,’ Janessa said.
Graye looked shocked. ‘We must stay here for now. We can’t go—’
‘I can do what I like, Graye.’
She hadn’t meant to snap; Graye was only thinking of her safety, but she couldn’t allow word of this to reach her father before he faced the Khurtas in battle. Nothing must distract him now.
‘Graye is right,’ said Nordaine groggily. ‘We must stay here.’ But Janessa was already making her way to the door.
She hurried down the corridors of Skyhelm, nightgown flowing, her hair a mess, calling out that she must speak to Odaka. The two Sentinels who had been assigned to her struggled to keep up. Janessa knew she might appear hysterical, treading the corridors of the palace like some wild banshee, but she didn’t care.
No one dared to stop her, the palace servants moving from her path, Nordaine and Graye following behind but not daring to restrain her.
Janessa reached the lower corridors, guided by Odaka’s voice to a chamber door. There she stopped to dismiss Nordaine and Graye.
‘You can go now,’ she told them.
‘What do you mean?’ Graye asked.
‘I have to do this alone. I am a girl no longer, Graye. I will be queen one day, and you will not always be at my shoulder in case I should stumble.’
Governess Nordaine made to speak, but Janessa held up a hand to stay her, surprised when it worked.
The women left Janessa at the door.
Steeling herself for the confrontation with Odaka, Janessa opened the door, but before she could tell the regent of her wishes, that her father not be told of the attempt on her life, she stopped in her tracks.
Odaka was not alone. Baroness Isabelle Magrida looked with slight amusement towards Janessa as she stormed in. Her son Leon complemented his mother’s gesture as a sly smile crept up one side of his mouth.
‘Majesty,’ said Odaka, bowing as she entered.
The baroness inclined her head with a curtsy and Leon granted her a slight bow, as though the effort were almost too great.
Janessa regarded the three of them for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. She wanted to tell Odaka that what had happened in the palace must be kept a secret, at least for now, but not in front of the baroness or her son. It did not concern them, and it was certain they lacked discretion.
It was Odaka who broke the silence first. ‘I was just reassuring our guests,’ he said. ‘Skyhelm is secure, the most secure place in the city.’
Isabelle seemed unconvinced. ‘And yet an assassin was allowed to breach its defences, regent. If it had not been for Lord Raelan, the princess would have been murdered. Had my own son been chambered closer, the assassin would now be dead, instead of escaped into the night.’ She turned to Janessa, affecting a look of sympathy. ‘And how are you, my dear? You need to rest in bed after such an ordeal.’
My dear?
Janessa winced. ‘If there is anything my son or I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask.’
And what would you do, Baroness? Don some armour, grab a halberd and stand at my door of an evening?
‘I am most grateful for your concern,’ Janessa said, affecting a smile almost as insincere as that of the baroness. ‘But I can assure you I am quite well. If that is all, there are matters I must now discuss with the regent.’
Isabelle’s expression curdled briefly, but her mask was back up in an instant. ‘Of course, my dear.’
My dear again? I am “majesty” to the likes of you!
‘Come, Leon. We will away to our chambers and rest … if we can.’
They bowed and left.
Janessa immediately turned to Odaka.
‘Has word of tonight’s events been sent to my father yet?’ she asked.
Odaka frowned, shaking his head. ‘We have been ensuring the palace was secure, my lady.’
‘Good. My father is not to know about this until the trouble in the north is concluded.’
Trouble?
Janessa realised she had made it sound as though her father were settling some minor diplomatic dispute, not fighting a war for the very survival of the realm and the lives of his subjects.
‘But your father must be told. Amon Tugha has struck within the capital, within his palace, and against his daughter. The Elharim has made his intentions clear – he will show no mercy, not stop until the king and the Mastragall line is eradicated. I cannot keep that from him.’