Shattered Assassin (11 page)

Well, that was embarrassing. “No, I’m fine. How long have I been out?”

“A few hours, as far as I can tell.” Benjamin smirked, and in the darkness she could see Heath was also grinning. She squinted, but in the thick trees it was hard to tell how far dawn was. Luke pulled up, falling back to ride beside her, simultaneously pushing Heath to the rear. “What’s wrong?”

“Princess Kazia fell asleep.”

His eyes snapped to her face and she stifled a groan. “I’m fine.”

“We’ll stop here for the morning,” he called.

“Honestly, Captain, I’m fine.”

He didn’t look at her, and the rest of them stopped their horses and busied themselves making a temporary camp. Benjamin helped Kazia down, and she wandered away from him, trying to stretch her legs, Nakomi by her side. She didn’t realize she was out of ear shot of the others until Luke was suddenly at her elbow. “You used to be such a smart girl, Kazia. What happened?” he growled, leading her back toward the fire. She jerked her arm away.

“I walked twenty feet away, Captain. And I have a wolf the size of a horse with me. I think I’m okay,” she snarled back at him.

“Okay, out with it.”

She frowned, her tirade cut frustratingly short. “What?”

“Yell. Tell me how much you hate me. Tell me I broke your heart. We have to work together, Kazia, so you need to get over this.”

She jerked her chin in, wishing for a little light so he could see how hard she was glaring at him right then. “I need to get over this? Are you kidding me?”

He ran his hand through his short-cropped hair. “I handled it badly. I’m sorry. What do you need, closure?”

“What do I — what?” She dropped her hands to her hips, letting Nakomi edge between them. Otherwise, she was pretty sure she would hit him. “What I need is to get to Abeta so I can marry Prince Randolf and be crowned queen and put this all behind me.”

“And you really think marrying him is going to solve your problems? You’ve never even met him!”

“Don’t you yell at me, Captain,” she screeched, and with a monumental effort, lowered her voice as well. “He is kind. If I have to spend the rest of my life with someone, there are many things worse than kind,” she hissed at him.

He paced back and forth on the other side of Nakomi. “Kazia…” He trailed off and she crossed her arms over her chest, waiting, trying not to look for blunt objects to attack him with. “We were friends. Just a few days ago, we were friends. Why can’t we go back to that?” he finally said, turning toward her.

“Fine. We’re friends. Let’s move out before the sun comes up.” She went to brush past him but he stopped her.

“Kazia, wait.” His hand on her arm shook, and she looked up at him in shock, but this far away from the fire it was too dark to see any expression on his face. “I thought I was doing the right thing — that night I told you we shouldn’t talk anymore.”

“Yes, Captain. You’ve mentioned. Heaven help us if your career had been at all jeopardized,” she snapped.

“No, for you.” Suddenly he didn’t sound like the formidable Captain of the Royal Guard. He sounded young and frightened. “I thought I was doing the right thing for you. I knew… I knew how you felt. I didn’t want you to give up the throne, not for me — if something had happened to Brodi.”

Her jaw dropped as her heart froze in her chest. She forgot to breathe. “You… what?”

He tipped his head back, staring at the canopy of trees above them as if heaven might drop down and save him. “I was worried about my career, yes. But Brodi told me you had asked your father what would happen if you married a commoner. I knew what you were thinking and I couldn’t ask that of you.”

“It was my decision to make, Luke,” she said stiffly, pulling her arm from his grasp.

“I wasn’t worth it, Kazia. I’m still not worth it.”

“Also my decision.”

She started to walk past him but he darted around in front of her. “If it’s your decision, then give me time.”

She shook her head, once, her eyebrows clashing together. “What? Time for what?”

“Don’t marry Randolf, Kazia. Not yet, not until you’re sure it’s the right decision.”

“It’s the smart decision. And nothing has changed. Everything that you decided wouldn’t work then? It’s still a problem now. It would risk your career and my claim to the crown.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I know. I just… I can’t watch you marry him. Not if you think you should be with me.”

Her heart stopped again and she sucked in a breath. “Why? Why are you doing this now? After all these years, you decide you want me when we’re a few
hours
from my fiancé’s kingdom?” So close. She was so close to tears she could feel them burning the back of her throat, and she had to call on her assassin strength to keep them at bay.
I will not cry
.

“I’ve never been this close to losing you completely, Kazia.” His voice cracked and he grabbed her hand again, tugging her closer. “I never stopped loving you. I didn’t stop watching for you whenever I was close enough to the castle that I might see you. I knew you were betrothed and I thought I was okay with it, but I’m not. Especially not now when I finally,
finally
got you back in my life.”

Kazia resisted the urge to pull her hair out. Everything she had waited all these years for him to say, and he said it now, when she had no choice but to marry Randolf. “Luke, maybe before — before Brodi was…killed,” she choked on the word, “there might have been a chance for us. I wasn’t going to be queen. I wouldn’t inherit the crown. But now, this decision is bigger than us. The kingdom is on my shoulders.” Even her hidden strength failed her now, and the tears she’d been fighting won. She was grateful for the darkness that hid them.

But he reached a gentle finger up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Just give me time, Kazia. That’s all I ask.” He leaned toward her, and she was powerless to stop him. She could never tell him no. But the screams were a different matter.

CHAPTER NINE

_S
HE SPUN, RACING WITH NAKOMI
toward the fire, Luke in front of them. The makeshift camp was overrun with bandits — lots of them. Kazia shrieked as Benjamin fought with one right in front of her, lopping the man’s hand off with a sweeping arc of his sword. The hand flew past her face and landed in the dirt behind her and she screamed again.

“Kazia get behind me!” Luke leaped in front of her, sword already drawn. Kazia cowered behind Nakomi, who stood between her and Luke and everything else in the world. Kazia’s desperate eyes searched for Crystali, just spying her across the camp, protected by three of Kazia’s guards. Safe, for the moment. Luke swung his heavy broadsword like it was a toy, moving so gracefully it looked like a grotesque dance as blood spurted from the wounds he caused. But there were too many and he couldn’t keep them all away from her. Two men got by him while he fought three others, and Nakomi reared up, a growl erupting from her throat as foam splattered the men in front of her. One screamed — his shriek rivaling Kazia’s — before stumbling backward, but the other pressed on, his eyes on Kazia. “Look at what a pretty little thing we have here, hiding behind her overgrown puppy.” He leered at her, scars crisscrossing his face. The years had not been kind, clearly, and yet he had survived them — which meant he was dangerous. She whimpered and backed away.

“Kazia!” Luke yelled, but he couldn’t get to her; none of her guards could. It was like it was planned. Her eyes snapped to the man’s face. “Who — who sent you?”

He blinked in surprise, but she had caught him. He wasn’t a bandit — none of them were bandits. Like Benjamin had said, they would have to be insane to attack the Royal Guard and Nakomi. Someone had sent them to kill her.

“Please — you don’t have to do this!” she cried, holding her hand out.

“No, I don’t have to, but I’m going to enjoy it.”

She screeched, unintelligibly, as he lunged forward. Nakomi barked, a great, roaring bark that echoed through the camp, and leaped at the man. She caught his arm in her mouth and jerked her head. The man screamed as his arm broke and then
ripped
, landing near Kazia with his sword still clutched in his hand. She shrieked and flinched away. But the second man, the one who had run from Nakomi, attacked from behind, slashing his dagger down, driving it into Nakomi’s flank. The great wolf howled in pain, and turned on him, but he had his sword out, swinging it at Nakomi, as three others joined him, driving her back toward the other assassins. She snarled, snapping at their swords, breaking two clean in half before the third got her in the neck, and still she fought. She would fight to the very end, Kazia knew. But she couldn’t let that happen. She dove for the man’s fallen sword and leaped to Nakomi’s defense. The man slashed his sword down at Nakomi’s muzzle just as Kazia brought hers up. They hit with a clang that made her arm ache but she was so angry she barely noticed. She spun, swinging the sword hard. The man parried but Nakomi lunged and he couldn’t fight both of them. Kazia let Nakomi take care of him as she whirled on the man closest to her.

“Kazia get out of here!” Luke screamed, but she ignored him.
Parry, parry thrust, parry parry thrust, move your feet, little one
. She could hear Brodi in her head, drilling her over and over. She darted between two bandits, leaping over one dead body, and watched as they killed each other for her. Nakomi lunged past her, snarling, and she whirled in time to see the giant wolf attack another man she hadn’t seen coming.
Pay attention, princess. They aren’t going to wait for you to say ready.
She sucked in a breath, throwing her sword up to block an incoming attack, ducking as he swung a dagger with his other hand. The rest of the camp ceased to exist, and she focused on this one attack, this one defense, listening to her brother’s voice in her head. She was nicked a couple of times but she didn’t feel it.
Now, little one.
She drew her hand back and thrust the sword, wincing as it slid into the man’s belly, then she jerked it out with a sickening squelch. He fell to the ground and she watched as his body rattled, but another came and she leaped out of the way. He tripped over his dying comrade and she attacked from behind. He fell and lay still as another man hurdled his body, coming straight for her. She reached up, wrenching the knives out of her braids, and threw them at once, hitting him in each eye. He, too, fell under her onslaught and lay screaming, clawing at the blades until he suddenly moved no more. She stormed over, jerking her knives free. They were too good to be stained by his filthy blood.

“Kazia! Kazia, are you alright?” Luke was diving over the bodies on the ground, and her eyes finally focused. Many, many bodies.

“Any of ours?” she whispered.

“No, none of ours.” His hands on either side of her face, he searched for injuries, moving from the top of her head down. “You’ve been hit! I’m so sorry, Kazia. I failed you. I’m so sorry,” he was whispering over and over, but her eyes took in the blood soaking her dress, flowing in rivulets down her arm, and she knew as soon as the assassin retreated backward into her head, she would feel the pain. But for now, there was nothing. She couldn’t hear anymore, either, and she slowly dropped her sword to the ground. “Nakomi’s hurt,” she mumbled. Ah, yes, now she felt her strength settling back where it waited until she needed it. The pain returned. The energy buzzing through her veins faded and she moaned. This was always the worst part — when the assassin left her and she was just the weak, sickly princess again.

“She’s in shock. Wrap her wounds, get me a blanket!” Luke was yelling orders, but it was fuzzy.

“Where’s Nakomi?” Her wolf nudged Kazia’s hand with her big head. “Oh, there you are. Luke, she’s hurt.”

“I know, Kazia. I know, little princess. We’ll fix her. She’ll be fine. Just stay here. Stay with me.” She frowned at him, wondering where, exactly, he thought she was going to go. Especially lying down. It took her several seconds to figure out how she had ended up on the ground, because the last she remembered, she had been standing.

“Luke. Those men, they weren’t bandits.”

“I know, little one. Don’t worry about it now.” He hadn’t called her little one for so many years. He must really think she was dying.
Don’t worry, Luke. I have this hidden strength. My father taught me. I’m tougher than you know. Just…
just let me rest for a second.

Someone, Benjamin, she was pretty sure, laid a blanket over her and Luke tucked it around her. Crystali knelt at her side, pulling the sleeve of her dress apart. Kazia watched as they burned the needle in the fire and pushed it into her skin. “It’s okay. It will be over soon,” Luke was murmuring, but she couldn’t feel anything. She just watched curiously as Crystali sewed her skin up.

“It won’t be pretty, but it will do,” Crystali said, pale and slightly green.

Kazia knew Crystali did not like blood. “You’re very brave,” she whispered to her friend. Crystali’s eyes teared up. “Nakomi? Did you fix my wolf?” She was slurring, like some of her father’s knights did when they had had too much to drink. But as far as she could remember, she’d had nothing to drink.

“We’re working on it,” Heath said with gritted teeth. Nakomi howled and jerked away. “I can’t get her to hold still.”

And then her big wolf whimpered.

The world snapped back into focus. Kazia blinked like she was waking from a heavy sleep. “Nakomi, stay,” she commanded, pushing herself up.

“Kazia, lie still. You’re not—” Luke said.

“I’m fine.” Although she wasn’t fine. She was nearly overwhelmed with pain now, but Nakomi needed her. She crawled through the dirt and sat next to Nakomi, pulling her head into her lap. “I’m here, baby wolf,” she whispered. Nakomi whimpered again, but lay still as Heath tried to find the wound — there was so much blood matting the thick fur. Nakomi trembled and Kazia leaned low over her head, stroking her fur and whispering meaningless words, because she couldn’t think of the right ones, but Nakomi didn’t seem to care. Her big eyes rolled up to lock on Kazia’s face and stayed there until Heath was done cleaning and sewing the wound. He sat back, wiping his hands, and sent Kazia a rueful grin. “That was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.”