The Reluctant Assassin Boxset

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  Then Petri tore open a fissure to the Veil and dragged him into it, and the creatures that had come to her rescue flooded back to their plane of existence. The portal closed with an audible pop, leaving those who remained in stunned stasis.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Diamond Court Embassy, May 2016

  The Prince is dead, long live the Prince

  In a weak voice that barely carried across the dais, Prince Orráine said, "Stop fighting."

  No one had been moving, but Zayn didn’t trust Precept, who had his sword at the ready, even though his expression had paled by what had happened to the older prince.

  Prince Orráine cleared his throat and spoke in a louder voice, a stage voice. "Stop fighting. My brother is dead. His command belongs to me now."

  "But we don’t know he’s dead," said Precept, though his gaze said he knew otherwise.

  "He’ll wish he was, if he isn’t already," said Zayn.

  The room looked like a bomb had gone off with so many bodies scattered across the floor, and for a moment, Zayn thought they might actually be dead, until a few stirred. Without Prince Aethalstar’s spell holding them, they were coming out of their trance.

  Prince Orráine looked to Zayn. "What do I do now?"

  This question brought a scowl of derision from Precept’s lips, but Zayn ignored him and answered.

  "Will they remember what happened to them?" he asked.

  "Only as the faintest memory," said Prince Orráine. "Smoke-eater gas is a powerful shaper of thought and memory."

  "Then command your Court to act like nothing’s happened," said Zayn as he followed the prince’s eyes towards Instructor Konig’s body.

  "I’m sorry," said Prince Orráine.

  A lump formed in Zayn’s throat. "Me too."

  Prince Orráine gave commands to Precept and Captia, who still looked stunned by what had happened, but they nodded and started directing the other maetrie to put things to order. No one had completely woken yet, but they looked ready.

  "What do you want me to do with his body?" asked Prince Orráine.

  A familiar voice from across the room said, "I’ll take care of it."

  Priyanka, wearing what appeared to be clothes from the Diamond Court, came striding into the room, flanked by Instructors Pennywhistle and Allgood.

  "How did you get in?" asked Zayn as his teammates came running up.

  "The forbidding is down and I’ll explain the rest later," said Priyanka, eyes watery as she looked at Instructor Konig’s body. "Oh, Matt, I’m so sorry. If I would have known, I wouldn’t have asked you."

  "He saved my life," said Zayn. "Saved us all, really. Because he gave me a chance to free Petri so she could take out Prince Aethalstar."

  Priyanka’s forehead wrinkled, but she put on her serious face. "It appears we have a lot to talk about. But for now, let’s help them make this look like nothing happened."

  Instructor Allgood went straight to the dais, pulled a blanket from the inside of his duster, and gently wrapped it around Konig’s body. He lifted him easily, cradling him in his arms as if he were sleeping beneath the blanket.

  Priyanka turned towards Prince Orráine, who was watching quietly. She gave him an exquisite bow that brought her head almost to the marble dais.

  "Prince Orráine," said Priyanka, her expression returned to a courtly demeanor. "I’m pleased to see you’ve come out well in this."

  Zayn thought he caught a little wide-eyed awe from the young prince, but he quickly put it behind a royal mask.

  "I’m sorry my brother has caused such an incident," said Prince Orráine. "I’m sure my mother will not be pleased."

  A flicker of thought passed across Priyanka’s face at mention of Queen Zaire. Both Zayn and Prince Orráine guessed the truth, though only the prince said it out loud.

  "You were at the court," said Prince Orráine.

  "I realized what your brother’s plan was too late," said Priyanka. "Luckily I have excellent students."

  Priyanka put her hand on Zayn’s arm, but the moment ended quickly when they all realized that everyone was waking.

  "May I?" asked Priyanka to the prince.

  "Of course," said Prince Orráine with a nod.

  Priyanka took charge of the cleanup, giving commands efficiently like a general. The maetrie, even Precept and Captia, took her orders as if they'd been reporting to her for decades. Instructor Pennywhistle applied illusions to the dais to hide the damage, while maetrie cleaned up the effects of the brief battle and removed the smoke-eater boxes from the room.

  "What do I do now?" asked Prince Orráine.

  Priyanka’s dark eyes glanced around the room. "Tell them your brother had an accident, but give no details. They came here for some excitement and intrigue, let them revel in that. And it would help bolster your image among the maetrie if the other courts thought you pulled off a coup d'état."

  After a moment of thought, Prince Orráine nodded. "Thank you, Priyanka. And thank you, Zayn. I owe your guild a debt of gratitude."

  They gave him their farewells.

  Priyanka spoke to them. "Come, let us leave. The prince will have to rise to this opportunity." She glanced at Instructor Allgood’s burden. "And I think we’d all like some time to grieve."

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Diamond Court Embassy, May 2016

  The best of teachers

  The next week went by in a whirlwind. Priyanka gave them a few days’ reprieve from their classes after they held a funeral for Instructor Konig. But Zayn had other things he was working on, so he had to use his imbuement to avoid sleep.

  When classes resumed—what little there was left of the school year—their obfusium lecture was first on the schedule. Everyone assumed one of the other instructors would teach the final few classes, so they were surprised to find Priyanka standing in the middle of the room when they arrived.

  It was the first time they’d ever received direct instruction from their patron, not counting their mini-lessons while they were breaking into the Bastille, though everyone was a little too teary-eyed about Konig to get a lot out of the class. Mostly it felt like Priyanka had come to honor his memory.

  After class was over, she asked Zayn to stay. His team had planned to have pancakes and bacon with strawberry syrup at a diner near their place. He promised them he’d catch up, and warned them not to get too full before he arrived.

  "Why only me?" asked Zayn once everyone was gone.

  "Because I’ve already talked to your teammates," said Priyanka. "You’ve been hard to track down."

  "Oh."

  Her eyes searched him. "I wanted to thank you. Well, there's more than me who wants to thank you—a few of the attendees woke up enough to figure out what had happened. Thankfully, Camille Cardwell took my advice not to print anything about what happened at the ball."

  Zayn swallowed. Being in Priyanka's presence always intimidated him. He couldn't articulate to himself if it was because of what she had accomplished, or because she was entangled with the Lady of Varna.

  "That's good, I guess."

  "That's more than good," said Priyanka. "Like everything about this, it could have been much worse. But in the end, everything came out okay because of you and your team. I won't forget that. Camille won't either, so you've got that as a future favor if you need it."

  "I was just doing what I thought you were trying to hint to us about," said Zayn. "You were trying to tell us to look into it, right?"

  The corner of her mouth twitched. "I was. I'm glad it worked, because my attempt to influence Queen Zaire failed. We paid a heavy price, but nothing compared to what would have happened if the prince had succeeded."

  "How do you do that?" asked Zayn, thinking about his own dilemma with Varna. "How do you put people you care about in danger?"

  Priyanka closed her eyes for a moment. "It isn't easy. We lost Matt, and Chen, and Elena this year. A heavy price. But I didn't create the danger, and I'm not the one that killed them
, nor did I make the choice that put them in the way of that danger."

  "Do you really believe that?" he asked, sensing an inner reluctance.

  "No," she said, shaking her head. Priyanka brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen in her face. It was a tiny gesture that reminded him, despite her age and power, she was still a human being with wants and hurts. "In the daytime, I can tell myself those things and believe it. But at night, when I try to sleep, I see the faces of those we've lost over the years, and I blame myself for every single one."

  "I'm sorry," said Zayn.

  "That's the thing about this business," said Priyanka. "No one remembers all the bad events that you prevented. They only remember your failures or the people that you lost along the way."

  Neither spoke for a few minutes, but it wasn't uncomfortable, more of a shared contemplation. To the rest of the hall, Priyanka was an enigma, but Zayn felt like he knew her, even if it wasn't the complete picture.

  "Your teammates told me what happened this year. Every interesting detail," she said with an eyebrow raised.

  "Petri?"

  "Yes, I mean Petri. How did you come to be indebted to Amber DeCroix? Your teammates wouldn't tell me much about that," said Priyanka, crossing her arms.

  Zayn told her the story about Katie and Amber, leaving no detail out.

  "That was a foolish risk with Amber," said Priyanka, frowning. "I always knew she was something very interesting, and powerful, but I had no idea she was hiding a slumbering god of death in the city. But I guess it worked out."

  "You've used her before," said Zayn.

  Priyanka nodded. "She was a reliable source for certain divinations and magics. Always with a bent towards the dead. Have you spoken to Petri since the embassy?"

  "No," said Zayn. "She hasn't been back to the house. She was finally realizing who she was during that day. I'm sure she's moved on."

  "I wouldn't count on it," said Priyanka. "Not that I have any special knowledge, but I think you should pay a visit to Amber before you return to Varna for the summer."

  "Speaking of Varna..."

  "Don't," she said right away.

  The soft edges to her expression had turned hard.

  "I'm sorry, it's for the best if we never speak about your hometown," she said.

  "I should go then," said Zayn, feeling like the connection they'd shared had been severed. "You know, pancakes and bacon."

  "Don't forget the strawberry syrup," she added wistfully.

  Zayn left Priyanka standing in the middle of the auditorium. He looked back one last time before he went through the door. Priyanka stood exactly in the same spot that Instructor Konig stood when he delivered his lectures. She was staring at the floor, a pained smile on her lips, and as he stepped through the door, leaving Priyanka to her grief, he heard a quiet sob.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Amber's Shop, May 2016

  Long goodbyes

  The bell on the door announced Zayn's entrance to Howling Madwoman Fortunes and Spells. He smirked at the bell as it rattled against the closed door. What a trivial little piece of metal at the entrance of a powerful woman's domain.

  He was greeted by an almost empty store. The touristy trinkets and faux-aged spell books were no longer displayed. Zayn could see through the empty shelves like ribcages.

  Unlike previous visits, Amber didn't surprise him from behind the counter. She was wandering in from the back, a clipboard in hand as she scribbled notes onto yellow paper. With her dark hair up in a high ponytail and her wealth of tattoos, she could almost be mistaken for an early-twenties retail worker at a Dead Dolls store.

  "You're leaving," said Zayn.

  Barely glancing up from her clipboard, Amber said, "How perceptive of you."

  "What will you do now?" he asked.

  She slipped the clipboard under her arm. Frowned. "Did you come here to check on me?"

  He blinked. "Actually, yes. And I wanted to know if you'd heard from Petri. I was worried about her."

  Amber put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry. I've been taking care of her for a long time, and now that my job is done until the next time she hibernates, I'm having to remember what it's like to have nothing to do."

  "Going to sell the shop?"

  She glanced around, sighing heavily. "No. I like this space. It was hard to come by. Plus, it would be hard to unravel the protections I've laid upon it so I can sell it. It's been a good little fortress against prying eyes. But it'll stay empty until I come back, someday."

  "What will you do in the meantime?"

  She quirked her lips to the side. "Travel. I hear the Spanish coast is lovely this time of year. I'd like to lounge on a beach and forget about how close things got to disaster."

  Zayn smiled as he thought about Amber lying on a blanket in a black bikini showing off her tattoos, amid a sea of tourists who would probably keep a wide berth.

  "It was close."

  Her forehead wrinkled. "I hope you're not expecting me to thank you."

  "I'm not," he replied, and he couldn't help but grin.

  She studied him with a reluctant smile growing by the moment. Her gaze flitted to his hands.

  "Lose a war with a powdered donut?" she asked.

  He checked his hands to find white dust along his forearm. "No. A bit of alchemy work."

  His mind tried to settle on what he'd been doing before he came by the shop, but he pushed it away. It was best if he didn't dwell on what he was doing, which was hard, but he'd had a lot of practice during the year at hiding his intentions from himself.

  "What about you?" she asked, moving books from a shelf into a box.

  "I go back to Varna."

  Her gaze snapped to him at mention of his hometown. He sensed her remembering the prophecy.

  "Good luck."

  "Thank you," he replied.

  When she pulled the clipboard from under her arm and resumed counting the pile of books on the counter, Zayn took that as his time to leave. As he stepped through the open door, he heard her clear her throat.

  "Zayn."

  He turned with his hand on the handle. "Yeah?"

  "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for what you did for Petri."

  Without giving him a chance to answer, Amber went back to counting. Zayn let the door close behind him.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The house, May 2016

  The Liebereisen

  A soft knock on the front door brought Zayn's head up from his studies. Portia was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head in the direction of the door. Keelan and Vin sat on either side of the dining room table, oblivious to the knock, their fingers crafting wind spells that carried a paper airplane between them. Skylar shouted something unintelligible from the kitchen, leaving Zayn the closest to the door from his side of the couch.

  "Did you forget to put the Go Away charm on the sidewalk?" Zayn asked Portia.

  "I put it there this morning," said Portia with a mouth full of cereal.

  Zayn fished his bookmark, a piece of dried wyvern skin, from between the couch cushions and shoved it into Poisons, Antidotes, and How to Know If You're Going to Die. By the time he reached the door, he'd decided it was one of the instructors checking on them before finals. He could barely mutter a greeting when he opened it to find Petri and Prince Orráine standing on the porch.

  "Uhm, hey?"

  His surprise subsided, allowing him to register their wintery attire.

  "Hey, Zayn," said Petri from beneath her pale woolen cloak. The soft fabric framed her face, one that looked ten years older than when he'd seen her last. She held herself with the comfortableness of a regal queen while her gaze still contained the unsurety of youth. "May we come in?"

  Zayn did a double take. "Of course. Excuse my manners. Come in, Queen Petrichor and Prince Orráine."

  He swept his arm to the side and bowed at the waist. Chairs scraped across the floor. Within seconds
, everyone in the room was standing. Skylar came rushing into the room with a spatula spattered with half-cooked eggs in one hand.

  There was a lot of furtive glancing. It was as if a wall had been raised between them.

  Petri's eyes glistened and her expression fell. "Zayn, guys, please. It's just me. Petri."

  At that moment, Marley came bounding down the stairs, right past Prince Orráine, leaping into Petri's arms. The striped callolo immediately kneaded his hands into her hair and pressed his face against hers.

  "I missed you too, Marley," said Petri. "Have you been behaving?"

  The sudden entrance of Marley broke the spell on the room.

  "If by behaving you mean he's not stealing expensive things, yes, he's behaving. But he has a carboard box full of spoons in his room from who knows where. The weird thing is they're all different, as if he's just taking one from each house," said Portia, drawing laughter from everyone.

  Marley gestured rudely before leaping out the open door. Petri and the prince stepped inside the living room. Prince Orráine was wearing similar travel gear. While the quality of the fabric was high, the designs weren't as ostentatious as what he'd been wearing in the embassy. He fiddled with the edging of his coat.

  No one seemed to know what to say. Zayn had a hard time finding a place for his hands to rest, so he stuck them in the back pockets of his jeans.

  "Can we get you anything?" asked Skylar. "A drink. Some scrambled eggs and chili peppers?"

  Prince Orráine looked up to Petri, expecting her to speak. "No, I'm sorry. We can't stay long. But we wanted to come by before we left."

  "We?" asked Zayn. "Where are you going?"

  Prince Orráine cleared his throat. "My liebereisen. Petri has agreed to go with me."

  He reached out and squeezed her hand. It made sense to Zayn, even though he didn't know why.

  "A journey of discovery will be perfect for both of us. I'm still getting used to who I really am, and Orráine could use the time away from the Eternal City," said Petri.