Finding what he sought just moments later, he withdrew his hand and fell still, listening. Hearing nothing, he reached back and gave a gentle tug, just enough to create a few inches of opening, before falling still and listening again. This time, faint voices drifted forth, and he strained to make them out clearly.
They belonged to a man and a woman, he quickly noted with certainty. Seret and her twin, Nevis? This was most likely.
Wondering if he could escape these confines fast enough to take them both by surprise and overcome them, Aharon found the thought tempting, but ultimately decided not to dare it until he’d gotten a look inside the room. If the male voice did belong to Nevis, there was a good chance some of his knights were also present, meaning Aharon had best stay put if he wished to live. However, if Nevis had been foolish enough to leave his guard outside in the corridor, this might be an ideal opportunity to eliminate him.
Shifting, Aharon expanded the gap another inch and tilted his head, aiming his ear toward the opening. His eyes were also beginning to adjust to the faint light beyond, and he thought to give them another couple of minutes before chancing a look into the room.
The hum of voices remained low, which seemed to imply the speakers weren’t in the direct vicinity of the fireplace, but perhaps within the adjoining room. While this would give him the necessary cover to emerge, it still didn’t answer the question of whether any knights were inside the apartment.
Holding still, Aharon continued to listen, and began making out words as the voices eventually grew loud in agitation.
The speakers were most definitely Seret and Nevis, he determined. Moreover, both sounded frustrated, and it seemed they were trying to fashion a scheme that would lure Neco from the safety of his chambers so they could kill him. While not surprised by what he was hearing, it only reminded Aharon that he’d already wasted too much time being cautious.
“No one’s getting anywhere near Neco so long as Aharon’s alive,” he then heard Nevis declare with disgust.
“So kill Aharon,” his twin replied. “And Aya too, while you’re at it. Seeing them together makes me want to vomit.”
“You know I’ve been trying, and little question their collective loss would drive Neco into doing something reckless,” Nevis agreed. “Unfortunately though, killing Aharon makes for a difficult task.” He paused a moment before continuing, his voice growing pointed and slightly louder. “Given my own lack of success, I turned to my knights, only to discover they’re cowards who refuse to act on this particular command.”
Since the prince now seemed to be speaking directly to one or more of the “cowards” in question, Aharon could confirm a knightly presence. Although by the sounds of it, these men had no interest in killing him, which he found baffling.
Seret apparently shared his confusion. “Refuse?” she repeated. “Why?”
“Captain Shai threatened them. He said any man who kills his son will face him in open combat.”
Hearing this, Aharon was so startled that he completely missed the twins’ next exchange.
Father said that? he thought to himself in bewilderment. Why? He can’t actually be trying to protect me….
Puzzled and unnerved, he forced his concentration back to the unfolding conversation and heard Seret further encouraging Nevis to carry out the task himself.
Her twin didn’t appear to think much of her coaxing. “I’d prefer to stay alive long enough to inherit the crown,” he told her. “I’ve had no luck locking onto him from a distance, and I don’t intend to start acting rashly only to get myself killed.”
“You’re afraid of Aharon?” Seret replied, a sneer in her voice.
“He was literally raised with a sword in his hand, and I’ve seen him fight. I’m not unskilled, but nor am I a fool.”
“Fine,” she stated dismissively. “Leave it to me, then.”
“Gladly. What do you have in mind?”
“I’d prefer to discuss the matter outside the presence of your craven knights.”
Aharon shifted, hoping Nevis would take this opportunity to send these men from the apartment. For while it didn’t seem the knights had any intention of killing him, it was ridiculous to think they’d simply stand aside and allow him to murder their prince.
Unfortunately though, Nevis didn’t comply with his wishes. “I don’t care how you do it,” he now told his twin, “so long as you’re quick about it.”
“And Padus?” Seret asked in response.
“I’m still not sure it was him who put that cobra in my quarters, but he and Neco are the only males left, so I want them both dead. I’ll take my shot at Padus tomorrow. Unlike Neco, he’s not been smart enough to safeguard his windows.”
It appears we’ve found our archer, Aharon thought. This meant Nevis was responsible for at least one murder, that of his elder brother, Buru. It further sounded as though Padus would be added to his list of victims the following day, which would make one less threat Aharon had to deal with. For this reason, he wouldn’t shift his sights onto Nevis until after this task was performed.
The fact that Padus was only sixteen years old, and possibly innocent of any wrongdoing but for being born into this vicious family, was something he didn’t allow himself to dwell on.
Fortunately, Seret was another matter. Of the same age, Aharon had known this woman his entire life, and he’d always considered her a selfish and hateful person. Learning she was now actively plotting his and Aya’s deaths only gave him extra incentive to end the threat she presented, and left him anxious to proceed.
Nevis and Seret continued their chatter for another ten minutes or so, during which time Aharon discovered that Seret was indeed responsible for poisoning Fermin, the eldest prince and established heir. However, neither twin seemed to have any idea which of their siblings had eliminated Loh, Borohm, or Selmon, and because of this, Aharon didn’t have a clue either.
Finally, the twins bid each other good night, and he faintly heard the opening and closing of a door. Presuming Nevis and his knights had now departed, he continued to lie still as quiet noises of Seret moving about drifted to him, the likely sounds of her readying herself for bed. Like Aya, she retained a trio of handmaidens, but Aharon had no way of knowing if any were currently within the chamber, whether awake or asleep. He also didn’t know if they’d prove as loyal to their princess as Molli, Seta, and Ioni were to Aya, meaning he’d simply have to hope none of these women tried to interfere.
Once all fell quiet, he remained unmoved and tried to keep his thoughts from worriedly dwelling on Aya and how she was faring. Counting off twenty minutes, he then reached for the latch and slowly eased the panel the remainder of the way open, allowing him space to exit.
Sending a look into the room beyond, he saw nothing but darkness and the outline of furniture, and a faint glow shone from the next room, leading him to presume Seret had left a candle or oil lamp burning. Uncertain if this would help or hinder him, he eased himself silently from the hearth and cautiously rose to his feet.
After taking another moment to listen and hearing nothing, he edged his way to the wall and followed it to the archway leading into the next room. A glance within revealed the dining chamber, where an oil lamp glowing dully from the center of the table. Keeping to the wall, Aharon continued deeper within, his ears on alert for any sounds of movement.
Several minutes later, he’d conducted a search of the entire apartment and discovered that only Seret and one of her handmaidens were present. Unfortunately, the handmaiden was sleeping on the floor next to Seret’s bed, meaning he now had to decide what to do with her. Not wanting to kill her, he couldn’t risk her waking and coming to Seret’s defense either.
Now paused in the doorway leading into the princess’s bedchamber, he stared down at the slumbering handmaiden while continuing to ponder his options. Eventually concluding that he had none, he steeled himself, approached with silent steps, and crouched before the woman while pulling one of his belt knives. Clamping a hand over her
mouth, her eyes shot open just as his blade slid into her throat, and she struggled only briefly before assuming a fixed look and falling still.
Withdrawing his weapon—his hand now slick with blood—he straightened and turned toward the bed just in time to see Seret lunging at him, her hands upraised. While unable to make out much more than her silhouette, enough moonlight shone through the window to reveal the gleam of metal in her grip, and he hurriedly dropped his own blade to intercept her downward slash, catching her wrists with one hand while delivering a punch with the other.
Connecting with her cheek, she fell back to the bed with an outraged screech, her knife dropping to the floor. Arms flailing, she then clawed at his face as he leapt on top of her and reached for her throat.
Only when his grip encircled her neck did she seem to take note of her attacker’s identity, and she croaked out his name as his hands tightened, choking off her airway. Glaring upward with fury rather than fear, she continued to struggle, her body thrashing beneath him while one of her hands clawed at his grip, the other still scratching upward. He could feel the sting of open wounds on his face, and the trickle of blood along his cheeks even as he continued strangling her, and waiting for her to die.
Her expiration took much longer than he would’ve liked, and she fought him to the end, her strikes eventually growing weaker and weaker until she had no resistance left to offer. After finally watching her eyes glaze over, Aharon relaxed his grip and sat back, feeling shaken and somewhat nauseous.
This wasn’t how he’d intended the matter to unfold. He’d killed before, but never like this and never a woman, and he now felt disgusted with himself.
Still, he couldn’t regret what he’d done either. Aya and Neco were safer because of it, and the horrific circumstances certainly weren’t his doing. Repulsed by his own behavior, he nevertheless decided he could live with it, and would perform similar acts if necessary. Until Neco wore the crown and improved their very way of life, the savage world spoken of by his father would continue to exist, and surviving it was all that mattered.
After taking another moment to collect himself, Aharon finally reached to throw the bedsheet over Seret’s lifeless corpse before pushing himself from the bed. Sparing the dead handmaiden on the floor a mere glance as he passed by, he started back to the fireplace, anxious to reunite with Aya and learn how she’d fared.
Chapter 8
Once Aharon left to pursue Seret, Aya turned to Molli and gestured. “This way.”
Moving by the light of her small fireball, she led the other woman down the corridor. Having memorized Aharon’s sketch, she knew the first shaft they passed led to Borohm’s rooms, the setting of his mysterious poisoning, and the next to an empty apartment. The last, their destination, connected to the rooms of her sister Heni.
Aya pulled up before this final shaft and remained still a long moment. Heni was twenty, a year younger than she was, and by far the most tolerable of her three sisters—which wasn’t to say she was an entirely decent person, or completely free of the ruthless nature shared by so many of their siblings. Still, Aya’s relationship with her had never been hostile, and as children they’d been close. Their interactions had diminished as they’d grown older, however, which now left Aya with little understanding of the woman Heni had become.
Regardless, by refusing the offered exile and choosing to remain here in the palace, Heni had made herself a threat, to Aya as well as to Neco, and unfortunately Aya couldn’t let any amount of sentiment influence her position. While aiming to make it painless, indulging any further hesitation would be idiocy.
Turning back, she now saw Molli watching her.
“Would you like me to continue without you, princess?” the handmaiden asked.
“No,” Aya said, moving toward the shaft and extinguishing her fireball.
She entered first, since Molli refused to leave her back unguarded. In the event Siris was lurking about, the circumstances would’ve made it all too easy for him to happen along and lob a spell down the shaft, killing her. Molli’s position was therefore meant to shield her, although it also meant Aya would be taking the lead into Heni’s chambers. Now worming her way along and trying to stifle her unease over the close quarters, she worked to strengthen her resolve and quash any lingering feelings of apprehension.
Upon finally reaching the end of the shaft, she took a moment to listen before reaching for the latch; Aharon had made her practice this maneuver in her own chambers, which now enabled her to smoothly and silently slide the opening back. Feeling a slight nudge on her foot—Molli letting her know that she was just behind and ready to proceed—Aya then eased forward into the hearth and sent a quick glance about.
Darkness prevailed, broken only by thin shafts of moonlight streaming through the window. Once her eyes began to adjust, Aya could make out silhouettes of the furniture, and then that of a woman sitting on a chair in the corner. Unmoving, it didn’t appear this woman had yet noted Aya’s presence, nor did she seem to be doing anything more than merely sitting there in the darkness.
Having froze upon seeing her, Aya now stared at the figure, trying to determine whether it was Heni or one of her handmaidens. Uncertain, she nevertheless raised a hand, and slowly aimed her palm toward the woman.
“Sonum!” she hissed quietly.
The woman in the chair instantly slumped, her head falling to the side as the sleep-spell hit her. Releasing a shaky breath, Aya waited a moment to be sure she hadn’t aroused any notice from deeper within the apartment, then began edging her way fully from the fireplace. Molli quickly emerged behind her, and held a dagger in her hand as she straightened to her feet.
Catching her eye, Aya mimed a sleep position and gestured to the slumbering figure.
Nodding, Molli crept toward the chair, issued the woman a quick glance, then looked back to Aya with a shake of her head.
Not Heni, then.
Aya turned toward the archway leading into the next room, and while longing for light to see by, she resisted the urge to create another fireball and began a slow creep across the floor. Molli hurried past to precede her, slipping noiselessly into the darkness ahead.
Following, Aya moved only a few more steps before a crash sounded out. Springing through the archway, she called fire into her palm and by its sudden glow saw Molli wrestling with a young woman, another of Heni’s handmaidens. Trusting her assassin-trained servant to prevail, Aya watched them for only a moment before turning and speeding toward the bedchamber, bursting through the door with her flame held at the ready.
A quick scan revealed she’d definitely lost the element of surprise. Heni was sitting upright in bed, her startled expression implying she’d just been torn from sleep. Her third and final handmaiden stood protectively before the bed, her glare challenging as she held a sword aloft before her.
Aya eyed the woman, thinking she perhaps hadn’t been alone in having her handmaidens trained as protectors. Regardless, steel was no defense against flames, and as she then released her fireball she saw the other woman’s eyes widen in sudden fear.
The handmaiden shrieked before she fell, although she was probably dead before she hit the floor. The fireball had struck her chest and ravaged much of her torso, instantly causing the chamber to fill with a terrible stench. Heart pounding, Aya swallowed back a wave of nausea and turned her gaze on her sister, deliberately avoiding sight of the smoking corpse she’d just created.
Heni was staring at her with what seemed a grim acceptance. “Of all those who might have come for me,” she then said, “I would’ve suspected you last, Aya.”
The words caused her to falter, and in that moment Heni’s hand emerged from the bed sheets and swiftly rose. Unable to make out a weapon, Aya nevertheless assumed she held one and reacted without thought.
With no time to decide on a spell, her survival instinct defaulted to her pyromancy, and Heni became a living flame. As her sister then began to scream and thrash, Aya’s hands rose to her ears ev
en while she stared in horror, and she barely noticed when Molli appeared in the bedchamber and swept past her. Halting, the handmaiden raised her dagger and threw it into the heart of the flames, mercifully silencing Heni’s screams.
“Are you all right, your highness?” she issued quickly, turning back.
Aya managed a wooden nod. “Yes. You?”
“I caught a few scratches, is all. Come, now,” she went on, reaching to turn Aya away. “We’d best be gone before someone comes to investigate the commotion.”
Aya retreated gratefully, trying to shake the sense of shock rising within her. Forcing her thoughts to realign, she brought another fireball to life so they could see where they were going, and as they hurried down the corridor she caught a quick look at the dead handmaiden laying sprawled across the floor. Clearly, Molli hadn’t found any trouble overcoming the woman.
Approaching the hearth, Aya suddenly paused and looked back as Molli started toward the figure they’d left slumbering within the sleep-spell. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
“It’s best we finish what we began, princess,” Molli replied, pulling another dagger from the depths of her sleeve.
Frowning, Aya lingered only a moment before turning her back and lowering herself into the fireplace. “Hurry, then,” she instructed, before shifting closer to the shaft.
Once within, she edged along with shaking limbs, refusing to succumb to her emotions.
It was survival, nothing more and nothing less. Right or wrong, it’s simply the world we live in.
It was a depressing truth but a truth nonetheless, and by the time she reached the end of the shaft and pulled herself into the tunnel beyond, she remained unnerved but had taken control of herself. Still, she felt anxious to retreat to her rooms and bid farewell to this trying day, a desire that left her hoping to find Aharon where they’d parted. His instructions had been to reunite with him there, and under no circumstances was she to follow him to the fourth floor. She knew he was worried the jester might appear, and while this was possible, she didn’t believe Siris would try to harm either of them before the timing was to his—or either Tosis or Padus’s—benefit.
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