by Eve Langlais
“King as in Roark,” Karlos specified.
“Yes, Roark,” Titan repeated with a nod. “We’ve foiled several assassination attempts at this point.”
Not very good ones obviously. Casey wondered why the news warranted a special meeting.
“And why do we care?” Nikki asked.
Rubbing his chin, Karlos explained, “A hit on the king is not good for anyone.” He had a gift for acting as liaison between Haven and other groups. He understood the intricacies of behavior better than most. “Roark has done a remarkable job providing a stable framework for trade and help between the hamlets and the city.”
“If he dies, someone else would take his place,” Axel noted.
“But would they be able to hold the Marshlands together?” Karlos asked and then replied to his own question. “Doubtful.”
Titan nodded. “I agree with Karlos. Roark is not an ordinary guy, and I’m not just talking about the fact he’s like some mega psionic wizard. He’s got this strength of will and a way of commanding. People want him to be their king. They would die for him. That’s not an easy loyalty to command.”
“Axel could,” Gunner noted. “If Roark falls, we could put him in charge.”
“Like fuck,” muttered Axel. “You are not saddling me with that burden. Why don’t you do it?”
“Because I’m not as nice as you.” Gunner grinned.
“No one is, but since Axel doesn’t want it, that means we need to deal with the king we have.” The response came from Titan, who, after a strange beginning that involved spending time in the king’s jail, seemed to rather like and, more surprisingly, respect the Marshland monarch.
“We?” Nikki riposted. “I didn’t realize you were still a part of this group.”
Axel interceded. “Titan will always be welcome.”
“Haven is still my family even if I’ve taken up employment elsewhere,” Titan added.
“What do you want?” Nikki asked bluntly.
“The king needs help,” Titan said.
“I thought we already were acting as watchdogs on the borders of what he sees as his land,” Axel remarked.
“And he appreciates it,” Titan said. “I’m here for something else. I need someone I can trust to act as a special kind of guard until the threat to the king has been eliminated.”
“Roark needs a bodyguard?” The statement had many of them snickering at Gunner’s implication.
Casey almost ruined her shadow-hiding trick by laughing, too. If the guy couldn’t protect himself, then maybe he shouldn’t be king. She’d yet to meet the man, having been out of Haven the two times he’d visited. People seemed impressed. But then again, it didn’t take much. A root shaped like a face could have them talking for days.
“The guarding isn’t for Roark. It’s for his daughter. Charlotte. She’s only seven years old and someone attacked her several nights ago.”
The news proved enough to have Casey step into view. “Someone attacked a kid? What is wrong with people?” No one appeared surprised to see her.
“You really have to ask?” Nikki snorted.
Titan took over. “The assailant’s plan was to kidnap the princess and exchange her for a bounty.”
“Which, in turn, means someone could use the princess to blackmail the king,” Axel said, rubbing the spot below his lip.
“Why ask Haven for help?” Casey asked. “Why can’t the king assign someone to watch his kid?”
“Because, with the exception of only a few, most lack the right skills.”
“Meaning he doesn’t have anyone with power at their fingertips,” Karlos mused aloud.
“We don’t have that many either,” Axel reminded.
By power they meant the Deviant gene, the one that allowed a person to manipulate unseen forces. Like hiding in plain sight.
“Charlotte is in danger, and the king is willing to do anything to keep her safe until this threat can be neutralized. And by anything, I mean we’re talking firepower, food…” Titan spread his hands. “Ask and you shall receive.”
“In return for what? What’s this going to cost us?” Axel asked, ever careful before making promises.
“More like who. I only need one person. One very capable person.” Titan eyed Casey. Everyone actually turned their gazes on her.
“Fuck no.” She waved a hand. “I am not minding a child.”
“Why not?” Titan asked.
“Have you met me?” she asked, not being entirely sarcastic.
“She’s likely to scare the child into a kidnapper’s arms,” muttered Nikki.
Rather than take offense, Casey nodded. “See, even she agrees. I am not a good choice. Why don’t you do it, Tin Man?”
“Aren’t you the one always claiming you’re the best?” Gunner slyly inserted.
“Surely there’s someone else,” she argued. “Who’s watching her now?”
“Anita is. Great warrior. Good instincts. But she doesn’t have the same survival skills you do. The ability to hide in plain sight. Right now, they’re only sending kidnappers, probably in the hopes of using her to force Roark’s hand. If that keeps failing, how long before the king’s enemies decide to kill her?” Titan stared Casey in the eye, well aware of her past. Of how she’d feel about a child being used as a pawn. He used it against her.
She pressed her lips. “Minding a child against a possible threat is a waste of my skill and time.”
“Because you’re so busy,” Nikki drawled.
“Shut up,” Casey snapped.
“Or you’ll what? Mope a little more about how bored you are?” Nikki had no problem poking Casey.
“Don’t give her such a hard time.” Axel jumped in. “She’s probably refusing because she knows Cam can’t go. He’s already committed to that expedition to clear out those ruins to the north of us.”
An expedition she was supposed to join with her brother because he volunteered them as a pair. Again.
Unless… Hadn’t she just been wishing she could visit the city? “Fuck it. I’ll do it. I’ll guard this princess you’re so fucking worried about. Maybe I’ll figure out why the city has Titan ditching his real family.” She glared.
He shrugged. “Benny’s cooking is good, but Eden has actual dessert shops. Sugar spun into confections. And chocolate.” Titan rolled his eyes and groaned.
“It won’t be long before Haven’s trading for those items, too,” Karlos protested.
“Maybe once we get it, a certain Tin Man will visit more often.” Casey antagonized on purpose.
Titan rose to the taunt. “I’m here as often as I can pop out. I have duties to the king. How come you’re not ragging on Gunner? He’s there almost as much as me.”
“I have to because of Sofia’s position in the king’s court.” Gunner shrugged. “What can I say? She’s good at what she does. I’m not going to hold her back.”
“No one is complaining about your absence. We miss you but understand.” Axel stepped in to soothe tempers before things got heated. He eyed Casey. “When should Titan tell the king you’ll be arriving?”
“Don’t. I want to check things out first.”
See if this king was worth fighting for. If not, maybe she’d kill him and collect the reward herself.
Chapter 3
This time it wasn’t the gentle nudge of a cold wet nose that woke Roark. He lay perfectly still in his bed and kept his breathing even. Didn’t move despite the temptation. He listened. Not just with his ears. He cast out his senses and found nothing of any concern.
There was never just nothing. Hence why he showed patience and waited. It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to kill him in his sleep. He had the scars to prove it. However, it had been happening more often of late.
More annoying than the assassination attempts, he couldn’t quite figure out who was behind them. For a long while, he’d been so sure it had to be the Emerald queen. She bristled at the upstart who demanded his kingdom receive recognition an
d respect. She’d balked when he took over the mountain pass and demanded she pay taxes to pass her goods through. She sent him threats when he refused to bow to her demands. He’d expected her to turn murderous. With each assassin he killed, he sent back as a message to the Emerald leader. Usually the head in a box with a note that held a taunting reply.
However, the queen had been dead a few weeks now, and this was the fifth attempt in the last month. Not by any of his subjects he might add. For some reason, they liked their king.
However, outsiders…they could be seduced with wealth.
The soft scuff didn’t come as a surprise. He wouldn’t have woken for nothing. An intruder had infiltrated his bedchamber. Titan would be pissed. He’d taken the last attack quite personally, given he’d put in extra measures to prevent it. Roark could only imagine Titan would insist on sleeping with him to keep him safe. The newest member of his court was already oddly loyal to him.
But who cared about Titan’s feelings? More worrisome, what of Charlotte? She was much more vulnerable than him, and he couldn’t feel her. Couldn’t feel anything. Something vibrated against the walls of his mind.
The whisper of something sliding across stone let him know the attacker neared. He still felt nothing. Not a single thought, which didn’t bode well. He’d thought himself recovered from his earlier expenditure of power. He caught a faint smell, putrid and moist, as of something had crawled out of the river.
Probably the river outside his tower window. Damned thing provided transport and did a surprisingly good job of keeping the city clean. But it also ran right past his castle and through the middle of his city. It offered a point of vulnerability. They really needed to find a way to keep the monsters out.
Especially the monsters with an agenda.
The reek of it almost made him grimace. Apparently, since the human assassins failed, the last two attempts had gone in a different direction. A less human one.
Roark didn’t care how many claws it had or how sharp the teeth. The monster in his room would die because it wasn’t his time yet.
Just as he readied himself to fight, there was a sense of motion, a squeal, then the stench as the creature spilled out its life’s blood—and its guts, judging by the reek.
Sitting up, Roark couldn’t see much in the shadows and still sensed nothing. “Show yourself.” He transformed some of the energy he could grasp into light. A ball of it ignited the lantern hanging from his ceiling. He focused on a chain reaction that hopped the balls of flame into other waiting lamps, illuminating the room, dispelling all shadows.
A slim figure stood over an already decaying heap of flesh. The night creatures tended to not react well with any kind of light.
The swathed stranger held a pair of daggers and watched the melting lump until nothing remained but a heap of mud on the floor. The maid would get it in the morning and never even know what she cleaned.
Roark did though. A swamp golem. Rare because of the difficulty in controlling them, they only served their twisted masters at night. While it had flesh to strike, in death—which happened with decapitation or gutting—it turned back into the thing it spawned from. A pile of smelly swamp shit.
The figure turned, pulling back a hood at the same time. “He finally awakens.” A piercing gaze met his in a face more striking than beautiful. Her cheekbones held a sharp slant, her nose flowed straight, and her chin pointed. Her lips were full and mocking. Her eyes, dark and mesmerizing.
“Are you done staring?”
“If I say no…” He arched a brow.
“The question was rhetorical. Are you the king?”
He wondered who she was. He sent his mind seeking, but somehow she prevented him from seeing. “Who’s asking?”
“Are you or are you not?”
“I’m a little insulted you don’t recognize me.” Then again, for all their modern amenities, only the city had access to the paper and machines that might show a picture of him.
“I’m not from around here.”
“Obviously.” He’d remember those flashing eyes and that face. How had he ever thought she wasn’t beautiful? The woman had regal features that appealed, as did those full lips. “Roark the First at your service,” he said with a mocking bow.
“You’re the king?” Her nose wrinkled. “I expected someone older. More distinguished.” Her disdain was apparent in the uttered words.
“Sorry to disappoint.” For some reason, his lips curved.
Not an ounce of fear marked her expression. She appeared rather relaxed, enough that she sheathed her knives. “I’m used to being disappointed. Can’t all be as great as me.” A sarcastic taunt.
“I’d say your greatness is still to be determined.”
“Says the man who was sleeping while a monster prepared to kill him.”
“It would have failed.”
“Says you. Even now I have to wonder at your sense of self-preservation. I’m a stranger in your room.” She cocked her head. “How come you haven’t called for your guards?”
“Why would I?” He wasn’t worried yet, even if he’d not found a way around the cloudy edge that muffled his ability to scan. Was she the one doing it? That would make her most interesting.
“Usually the higher placed you are, the less capable you become of wiping your own ass.”
His lips twitched again. “I assure you I can take care of myself.”
“That’s what rumor says.” She half turned from him and paced a bit away, glancing around the space, inspecting it he’d wager.
“Did the rumors tell you it’s a bad idea to come into my room without an invitation?”
She cast him an amused glance. “You aren’t going to hurt me.”
“Who says it would hurt? Usually when a woman is in my room, it means pleasure.” He’d managed to shock her, he noticed. She couldn’t completely hide her sharp inhale of breath.
“I’m not a whore here to amuse you. Lay a hand on me, and you will lose it.”
The truth of that statement hit him, and she became even more intriguing. Roark eyed the woman. “Who are you? What are you? Assassin? Spy?”
“How about a bit of everything.” Her smile held secrets. “Name is Casey, of Haven. I was hired by Titan to be your new bodyguard.”
The answer proved rather unexpected. He stared at her, a slight crease tugging his brow. “I told him I didn’t want a bodyguard.”
“Never said I was guarding you. I’m here for your daughter.”
This woman thought she could protect Charlotte? He eyed her and the knives by her side. He’d wager she had more weapons hidden on her body. She couldn’t seriously expect him to let her near his child without proof of her intention. “I will need verification of your identity.”
“Titan will confirm.”
“Titan’s not here,” he growled.
“Then you’ll have to take my word.”
“Why would I? You say you’re here to protect my daughter and yet”—he swept his hand—“this is my room. Not Charlotte’s. And you happened to invade it at the same time as that swamp golem.”
“Is that what you call it?” she muttered. “We have something similar in the Wasteland. But it’s made more of sand than muck. Hard to kill without fire and light. I’ve never heard of them being used as assassins.”
“Then count yourself lucky. We have rogue swamp mages who think nothing of using them to strike terror.”
“Swamp mage? Why does that sound familiar?” She snapped her fingers. “You mean like the guy that attacked Gunner the first time he came through. Can all of them send golems out to do their bidding?”
“Not all. Some have different skills.” He eyed her. “My turn to ask questions. Prove who you are. Tell me about the Emerald Kingdom.” He knew enough about that demesne to tell if she told the truth or not, especially since he still couldn’t get inside her head.
“Is this a quiz to see if I really am who I claim I am?”
“Can you blame me?
My briefing on the inhabitants of Haven indicate that Casey is only rarely seen without her twin brother.”
Her lips twisted in annoyance. “Could be he’s with your kid.”
“No brother would send his sister to confront me alone.”
“I don’t need him to protect me.” She huffed. “Being twins doesn’t mean we’re always together.”
“That statement does resemble the Casey I was told about.” He knew that would irritate her.
She bristled. “Titan and his fat mouth. Did he also tell you I’m excellent at skinning things?” She rested her fingers on the hilt of her knife.
“Did he mention I can do it without touching the body?” Time to start taking back control of this encounter.
“Is this going to be a pissing contest of who’s tougher? Because we could just end it with you dying. Titan will be pissed but…” She shrugged. “He’ll get over it.”
Her confidence had no limits, and he still had no idea of her true motive, although he was beginning to believe she was this Casey from Haven. Still the timing proved suspect. He cast out his senses, aiming for the ceiling overhead, below Charlotte’s room, looking for the sleeping thread of his daughter, and not finding it. That caused a flutter in his chest.
He rolled from his bed and stalked to the door, ignoring the woman in his chambers. He flung open the portal and noticed his very awake guards. “Check on the princess.” Rather than question, they ran off. He closed the door and turned to see the woman inspecting the pile of mud. “You never explained how you ended up in my room instead of Charlotte’s.”
“I came here intentionally.” The tip of her blade stirred the muck.
“Why?”
“Two reasons actually. The first being I wanted to meet this so-called king.”
He snorted as he moved to the sideboard offering a decanter with the freshest water. Expensive but he loved the clean taste. He took a sip before saying. “I am king. You might want to practice calling me ‘Your Majesty.’”
Her laughter proved sharp and pleasing. “Like fuck.”
The profanity should have detracted, but it suited her demeanor.