by Ariana Nash
“I’m sorry about last night, ” Kalie said. She’d pulled from Venali’s arms and wiped her face. “Thank you, Trey.”
“It’s fine. You have enough to worry over.”
She smiled warmly. “I knew you were one of the good ones.” She left without saying another word.
Venali stared at the broken door. He waited a few quiet moments before saying, “Two nights and you get to walk away.” He retreated to the bedroom, leaving Trey alone.
“Sometimes walking away is harder than it looks,” Trey mumbled softly. He was beginning to understand why Venali was like he was. They were all damaged, some in more ways than others, and Venali was damaged in a way that went deeper than the scars on his hands. Trey had seen it before. Alumn, he lived with the memories every day. And now, with the self-inflicted deaths, it seemed as though living with the hurt had become too much for some.
Trey left the tea and Venali and returned to his own room to catch up on the sleep he’d lost watching the sentinel. He’d be back on the road soon and a bed was a luxury he planned to enjoy while he could.
Knuckles rapped on his door. Groaning, he buried his head under the pillow and waited for whomever it was to go away. The knocks came again, more insistent this time.
“All right!” he called. Scraping himself off the bed, he ruffled his hair, threw on a shirt and pants, and opened the door.
Sentinel Venali stood in the hallway, wrapped in his work clothes, just missing his bow and quiver of red-fletched arrows. His eyes widened briefly before he shut down the slip in his mask.
“Come with me.”
Alumn, he said it like Trey was in some kind of trouble. Of course, the authoritative tone coupled with Venali’s gravelly voice woke other parts of Trey.
“You’re asking or telling?” Trey grumbled, folding his arms.
“Asking.”
“Didn’t sound like it.”
Venali’s lips pinched. “Would you please assist me with a sensitive matter, Trey?”
“Of course, Venali. Give me a few moments and I’ll be right out.” He closed the door in Venali’s face and bumped his forehead against it.
“Bring your blade,” Venali said, voice muffled from behind the door.
“Will I be needing it?” Trey called back.
“I need you as an Order assassin, not a messenger.”
You need me? Trey squeezed his eye closed. Okay, so he hadn’t stopped thinking about Venali in months. Really, the male was exactly why Trey was here early, but now that he had Venali’s attention, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it. Last night, seeing him wrecked and vulnerable, Alumn, it had flicked on Trey’s instincts to protect, and now he couldn’t seem to shake it. Venali did not need protection. Anyway, this was clearly business.
Trey retrieved his blade, hooking it onto his belt, shrugged on a loose coat, ran his fingers through his hair, maybe checked his appearance in the mirror a few times, and finally met Venali outside.
“What do you need me for?”
Wild, raw sex, my room, right now, Trey imagined.
Venali walked ahead. “Shannon, the Order assassin who took her own life. I want you to visit her room with me. Are you going to be all right with this?”
Trey’s budding lust fizzled to nothing. He’d seen more dead bodies than he’d ever wanted to. He was never okay with it. “Is her body still there?”
“No, but there is blood.” Venali marched on, voice matter-of-fact.
“It’s fine.”
They walked on, passing down stairs and along an open landing lined with residential rooms. “Alador said Eroan trained you to recruit and train your own pride of assassins.”
“Nye trained me. Eroan had me in a role to recruit and train further assassins.”
“Nye?” The way he’d asked suggested he’d heard of Nye. Whatever he’d heard, it probably wasn’t good. “He was a formidable assassin… before the end.”
Nye had been a fucking mess. Trey had tried to save Nye from Nye, but it had been too little too late. By the time Trey really knew him, Nye was already too lost in his own head to accept help. In the end, his ambitions, desires, whatever they were, had killed him.
Trey cleared the sudden knot in his throat. “He was.”
Venali approached a door on the ground level, heavily guarded by two Order assassins, bristling with weapons. They dipped their chins at Venali and opened the door.
The smell of blood, one not forgotten easily, burned Trey’s nose and laced his throat. Dark stains had soaked into the rugs, the floor, and bed, where the female must have lain to perform her final desperate act. Her body wasn’t there, as Venali had said, but her outline indented the sheets. And that almost felt worse. She’d been there, and now she was gone. Forever.
“There’s a lot of blood,” Trey remarked, needing to speak. He sounded hoarse.
“The humans have a word for it when one of their kind takes their own life. They call it suicide.”
Trey wanted to ask why he’d been brought here. What was he supposed to say or do? What, by Alumn, did Venali expect from him?
“Elves don’t have a word for this,” Venali continued. He drifted about the room, carefully appraising the upset sheets and stains.
“Because we don’t do this.”
No elf would take their own life. It was unheard of. Even among damaged and abandoned assassins. Until now. “How many have done this?”
“Three.”
“Three?!” That seemed like a lot. “Since when?”
“Since you were last here.”
“What’s triggering it?” Trey asked, approaching the heavily stained side of the bed and crouching down to eye the rug’s hardened fibers.
“What do you mean?” Venali asked.
“What’s changed? Why now? Why haven’t we seen this before?”
The sentinel considered the question with a frown. “Nothing.”
“Are they connected?” Trey asked.
“They’re assassins.”
Trey looked up. “Does anything else connect them? Did they know each other? Were they close? Maybe they’d made some kind of agreement to do this… suicide together?”
“No, no connection, other than they were all part of the After Dark club…” Venali glanced at the door. “But all assassins are.”
So, that’s what the Order gathering place was called. Trey arched an eyebrow and straightened. “I’ve seen wounds bleed out, arteries cut…” He gestured at the bed, the spray marks, and the floor. “This is messy. Like she panicked.”
“Assassins don’t panic.”
“They might when taking their own life.” He skipped his attention around the rest of the room and saw the Order blade on the bloody dresser. “Is that what she used?”
“We believe so.” Venali reached for the blade, then stopped and withdrew his gloved fingers. He looked again at the bed, the blade, and the door.
“What is it?”
Typically ignoring Trey, Venali went to the door and asked one of the guards something. Trey heard the murmuring but couldn’t make out the words. Whatever the answer was, it had hardened Venali’s face. “Have you seen enough?” he asked Trey.
“I don’t really know what you expected me to see.”
“Follow me.” To the guards, Venali added, “Nobody gets inside this room without my permission.”
Trey strode alongside Venali, breathing hard to match his pace. Clearly, something about the scene bothered him, something to do with the blade. But the sentinel wouldn’t be pushed for answers.
“Sometimes, we love our own kind so much we hesitate to see the truth,” Venali said suddenly.
Trey clenched his jaw, feeling the words too close to his heart to answer without revealing the hurt they’d summoned. He hadn’t properly thought of Nye in weeks, but Venali’s words tore Trey’s shields wide open and let the memories tumble in. Nye had been his teacher, and Alumn, Trey had fallen for the fragile moments he’d seen in him. The sh
y smiles and soft caresses. Nye could have been saved, if only Trey had known how.
Venali glanced over, his green eyes shrewd. “Shannon didn’t take her own life. She was killed.”
To think such a thing was almost worse than elves considering suicide. “Are you sure?” Trey asked, speaking under his breath.
“No, and I fear I may be grasping at a better reason for all this, but there is much wrong with that room. The blood, the way in which it spread, she either panicked—as you said—or she fought. And now, I find myself going over my memory of the previous deaths. This isn’t right. It doesn’t feel right.” He stared ahead, anger rolling off him in waves. “The guards found the blade on the dresser, where we saw it, not in her hand. Someone left it there.”
If Venali was right, someone was killing Order assassins.
Venali pulled Alador from his council meeting. The elder acknowledged Trey with a nod and a smile, but the smile soon vanished as Venali explained his theory. Alador instructed Venali to investigate the previous scenes again, despite the locations having been cleaned months ago.
Trey assisted, where he could, watching Venali methodically go back over the locations of the previous deaths, but there was nothing of use to be found.
The more Venali threw himself into the task, the more Trey caught himself quietly observing the male, watching him as he spoke with anyone who might have seen the victims before their deaths. He was careful not to call them victims and asked their surviving kin with reverence and respect.
Kalie had been right. He really was a very different person when working. In the coat with its Ashford symbol, he became someone others clearly looked up to. He even reminded Trey a little of Eroan, which was no easy feat.
Dusk crept upon them again. Trey was due to leave for another trek tomorrow, but he wasn’t ready to think on it yet.
Venali led them back to his room. The door had been fixed from where Trey had kicked it in earlier that morning. Venali straightened. He looked at the spot beside the door for a few moments. There was no way Venali remembered the kiss. Was there?
“Will you be at AD tonight?” Venali asked, the question, like his eyes, as penetrating as always.
Dragons couldn’t tear Trey away. But he wasn’t about to admit it. “I leave tomorrow so… I should really get some sleep. Winter is a bitch on the bones.”
“Right, because you’re only here for two nights…” Venali opened the door, but lingered outside, looking curiously awkward as he hesitated. “Today was… Thank you. For helping me.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry we didn’t find anything of use.”
“I’d like to see you tonight at AD.”
Well, hello there, broody and vulnerable. Trey schooled his features and was glad Venali couldn’t hear his leaping heart. “All right.”
“Bring your blade.” His smart mouth ticked at the corners.
“I’ll do that.”
Venali entered his room, and Trey left before having to say anything awkward like goodbye or see you later.
Shit, they’d mostly had a real, normal conversation. Was tonight a date? Was that what just happened? Had Venali asked him out? Trey would take it. Because tomorrow, he’d be gone again, and life was too short for regrets.
Trey showed the guard his blade and grinned.
The male rolled his eyes and grumbled, “Yeah, yeah. Come on in.”
The band was different, this one with a young, female singer who tapped out a beat on her thigh along with the rest of her musicians. The crowd had thinned some, too, but it was still early.
Kalie waved him over. “Come back here and help me line up these clean cups, will you?”
He happily obliged, setting to work on lining up the cups from a stack of crates. “Where does the wine come from?”
“The local village grape crop mostly. They bottle it in late autumn and store it for the next year. We get shipments free, because, you know… we’re who we are.”
“Trey.” Conor grinned, planting himself against the bar. “I heard you were back.” He offered his hand and Trey gripped it fondly, beaming back.
“I missed you at the desk.”
“Ah, yeah… I don’t work there anymore. I work the fields now.” Trey waited for more of an explanation, but Conor looked around, probably searching for Venali, before settling his attention back on Trey again. “I didn’t expect to see you again until the new year. How long are you in for?”
Trey picked up a corked bottle, popped the cork, and poured Conor a drink, then poured himself one. “I leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, huh?” He smiled shyly. “Are you busy here right now?”
Kalie took the bottle from Trey’s hand. “No, he’s not. You boys go catch up.”
“I’ll be right out,” Trey stalled.
“Sure.” Conor drifted off.
Trey caught Kalie’s raised eyebrow. “I really need to know what the deal is between him and Venali,” he asked, on the quiet.
“On and off again. They’ve been like that a while now. I was surprised to see Conor with you the last time you were here, actually. He knows how Venali feels… I mean, he, er… Shit.” She swallowed any further words behind a gulp of drink.
“Wait. What?”
“What?”
“You were saying… something about Venali?”
“Oh Alumn. Look. Venali… may have mentioned you a few times since the battle. Asking after you, that kind of thing.”
“What? Why?”
She huffed. “Don’t be dense.”
“He hardly knows me.”
“Exactly. Forget I said anything. Nothing to see here. Move along.”
A line of customers chose that moment to swarm Kalie’s bar. She nudged Trey out with a wink and deliberately busied herself. She was not getting away with that so easily. He’d be back later and made sure she saw it on his face.
She looked over, checking he was leaving, and he pointed back at her, mouthing, “Not finished with you,” making her grin.
Trey knew the moment Venali arrived. The atmosphere shifted and a line of tension strummed the crowd. It was respect and more. For Venali, it must have felt as though the world rested on his shoulders, but he didn’t show it. He had someone with him. A new face, a female folded in the crook of his arm. The music was too loud to hear what she said, but whatever it was, it had Venali grinning like he hadn’t spent the entire day revisiting the rooms of dead Order elves.
Conor slipped an arm through Trey’s and drew him aside to an empty table with cushioned benches. He produced a bottle and placed it between them. “So we only have tonight before you’re gone again?”
From his grin, he was clearly thinking on what came after the wine. Trey wasn’t about to say no, but Kalie’s comment niggled at the back of his thoughts. Trey had assumed he’d been the one to pick Conor up the last time, but maybe Conor had singled him out because of something to do with Venali. The pair clearly had a relationship. “Listen, Conor… I don’t want to get between you and Venali.”
“There isn’t anything between me and Venali.” He laughed easily. “I mean, look at him…”
Trey stole a glance, only to find Venali tucked in tightly with the female in one arm and an older male in the other. Trey had a good idea where that threesome was heading later and was surprised to feel a twinge of jealousy. Venali had invited him here, but why? So Trey could watch him get off with another pair?
Conor leaned back, smiling coyly. “What the three of us had last time, though, I’d be game for that again.”
Trey glanced again, watching Venali’s long, gloved fingers stroke over the male’s thigh. “He looks pretty occupied already.” He’d been hoping he might have experienced that smooth tease from those gloved fingers, especially as how they’d left things earlier in the evening, but now Venali clearly had his sights set on someone else.
Shit, Trey had known he was like this, but after spending the day with him, and after helping scoop him off
the floor last night, he’d thought there had been a little more between them than a passing fuck. Frankly, just another threesome would be enough, especially as Trey clearly wasn’t needed for anything else.
“Don’t look so down. He hasn’t seen you yet,” Conor said.
“I don’t think he cares whether I’m here or not.”
Conor’s brow pinched. “You don’t know?”
“Know what? I feel like I’m missing something.”
“Go to the bar,” Conor grinned, “talk with Kalie. He’ll see you. I bet he comes right on over like he did before.”
Considering Venali’s wandering hands, it didn’t look like much short of a dragon would distract him. But it was worth testing. Especially as this was Trey’s final night, and if he left without tasting Venali again, he’d never get any sleep on the road.
“I bet you an earring he sees me and doesn’t care,” Trey said, adding a half smile. Better to make light of all this than show any sign of whatever this mess was in his head.
Conor grinned. “You’re on.”
“You’re losing an earring.”
Conor crossed his arms, looking mighty confident. “Sure I am…”
Kalie arched an eyebrow as Trey approached her bar. He already had a drink in his hand. “You have a hungry look in your dark eyes, messenger,” she purred.
“Just go with it.” He leaned against the bar and checked on Venali across the bar behind her, catching the precise moment Venali looked over. Shit, Trey didn’t believe in all that first sight bullshit, but Venali’s sudden, unblinking eyes locking on him delivered a breathless jolt of lust, making him reveal way too much with a gasp.
He tried to hide it by taking a drink, but Kalie heard, checked to see who he was looking at, and chuckled. “Would you two fuck already?”
Trey felt his lips reveal too much of a smile. “Venali’s not my type.”
Kalie flicked a hand. “Who says you have to like him to fuck him?”
“Kalie,” Trey acted shocked, “you are full of surprises.”
Venali was currently extracting himself from the clinging limbs of his companions. He was coming over, and Trey’s wretched heart did a little fluttering skip. The anticipation alone was getting him hard, again in public. By Alumn, Venali was something else and he was heading right over, just like Conor had predicted. Did that mean something?