“No need to shout at me,” Kaislyn muttered, but she did as Zarif ordered. Her bed was a lot softer than she remembered it being.
She craned her head a little to watch Zarif when he returned a few minutes later. “I fail to see why I’m the one in trouble here. I thought you were more reasonable than this.”
“You are beyond hopeless.”
“And you’re arrogantly high-handed.”
Zarif sat beside her and arranged his supplies. “At least this time you aren’t trying to lie again. You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met, and the funny thing is, you think you’re really good at it. It’s almost adorable.” Zarif started to cut her shirt away from her bloodied back.
Pain burst out all along Kaislyn’s spine, raced across her back. “Blazing river of blood! Isn’t dying enough for you?” she yelled.
“No one who swears like that could possibly be dying.” But Zarif’s hands slowed, moved more carefully.
Kaislyn’s voice was muffled around the fist she’d stuffed into her mouth. “I never asked you for help.”
To her surprise, Zarif hesitated. “Would you like me to find you a female servant instead?”
She blinked. Did he think she was embarrassed about that? “No. Despite the fact you think you’re the gods’ gift to the queen, you don’t talk. Servants do.”
Zarif exhaled a puff of laughter. “You talk a lot too. Especially when you’re in pain.”
Kaislyn didn’t answer, biting down on her fist again. Zarif fell silent as he worked. He finished cleaning her back and started applying a poultice and strips of bandage to each section of raw skin. It made her back sting even more. Zarif’s silence became stony. Kaislyn didn’t think it was directed at her.
“This was methodically done,” said Zarif. “Whoever did it is an expert in whipping someone to within inches of their life.”
“Why, Captain,” Kaislyn said with a muffled laugh that she was afraid bordered on hysterics. Her back hurt from an odd combination of a stinging whip and the stinging poultice. “Are you concerned for my well being after all?”
“I’m concerned for the law. A beating this severe and of this nature is against several laws.” Zarif paused and Kaislyn looked up at him. His brown eyes glinted for a moment at her. “I suspect an exception could be made for you. You’re very annoying.” His eyes darkened again.
“Always.” She managed a faint smile that Zarif did not return. She jerked her chin toward the window. “There’s a drinking potion over there. Bring it here? Please?”
Zarif turned away from her and went to the windowsill. For a moment he stood with his back to her, his large form outlined in the afternoon light. He was kind, Kaislyn realized. His stupid blankness hid a softness. Was that why he was the royal captain? After the Second Bloody Year and the Demon Captain, Raina chose someone who was sensitive? The tears Kaislyn had been struggling to contain began to fall freely.
Zarif returned from the windowsill, holding a small clay bottle. She was certain he saw her tears but his face was impassive once more and gave no hint to what he was thinking.
It was awkward drinking the potion from her stomach. To her utter mortification, Zarif sat on the floor and helped her by holding the bottle as if she were an infant needing to be fed. He took the edge of her blanket and wiped her mouth afterwards.
She couldn’t think of a retort to dismiss the embarrassment with. The potion took rapid effect and she relaxed against her pillow. Zarif stayed seated on the floor near her head.
“Waiting to see if I drool?” she inquired, voice husky from pain and sleepiness. Her eyes, bleary, shut. As she slipped into sleep, something brushed her cheek. A thick, calloused finger wiping her tears away.
3 | The Third City
Kaislyn woke several days later. She wriggled her shoulders, delighted at the lack of pain. Humming to herself, she pulled on a clean shirt, relishing in the way it slid against her skin without hurting. She went to her bathing room next where she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes looked greener than usual in her pale, gaunt face. They widened in horror.
“My hair!” Her hands flew around her head, pulling at the uneven, ragged strands. “They couldn’t have done a worse job if they’d tried!”
“After everything that happened, that’s what you’re upset about?”
Kaislyn whirled toward Zarif standing in the doorway. “Look at it!” she wailed.
Zarif raised his eyebrows at her. It was the most expressive she’d ever seen him. “I am looking. Your hair is short. So what?”
“So what? So what?” Kaislyn spun back to the mirror. “Do you know how many years it took to grow it that long?”
“I can guess,” Zarif said, voice dry.
“I look like a boy now!”
Zarif came to stand directly behind her. “Only an idiot would think you were a boy,” he said, meeting her gaze in the mirror. He took a strand of hair and flicked it frontwards into her face. “I like it short. It suits your feisty attitude and makes you look even prettier.”
Kaislyn flushed, pleased and embarrassed at the same time.
Zarif smiled at her. A full blown smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle, and lifted his entire face from blankness into a happy amusement.
Kaislyn held her breath. She opened her mouth...
“Zarif? Are you in here? I think she’s awake. I don’t know where she’s gone—” Keera stopped in the doorway. Her face turned red. “I’ll come back later.”
“There’s nothing going on,” Kaislyn said, stepping hastily away from Zarif.
Zarif’s smile disappeared back into his usual blank face as he turned toward Keera.
She eyed them both for a moment. “Zarif, the queen wants you. Immediately.”
To Kaislyn’s astonishment, Zarif’s posture stiffened and it was his turn for his face to go red. “We’ll finish talking later,” he said and strode from the room.
Kaislyn stared after him. “Did something happen while I was, er, sleeping?”
Keera waited until they both heard the outer door click shut. “He didn’t tell you?”
“I only just woke up.”
“It’s all over the city. The queen is furious at Zarif.”
Kaislyn swallowed. “What happened?”
“Zarif lost control of the Royal Guard. Everyone knows how paranoid the queen is about them.” Kaislyn nodded impatiently. “Well, he was off duty and the guards, a mix of off duty and on, went to the City Guard and started a fight with them. No one died,” Keera added, “but several are out for weeks now.”
“Why?” Kaislyn asked, her stomach churning. Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.
She really messed things up.
“The Royal Guard accused the City Guard of enforcing a rarely used old law and the City Guard denied it. It didn’t take much to get any of them going really.”
Kaislyn had the grace to look away from her. “And Rai—the queen was angry over this?”
“N-no. Not compared to what happened next. The queen issued an official summons to Zarif.”
Kaislyn closed her eyes.
“No one ignores an official summons, but Zarif didn’t appear. I only found him because I came in to tidy your rooms. He was sitting on the floor next to your bed. Guarding you it looked like. I told him what had happened. He made me swear to tell no one about you and to keep watch until he could return.”
“And, um, did he?” Kaislyn tried to hide her growing embarrassment. Why did she want to smile?
“Yes. But you’re skipping ahead. The queen summoned him to account for the guards’ behavior and his own absence.”
“And?”
“And he said nothing! He shrugged after each question, but what was worse—”
“Worse?” Kaislyn echoed hollowly.
“Worse,” Keera repeated. “Zarif wouldn’t look at the queen during the entire interview.”
“He what?”
“He defied the queen and wouldn’
t meet her gaze. And everyone knows only the guilty won’t look at the queen.”
“Impossible. Raina actually let him get away with that? And he’s still captain?”
“Nisken was there. He intervened on Zarif’s behalf, sided with Zarif.”
Kaislyn didn’t think it could get worse. “Gods,” she groaned. “He didn’t did he?”
“The queen still isn’t speaking to Nisken. What’d you do, Kaislyn, to get Zarif to do this? I thought he didn’t like you.”
“Zarif likes me as much as Nisken does the phoenix and vice versa.”
Keera looked pointedly from Kaislyn to doorway Zarif had vanished through.
It had been true, hadn’t it? Until just now? “I... messed up.”
“Really?” Keera replied sarcastically. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Kaislyn bit back her next words when she realized how much Keera must know about her, or suspect. How much she kept to herself. After all, there wasn’t Nisken storming her rooms. Or Raina. Kaislyn shuddered.
“I need to be alone.”
“But—”
“Alone!”
Keera’s jaw tightened but she left.
Kaislyn looked at her reflection again. She hadn’t thought it possible for her face to grow paler, but it had.
The Phoenix Queen couldn’t always be on alert for danger when she left her palaces. It was the royal captain’s job to protect her in those times. Raina had to be able to trust her captain and she was infamous for trusting very few people. And Zarif had chosen to protect Kaislyn instead. Had defied the queen and refused to explain where he’d been or why his guards had attacked the City Guard.
And for what? Her?
Don’t be stupid, girl.
Her sight grew hazy as she relived her failure with Ikaros. It wasn’t a failure contained to that Shift, that she could forget and try again. It had rippled outwards and affected Zarif and everyone here. What if Raina was going to make Zarif tell her what had really happened? She couldn’t face Raina. Not after Ikaros.
She needed to escape.
Grabbing her belt of supplies, Kaislyn dashed from her room.
Nisken was waiting for her in the hallway. Leaning against the wall, arms folded, his posture was too casual. A sword hung at his waist. Kaislyn instinctively backed into her own closed door.
“Where are you going in such a hurry, Kaislyn?”
She winced against the cool pleasantness in his voice.
“Out.”
“You’ve been mysteriously absent the last few days. You missed several unprecedented events.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” Nisken continued. “I had to break up a nasty brawl between the Royal and City Guard and soothe a Phoenix Queen who believed she’d been betrayed. Raina doesn’t trust easily, did you know that, Kaislyn? The last time she thought she was betrayed, she burned this city and blew up the Fourth.”
“You helped in the Fourth,” Kaislyn said before she could stop herself.
Nisken shifted his weight, a slight adjustment that set him in a fighting stance, though he retained the appearance of complete relaxation. “She wanted to arrest Zarif and have him executed. That’s how angry she was. You did that.”
Kaislyn stiffened at the accusation.
“I can’t believe he would actually die to keep your secrets.”
“You and Hezere were willing to die to keep secrets.”
“To protect a young, innocent princess,” Nisken shot back. “You’re just protecting yourself.”
Kaislyn flinched. “I was only... only trying to help her. Honestly.”
“Her who? Certainly not Raina. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’re hiding from her.”
“I would never hurt Raina.”
“You already have by what you did to Zarif.”
“Zarif made his own decisions! I’ve never been able to tell him to do anything he didn’t want to.”
“What have you been doing?”
Losing.
She shook her head. “Please don’t ask. Don’t make me lie to you as well. I would never intentionally hurt any of you. I swear, Nisken.”
The Royal Assassin studied her. “All right.” He straightened ominously. “I’m glad your parents aren’t here. It makes this easier.”
“What?” She wished she could back up more.
“Don’t come back, Kaislyn. Run to your mountains and don’t ever come near my family again.”
“I—”
“You’re reckless, dangerous, and have absolutely no regard for those around you.”
“Nisken—”
“Come back and I’ll have Raina banish you from the Five Cities. Do you understand me now?”
“I...” She stared hopelessly at his scarred face, at the unforgiving expression lodged there. A small movement at his waist drew her attention there. To his hand not quite touching his sword. Did he really think she would attack him?
Swallowing hard, Kaislyn ran.
She didn’t look back.
She reached the safety of the mountains in the afternoon. A quick check did not show where Ikaros was. She made a face. He would be off visiting the cities before Raina banished him.
What if Nisken carried through on his threat and really had her banished too? She rubbed the small of her back. Blazes, how’d she manage to mess up so much? She shoved him, and Zarif, as far from her unhappy thoughts as she could. What she needed... what she needed was a visit to the Third City.
See how Jaden was doing and let him know Kam was being a fool. Besides, Jaden always made her happy. The Third City wasn’t complicated. It was safe.
Girl, none of the cities were safe if she was in them.
She left her birth life long enough to visit a mountain village and barter for a pack animal and supplies. She didn’t have to barter much, her reputation, and longstanding fight against Ikaros, was widely known now and the shaman was delighted to help her.
She stuck to her birth life after that, but traveled along the mountain edge in case Ikaros appeared. The alpaca she was given was quiet and didn’t smell like horses did. Kaislyn was soon quite fond of the dignified creature. The Third City came into view as she crested a hill somewhere in her second week of travel. She slipped deeper into the hills, left the alpaca with the first shepherd she found, warning him she would be back for the animal, and Shifted a day out of her birth life. Chasing Ikaros so much had afforded her the practice and then the precision of a tighter Shift.
Sighing in relief as she left her birth life, Kaislyn paused. When had she become scared of living in her own birth life? Something else not to think about.
It’d been well over a traditional year since Kaislyn had been in the Third City and most of her contacts were already gone. She only needed one, however, and the one she did find, directed her to a villa outside the Third City.
Jaden was doing well, Kaislyn thought, surveying the sprawling house set near the ocean. No more grungy basements for the Thief-king. There was even a guard on duty at the door.
Guards.
Kaislyn didn’t want to see any guards for a long, long time.
To her surprise, she only had to say her name and she was ushered inside and to a porch that overlooked the ocean. Jaden, standing against the rail, turned immediately when Kaislyn was announced.
He looked better than the last time she’d seen him. Healthier, exuding energy. His clothing had become more fashionable and expensive, but he wore them with a careless disregard that fit his enthusiasm. Jaden reached her in a few long strides and seized her hands in his, a broad grin sufficing his face. “Kaislyn! I always hoped you’d find your way back!”
Kaislyn grinned back, instantly feeling better. “You couldn’t keep me away if you wanted to. But look at you. Look at this!” She retrieved her hands from his grasp to gesture around them. “What happened? This is all... amazing.”
Jaden shrugged. “I’m still making some changes to the layout and furnishings.”
�
��No more food-encrusted bowls littered every which way?”
“I refuse to say,” Jaden said with a grin. “You’ll just have to watch your step.”
“So what happened? You were doing pretty well before I was, um, caught, but this...” Kaislyn trailed off again.
“We, Kaislyn,” Jaden corrected her. “We were doing well. I just carried on after you vanished. I admit I helped myself to the remains of your Black Sand. I didn’t think you would begrudge me it, and it really helped speed matters along here.”
Vanished. Prison. Mountains. The Second City... Stop it. No thinking about anything else.
Good luck with that, girl.
“It makes you wonder what it was like to have lived in Aratsi under the Demon Captain,” Jaden said, taking her hand again and leading her inside. “To be one of his guards with more than just a tiny pile of the stuff...” He shook his head admiringly.
“He only employed stupid guards, Jaden. You’re too smart.”
“You would know, wouldn’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kaislyn stopped. It was impossible for him to know about the Fourth City.
Jaden turned stern as he looked down at her. “You should have told me who you really were, Kaislyn. Being the only daughter of the Royal Assassins is an important detail!”
“And would you have let me into your gang if you’d known? I don’t want to be known because of what they do for the queen! I want to do my own thing.” The guards’ bodies floated before her mind’s eye. Assassin, a treacherous part of her said. “Be my own person,” she amended hastily.
“I guess it’s a good thing that you didn’t tell me,” Jaden admitted. He leaned down and dropped a light kiss on her mouth. “I’ve missed you, Kaislyn. All of this was just to keep busy until you came back.”
“How very productive of you.” Jaden’s kiss had been too soon. He was different. Or was she different?
“You’re frowning again. Did something happen while you were gone?”
“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head, focusing on Jaden. She forced another smile. “Tell me more of what you’ve been doing.”
He gave her a suspicious look but let it go. “The royal governor oversees the honest people of Ir-Ime and I govern the dishonest ones. Nothing happens in this city without me knowing about it. I really am the Thief-king of Ir-Ime.” He took her hand again. “Come on. I’ll show you around. You have the run of the entire place, naturally.”
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