The King's Assassin

by M.M. Brownlow

The next time Aislynn woke, it was evening. Someone, likely Marja, had lit the lamps in her room, and it was in the dimness of the candle light that she saw Byron waiting for her to wake. She smiled when she saw him.

  “You’re a difficult little wench to kill, aren’t you?” he asked with a smile of his own.

  “If Eryk keeps on the way he has been, they’ll get me sooner or later,” she replied. “I hear he’s making an effort to avoid that particular fate.”

  “True, he is. I’ve been running him around the courtyard these past two mornings, trying to teach him to stay out of the way. I figure if he can hold his own until help arrives, everyone else’s job will be a lot easier.”

  “Well, I for one thank you for your time and effort. Know that I appreciate anything that makes my job easier!”

  They shared a laugh, and then Byron turned somber. He leaned forward in his chair and rested his hands on Aislynn’s blanket.

  “I want you to watch your back, as best you can,” he said. “We have managed to rule out Branden and his family as actually being involved with the assassination attempts, but we also know for certain that Madelia is involved somehow. They know about you, which makes you a huge target, especially being laid up as you are. I know that Marcus and Mateo are good men, and Cheta will help to keep you safe, but trust nobody.”

  Aislynn nodded, understanding that there was more to what Byron was saying than just concern for her well-being. She didn’t have to wait long for him to explain the rest of his thoughts.

  “Eryk was a changed man, waiting to find out if you would make it or not. I know that you don’t need me pestering you, and I’m not going to do it. I’m just asking you to be careful for his sake, too.”

  “You too? I expected that you at least wouldn’t be pushing me to marry Eryk. I mean… We’ve become close, haven’t we? And I was pretty sure that you felt–”

  “Don’t!” Byron interrupted her. “Don’t say it.”

  He looked her in the eye and then dared to take her hand gently.

  “If you don’t say it out loud,” he said softly, “it makes it less real, less…painful. I know, I’ve always known, that I didn’t stand a chance with you. Hell, you’re a princess and I’m just the son of a thatcher!”

  “That doesn’t matter to me,” she protested. “You know that.”

  “Yes, I do know that,” Byron agreed. “That’s one of the many things that I love about you. You’re willing to accept me for me. But that’s not the point here. You were meant for him, I can see that, and I’m too loyal to my king to let my feelings get in the way of what’s best for him.”

  “Oh Byron,” Aislynn sighed. “We get along so well, and we have so much in common. I have thought about it and while you haven’t come out and said anything until now… Well, I just don’t know what to say.”

  “Then don’t say anything.”

  Rising from his chair, Byron moved over to the bed. Placing his hands ever so gently on either side of Aislynn’s face, he leaned forward and kissed her. The moment his lips met hers, he felt her shudder gently and then she kissed him back. He felt her lips part beneath his, and he accepted her invitation, kissing her deeper.

  “Thank you,” Byron whispered as he pulled back a short while later. “I’ve wanted to do that for awhile. Now you know for certain how I feel about you, I know how you feel about me, but that’s as far as it can ever go. You can’t ever be mine, no matter how much I wish it were otherwise.”

  Byron settled back into the chair beside the bed while Aislynn closed her eyes and let her thoughts run rampant. The silence stretched between them, but it wasn’t an awkward silence.

  “What am I going to do about Eryk?” Aislynn asked, finally speaking. “He needs to realize that if I do my job properly, I will very likely die before he does, and considering his current record, it seems very likely that I will die while protecting him. He does know that, right?” she asked, frustrated.

  “Oh, I’m sure he realizes it, logically,” said Byron, “but logic has little to nothing to do with how the heart works. I’m not sure what it is about you, but you have certainly changed him, and I think it’s for the better. You’ve changed a lot of us.” This last he said with a smile.

  Aislynn shook her head weakly and closed her eyes, trying to wrap her head around everything going on right now. Everyone who came in here wanted the same thing, but they all wanted it for a different reason. Eryk loved her and wanted to marry her because that is what you do when you love someone, in an ideal world. Her father thought that the magic of the pact had brought her here to marry Eryk, because they needed each other. Byron felt that Eryk was a better man for her presence, and wanted her to stay to continue her changes on him, despite his own feelings for her. Marja was just a hopeless romantic and couldn’t resist a good relationship. Maybe she was fighting a losing battle, trying to avoid wedding bells.

  By the time Aislynn had finished sorting through the thoughts in her head and opened her eyes again, Byron was gone. A healer came into the room to check her dressings and give her another dose of painkillers, and Aislynn drifted off to sleep wondering who would be waiting for her next time she woke.