“We’ll track him down. I’m guessing that William will know where he is or how to find him, given he was dismissed from Father’s service.”
They made no further comment. They didn’t need to. They stood waiting, watching the garden sink into darkness that was pushed back by the flare of torches from the top of the walls, casting an eerie, flickering light across the garden.
35
Alex
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck and turned, his eyes widening in shock to see the hooded figure standing there, silent, watching him. Daniel swallowed, his mouth dry, and fear shot through him. His eyes darted to the door, knowing the guards were just on the other side. Still, as close as the person was to him, he doubted he would live long enough for the guards to get to him should the cloaked figure want him dead.
Daniel took a step back, hitting the wall behind him as the cloaked figure walked toward him, closing the distance between them. Fear washed through him, and he felt a sudden, sharp stabbing pain in his chest. Daniel looked down, not understanding as he saw the blade being pulled from his chest. The light died from his eyes as he slumped to the ground, dead.
The figure bent and cleaned the hunting knife on the Prince’s cloak then stood, a hand reaching up to push the hood back. Alex stood, the burning anger he’d felt toward Daniel washing away, to be replaced by calmness.
Looking around his brother’s room, he spotted the drink counter. He walked across to it, scanning the numerous bottles on the counter. His eyes narrowed as he spotted a nondescript brown bottle at the back of the cabinet. Grabbing it, he held it up to the light, smiling as he recognised it from Jess’ memory. The poison they had already used once that his brother had intended to use again.
Alex turned, looking down on the dead body of his brother, knowing he should feel something—anything—at his death, yet somehow he felt empty. His brother had tried to have him and his friends killed or enslaved; he’d been a member of the Killiam Order. The same order that had killed his mother and made his life a living nightmare. A satisfied smile on his lips, he transitioned into the Veiled World, fading from view as he walked the shadow paths, leaving the dead body that had once been his brother to be found by the servants who would check in the morning.
Alex travelled through the Veiled World, the colours flickering around him. The real world he was passing by blurred, giving him his only sign of how fast he was moving. He felt as if his entire world was crushing in on him, his brain running and darting from one subject to another: his mother’s death, the Sundered, his brother’s broken dead body with the pool of blood spilling out on the floor.
Feeling the draw of the veil, Alex fled into the void, acting on instinct. Driven by anger, by pain, a feeling of abandonment and betrayal, he fled. Seeking another target, an outlet he knew must be out there somewhere. Then he could feel the presence he was looking for, as it flared in the distance, pulsing, dark and hateful.
Not sure what he was doing or how he was doing it, Alex waded through the void between the Veiled World and the real world. Forming a path, the world around him blurred further as his speed continued to increase. He allowed himself to be drawn, summoned to that malignant, mad presence he could feel, that sang to him though the veil.
He paused in that void between the Realms; the real world settled and became distinct again.
He pulled the veil to him to mask his presence from the one below. A part of Alex’s brain realised that this was how Kyle managed some of his kills—the art of the assassin, the veil hiding his presence from humans and, it seemed, Kin alike. Alex watched as the small child played, skipping small pebbles across the pond. Then he gasped as he felt the slight but unmistakable pull of the veil as the child extended the pebble’s trajectory, bouncing it clear across the other side of the pond to hit the edge of a pier on the other side. A lot further than one small little boy should be able to skip a pebble. The small boy laughed in delight before turning and searching for another pebble to continue his game. The boy, Alex knew, was Kin, just like him.
Alex waited, knowing the presence that had drawn him here was nearby. Hiding still, just like he was. Then he sensed that small whooshing sound and his gaze shifted to the man who had appeared close to the child. He looked like a man, but Alex knew he was like him. From the feel of the emanations rolling off him, he was of the Sundered, and mad. Alex still waited, watching, feeling the anger build in him as the Sundered’s intent became clear and he stalked up to the child who froze, his delight in his new skill leaking from him. The child knew, his eyes widening in fear as the Sundered drew his long, sharp hunting blade from its scabbard. He was holding the child in place using the veil in a way that Alex hadn’t known was possible.
Unable to wait any longer, lost in his rage, Alex screamed and appeared in that place, pushing the child aside, his own blade coming up and blocking that of the Sundered. Using his momentum, Alex felt hate flood him and used this and the Sundered’s shock to bring his dagger, that he hadn’t realised he’d drawn, up through the chest of the Sundered, with a last push piercing the heart.
As the Sundered slumped to the ground, dead, Alex’s eyes tracked up and caught the terrified child, who had been trying to edge his way from the clearing but froze again as Alex caught him. Alex felt the rage bubble up, snarling.
“My kill!” Alex screamed his rage out into the veil.
Alex paused, trying to push the pain and confusion of the increased power he suddenly had access to aside. The frozen, terrified child sparked a series of memories to flash into his mind. The images and sounds burned into his brain, one flashing though his mind’s eye after the other.
His mother, with her throat slit, blood spurting, crumbling to the ground.
The image of the Sundered he’d stabbed in the clearing, seeing him start healing what should have been a fatal wound.
Then him in the bar on the anniversary of his mother’s death, Kyle telling him that his mother had born the Taint.
Simon sitting there saying, “People notice that you are not ageing after some time, your old life has to die, after that we move around…”
His mother’s tomb, the five cloaked faceless figures. The one female looking up, her delicate arm and hand reaching up toward where his room was. He knew the figure was female but the hood hid her face in its depths.
Alex, I’m sorry. Forgive me for leaving you. You’ll be safer this way.
Then as she turned, a lamp flared, revealing the face in the hood for a brief moment before she disappeared. Into the veil.
Then back in the clearing as the guard picked him up, he caught a flash of his mother’s face as the guards covered her broken form. The slash on her neck only going half way across her throat, instead of all the way across. She had begun to heal.
Alex felt anger burn through him. That last image, when combined with the others, he knew. He knew what his nightmares had been trying to tell him. The veil swirled around him, thick strands of power rained down on him, through him, his power to reason and think started to fade. Pain exploded through his body and mind, as he threw his head back and screamed out into the veil.
Mother!
36
Kyle
Kyle had dressed impeccably; his target was in the court tonight. He could still feel the connection, that bond with his friends, their pain echoing through and multiplying his own. He heard in his mind voice the moment a part of Alex broke, heard him scream in anger and pain. Saw him kill in his mind’s eye, like he was looking through a window but couldn’t intervene. Kyle paused, his eyes closing, pain flashing across his face.
Ah, my brother, I wish I could take your place. Stay safe. Kyle sent his own mind voice out, but given how lost he knew Alex was, he doubted that he heard.
Kyle walked into the court, noting the various lords’ and ladies’ shocked expressions as they backed away, clearing a path for him. He spared them no attention, just stalked across the ballroom, even ignoring the looks from the King an
d William, their eyes widening as he grabbed a now-shaking Lord Vannen and threw him across the floor. Kyle stalked up to him like he was stalking prey.
“You are guilty of treason, Vannen. You are a member of the Killiam Order. The same order that tried to kill Prince Alexander, Lady Jessalan and me.” Kyle didn’t even bother to pull his weapon out; he knew he didn’t need it. He grabbed the sobbing lord on either side of his head. Hauling him upright, he ignored the man’s babbling and begging for forgiveness. “The same order behind the death of the Queen.” With that final piece of information, he glanced up at the King and William; both nodded, their faces blank.
“Do it, Kyle, his life is forfeit for treason.” The King’s voice was cold.
Kyle snapped the quivering man’s neck, not having to look to see the King’s face had gone pale with anger. William tried to shield Elizabeth and Amelia.
There was a moment of silence in the court, then the shrieking and sobbing began as if someone had thrown a switch. Kyle turned and followed his own path back out of the ballroom, back toward the Complex of the Fourth.
No one moved to stop him as he transitioned between one step and the next to the Veiled World.
Kyle strode down the shadowed paths, not even trying to push down the bloodlust that had reared its ugly head. He let it roll through him, knowing he had a job to do. It didn’t take him long to track down Baine. He’d done his homework and found out that the guard was on a day off and making his way into town with a full purse, likely to drink it all before returning to the palace. Alex spotted his target close to the palace on a side trail, making his way into town. His eyes narrowed as Baine rode down the path toward town without a concern at all. That was about to end.
Kyle snarled. Drawing in the power, he slammed it into Baine as he’d learned to do, fighting the Sundered. At least the Sundered had a reason for what they did—they couldn’t help the madness they had been driven to. This monster had had a choice in everything he’d done. Kyle dropped out of the Veiled World as his target went flying off his horse and slammed into a nearby tree. He paid his horse no attention as it reared and went running down the road. Kyle stalked over to the groaning man, yanking his head up by his hair and had the pleasure of seeing his eyes widen in fear, his hands raised to deflect the blade, his scream cut short as the sharp blade sliced through his neck.
Kyle dropped his head, stood looking down at what had once been a man who had caused him and his friends a great deal of pain. Ignoring the blood that was splattered all over him, dripping from his own face, he wiped his blade and disappeared once more into the veil.
Kyle walked the veiled paths, the goal clear in his mind. While Alyssa was out of his mind and dead, the negative impulses she’d forced on him had persisted. Not that he’d confessed that secret to Alex or Jess; both had their own issues and problems right now. He knew even though they hadn’t confided in him either that they too were struggling with the Taint, being Sundered, or worse than they’d dreamed.
Kyle paused, waiting in that place between worlds near the room that was his target, shaking off the sorrow and fear that threatened to swallow him. He stepped through, appearing in the room.
“Welcome, Kyle, I wasn’t sure if you would come.” The Skull Lord lounged in his chair, not showing the slightest concern that Kyle had appeared in his quarters. It almost looked as if he had been expecting Kyle to come to him.
Kyle licked his lips, nervous about what he would do, yet he knew there was no other way forward. “I heard what you said to Alex about being able to help those going through transition if it wasn’t too late. Can you stop me from killing my friends?”
Kyle expected harsh laughter, triumph, scorn, yet he saw none of that. He stood his ground, stopping his first impulse to grab a weapon as the Skull Lord stood and approached him.
“With your permission, Kyle?” The Skull Lord’s eyes maintained contact with his own, waiting.
Kyle took a shuddering breath and nodded. “Yes, My Lord.”
A smile touched the Skull Lord’s lips. He placed his hands on Kyle’s temples.
Relax, Kyle, let me see the damage that has been done. The Skull Lord’s tone was gentle, which surprised Kyle.
Taking a shuddering breath, Kyle tried to calm himself and lowered his barriers even though every instinct in him screamed against allowing the Skull Lord entry to his head. Kyle wasn’t sure if the almost delicate probing of his mind took hours or minutes, only that it seemed to take an eternity. Much to his astonishment, the Skull Lord withdrew and stepped back, regarding him.
“Yes, Kyle I can help you. I can stop you from killing your friends.” Kyle felt himself slump with relief, falling to his knees as emotion hit him. He bowed his head, groaning as he felt an assault of overwhelming emotions crash over him in one wave after another, as he had since he was drugged. Since he’d met Alyssa.
He shuddered, wondering what he was about to become, what the life of a Sundered Assassin would be like.
37
Jess
Jess travelled via the shadowed paths to a place she knew well yet hadn’t paid a visit to for a long time. She was calm. Too calm. She contemplated as she walked, pausing at the home of her target. Knowing the house, Jess appeared in the Solar since she knew it wouldn’t be used at this hour. She smiled bitterly, looking around the room that appeared like it had never changed.
Jess paused as she first heard Alex’s cry, his pain, yet she remained calm even as she could hear Kyle. Her instinct was to go to him, to help and try to drag him back to sanity, yet she had her own job to do; he hadn’t flinched from his. She wouldn’t either. She waited a moment, knowing Kyle was next. She felt and saw it as he stalked up to Lord Vannen. She didn’t even flinch when Kyle snapped the man’s neck, even remaining calm as he transitioned into the veil. She followed him as he stalked the man Baine and killed him with brutal efficiency.
The location he went to next gave her a brief pause and cracked her composure a little.
Kyle, what are you doing? No!
That last was screamed at her friend as it became clear what he would do, yet it was too late. He paid her no mind and then that spark that was Kyle disappeared from her own mind.
Jess walked out of the solar, allowing the veil to flow through her as she walked, not even trying to hide her presence in the house at this point. She knew there was no one near, not even a servant at this point. Her target would be in the sitting room, waiting for the appropriate time to appear for dinner. Even at home, everything had to run according to propriety. Pausing outside the door, she looked with her mind’s eye, seeing only the one glowing pulse she knew signified a heartbeat inside the room. Glancing around her, she smiled, satisfied. As she had thought, the others in the house were getting ready for dinner. Jess walked into the room, closing the door, marvelling at how calm she still was. The occupant of the room gasped in shock, not expecting company at this hour, standing, a hand raised to her mouth.
“Why, Mother?”
Lady Barraclough’s eyes widened. “I don’t know what you mean. Jessalan, what …”
Jess walked forward, disgusted, as her mother stumbled back from her approach, afraid. Jess cut her mother off as her back hit the wall behind her.
“Why were you involved with the Killiam Order?”
Her mother looked around as if she expected someone else to appear to save her, yet she’d trained her servants too well. She was alone in this room, as she always liked to be. Then her expression turned ugly as she spat her answer out.
“You’re a monster, you and your friends—don’t think we don’t know the truth about you all. The Order will take all of you. You won’t be so high and mighty then!” Lady Barraclough’s voice had risen to a screech, her voice harsh, face screwed up into an ugly hate-filled mask.
Jess drew her blade, stepping in, and plunged it up through her mother’s abdomen, watching as the tip of the blade pierced her heart. Her eyes dead, Jess shoved her mother back with one
hand, watching as she crumpled to the floor.
“Goodbye, Mother.” Jess dissipated into the Veiled World, leaving the crumpled, lifeless body of the woman who had been her mother on the floor in an expanding pool of her own blood.
Jess felt the anger she expected to feel rolling through her, consuming her, and considered the emotion. It was different. She was different in multiple ways, hard to put a finger on.
As she contemplated what had changed, the surrounding veil transformed into a forest. She wasn’t thinking about it or willing it to occur. It was just happening. The change sweeping out from where she stood in a rolling wave changed the place she stood in. Trees, rocks, flowers, vines and a tranquil pool of water were being fed by a small stream. Calming.
Jess moved to one side and sat on a fallen log, overgrown with moss. It looked like it was from the deepest jungle where few humans had encroached, yet she knew it hadn’t been there moments before until she’d sat.
Jess turned her thoughts inwards and examined herself. She could feel the anger she had felt moments before on discovering the deception her uncle and the others had been playing on her. If she thought about it too much, that anger threatened to rise once more and consume her. She could kill, she’d been trained to be a very effective killer her whole existence. Yet she could push it aside, ignore it. After a moment more in consideration, she did just that. It would be easy to let the rage consume her and just kill without thought, but perhaps things were not productive that way.
Her mind flitted onto Kyle, her brother, and sadness almost threatened to overwhelm her. He had sunk, succumbed to the lure of killing that Alyssa had instilled in him. She knew he would have been capable of pushing aside that desire, just as she was. Jess’ eyes widened, startled at the thought that had occurred to her.
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