by Emma Couette
I can see tears streaming down Ajax’s face.
I’m proud of you, his eyes tell me through the pain.
Hai just laughs. “Well, sister, I do believe you’ve gone off the deep end. Hardly a perfect assassin, are you?”
“I never was!” I explode, throwing my arms out and exposing my tattoos. They seem to flicker in the torchlight. “See these names, Hai? These are the names of every single person I’ve assassinated, and they’re not trophies. They’re scars, reminders of the pain I’ve caused, the lives I’ve destroyed. I regret every single one. I only killed to survive, in the hopes that one day it would all be better, that Haven would change from the dark place it’s always been. So when I learned how my mother really died, I went straight to the Resistance. I betrayed all of you. I told them where to find the Guild. I coordinated everything. I made sure I would be the one to come and find the Charger. Do you still want me as your successor, father, traitor that I am?”
I whip my head in the direction of the throne, but he is no longer there.
A cold hand settles on my shoulder.
“Oh, Silent Night,” the Charger says from behind me, his breath tickling my ear. I shudder at his touch. “Of course you betrayed us. I knew where you were all along. I knew who you had gone to, what you were planning. I knew you would come back. It was all part of my plan. Everything can be forgiven, daughter, if you would but perform one simple task.”
I do not want to be forgiven by this man, but I still wonder.
“And what might that be?” I ask.
“Well,” he whispers, so Ajax and Hai can no longer hear him, “originally, I thought it would be fun to watch you kill your brother, but since that lovely Resistance agent showed up...” He trails off, letting me fill in the rest.
No.
“It’s a small request, Silent Night,” he goes on, “kill the Resistance agent and I will forgive your transgressions. You will return to your rightful place as my successor. I'll even promote you to Agent One. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
Once. Once that had been my goal, but not anymore.
“Kill him, daughter,” the Charger says, “and I’ll let you live.”
Ah, there it is.
I’d been waiting for him to throw that, to let loose the demon writhing behind his cool, calm facade.
Even still, my answer is the same. I won’t sacrifice Ajax to save my own skin.
“Father, I...”
“Go on.”
“Father, I’m sorry, but I can’t be the person you want me to be.”
He stiffens.
I raise my gun again and shoot Hai in the head. He crumples to the floor and Ajax falls free, landing on his knees beside the body.
The Charger’s hand closes around my throat.
“Insolent child,” he hisses. “I would’ve given you the world. You would’ve been respected by all, challenged by none, and you throw it all away for what, a boy? Foolish girl.”
“No,” I gasp as his fingers close tighter. “That life would’ve given me nothing but despair. I threw it away in favour of happiness, and love, and freedom, three things you could never give me.”
His fingers cinch even tighter.
I can’t breathe.
“It’s a pity your mother died in vain,” he spits at me, but she didn’t.
She died trying to keep me safe, the me she loved, and I’m still here. I survived. Even as my lungs strain for oxygen and my vision blurs, I smile.
Somehow, I’ve won.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
I don’t know how long I’m out, but eventually I feel myself waking up. Though there’s a slight pain in my chest with each intake, my breathing seems normal.
Then the pain in my leg comes back and my eyes fly open.
I’m sitting on a metal grate in an inch of water, my clothes already sopping wet. My back rests against a solid wall and across from me, leaning against the glass of our small prison is Ajax.
Despite our circumstances, he smiles at me. “Hey,” he says, “I was afraid you weren’t going to wake up.”
I don’t smile back.
“Jax,” I breathe, “what happened to your face?” Huge purple and black bruises mar his once-perfect skin and my heart aches to see him in such a state.
He shrugs. “The Charger roughed me up a bit after you passed out and then he threw us both in here.”
“I’m going to kill him,” I hiss.
“Good luck with that,” he sighs. “We can’t get out.”
“It’s a glass tank,” I reply, standing shakily, “surely there’s a way.”
“There isn’t, Silent,” he assures me, “I already tried.” Slowly, he holds out his left hand. It’s a broken, bloody mess. His knuckles are shattered, fingers lying limp.
It doesn’t take me long to find where his blood spatters the glass.
“Jax,” I whisper. “You shouldn’t have...”
He trembles. “I was just trying to get us out. I don’t want either of us to die like this. We have so much life left to live...” His voice breaks into a sob and he turns away from me.
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Jax, why did you come after me? I thought you hated me.”
“I thought I hated you too,” he admits. “Maybe it was the pain talking, maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know what I think now, but I knew I couldn’t let you die after what we said to each other before you left.” He turns around and looks me in the eye. “It’s not all forgiven, Silent, I’d be lying if I said that, but there’s hope. I came here to tell you that and to fight by your side. To save you or to go down with you. Am I crazy? Probably, but there’s still a part of me in there that doesn’t want to let you out of my sight again.”
It’s my turn to cry, silent tears running down my cheeks. “You’re beautiful, you know that, right?” I whisper.
He says nothing, but he wipes away my tears with his thumb.
I lean into him and he wraps his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my head.
In the silence that follows, I hear water trickling. Startled, I look down and gasp. Jax and I are now standing in water up to our calves and it’s still rising.
“Jax,” I say, “look.”
“Oh God,” he gasps.
We break apart and frantically begin beating at the glass walls. We ignore the pain in our tired limbs as we slam them against the glass over and over again. Bruises blossom on my skin, but I keep going, desperate to escape, to live, to not die this way. The water rises faster and faster and the glass shows no sign of weakness. I’d sink to my knees if that wouldn’t put me up to my shoulders in water.
“Jax,” I gasp, tears blurring my vision. “What are we going to do? I don’t want t-to die. I don’t want you to die because of me. This is all my fault.” Horrible sobs wrack my body.
“Hey,” he says, “it’s okay. Don’t cry. I... I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, than to die by your side, to die fighting.”
My tears fall faster.
We stand in silence for a moment as the water continues to rise. It’s up to our waists now. I splay my hand across the glass, wishing it wasn’t real, that it is just a horrible nightmare and we will soon wake up safe in our beds, but I know I am wishing for the impossible.
This is real and we’re going to die, drowned to death in a glass tank. There’s no hope left for us.
I make a decision. I have to tell him. I owe him at least that much after everything we’ve gone through.
“Quinn,” I gasp as the water reaches my elbows.
“What?” Jax asks.
“My name is Quinn,” I reply. “I figure you might as well know now, since neither of us are going to live to tell this tale.”
“Don’t say that.” He’s quiet for a minute and then he says, “Quinn. I like it. It suits you.”
“Thanks.”
He smiles and says, “I love you, Quinn.”
I don’t hesitate this time. “I love you too, Ajax.”
All of a sudden, it’s like a wall has been smashed between us and we can’t get to each other fast enough. He kisses my purple lips with his and I kiss him back harder, even as our teeth chatter and our whole bodies shake. We pull ourselves as close as we can get.
The water rises around us, but we don’t care. We may be dying, but we have each other and that’s all we need to know. I’m content knowing I won’t die as Silent Night, but as Quinn, the innocent girl I knew was inside me all along.
To be continued in...
Still Dawn
Thank you!
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first book of my Guild Trilogy and that you are looking forward to the next installment. Please consider leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Acknowledgements
First, I want to say thank you to my significant other, Allan, who hasn’t been with me through the whole journey of this book, but who never once doubted that I could publish it and be an author.
Second, to my sister, who listened to all my rants.
Third to my parents for nurturing my imagination.
Fourth to my IRL writing buddy, Coyote Newell who is my sounding board for any and all ideas. You will forever be an asset my dude.
I also want to thank Koral Lambert, William McGuinn, and Claire Allore, three friends who read this book in its first draft and gave invaluable feedback. Thank you so much for reading Silent Night when it was a rubbish pile and finding the diamond tucked inside it.
Thank you to my amazing Critique Partner, Taylor, who seriously took Silent Night to the next level and has given me so much support over the endless months of revision, editing, beta readers, and so much more. You rock.
Speaking of Beta Readers, thank you to Rachel Cole, Paige Engling, Stevie Hayden, James Matthews, Mickey Miles, and Emily Weisenburger. For those of you who were only able to read part of it: your feedback was still used and much appreciated : ) .
Eternal gratitude for my cover designer, Rena Hoberman over at coverquill.com. I still can’t get over how gorgeous this cover is!
Big thanks to Nicki Richards who edited my book. Thank God I had her to fix all my em-dashes and to point out that my one character rips the sleeves off what was already a sleeveless top. *face palms* Check her out at Richard’s Corrections.
Shoutout to the writing community over on Instagram. I would’ve lost my sanity as a writer a long time ago if not for my writer friends there. I wish I could name everyone, but I do want to mention Amie Mcnee @inspiredtowrite for her endless motivational posts, Bethany Atazadeh for her well of self-publishing knowledge, Rebecca K. Sampson for always believing in everyone, and Bruna Reis, for the Pondering Writer Retreat.
Last, but not least, thank you to you, my readers. I know you read this in every book, but you’re the reason I do this. I write stories to get them out of my head, but also to be read by others. I hope that I can help someone with my words, that I can empower people with the unique worlds and characters I create. I can’t wait to see where this journey goes, and I hope you come along for the ride.
Assassins Below
Guess what? I have a present for you. As a thank you for reading the whole book – and perusing the end matter – I would like to invite you to my Silent Night page on my website. This page gives you access to aesthetics, character art, deleted scenes, and much more to come soon. Normally, you have to sign up for my newsletter to receive the password, but here it is: AssassinsBelow.
Interested in that Newsletter? You can sign up via my website which I will put below. I send monthly updates on writing, releases, my own reads, and more! Membership gives you access to my Members page which has my Writing Advice Column and list of favourite writerly resources. (Hint: it’s the same password as above)
emmawrites99.wixsite.com/emmathewriter/learn-more
About the Author
Emma Couette is a Canadian wordsmith whose second passion is wood working. She has written a few award-winning short stories and dabbles in poetry when the inspiration strikes her. Her dreams include travelling the world, being a mom, and owning a small library. Silent Night is her debut novel, the first of many adventures.