Page 34 of Cold Hearted
I unscrewed the top and pulled the dropper out, letting a single sweet drop fall onto Zander’s lips. I was careful in my measurement. Only one drop wouldn’t cause Zander harm, but it would deepen his sleep for a few hours, giving me precious time to make and execute my plans. For this scheme to work, I needed to be out of the city and well on my way before Zander woke.
Zander stirred in his sleep then, and I brushed my fingers over his brow to settle him. My muscles locked as I waited to see if he would fully wake,but as the minutes ticked by, his breaths evened out and I knew it was my time to act.
Capping the vial, I stashed it back in my bag next to the other, more deadly tinctures, and then with deft fingers I untangled the bundle of papers and went over all of the information.
After about an hour, I had learned that the rondak slept in the east wing of the castle. His three-headed dog guarded the door while he slumbered. His guard changed shift at sunset and sunrise, but often were caught sleeping in the middle of the night on duty. There was a map of a tunnel system that led from the basement of the castle all the way out to the fields beyond the wall. My escape. Whoever had collected this intel for Zander had been working months undercover as a low-level officer, and they’d done a great job compiling everything I would need to get to the rondak unnoticed.
I started to stack the papers once again, and my gaze snagged on the corner of a hand-painted map. Curiously, I pulled the parchment from the pile, my eyes going wide when I recognized what I was staring at, a military map of Ethereum. I had a rough idea of the boundaries of the kingdoms from the previous champions’ journals, but this one was much more detailed, even more so than the one the couple at the farm had given me. My copy was a hundred years old, and I could tell right away some smaller villages had sprung up over the years. But what was truly valuable about this map was that it showed the locations of military encampments throughout all four Ethereum kingdoms. When Zander woke, he was going to realize right away that I’d gone after one of his brothers and would probably warn them I was coming. There was a chance they’d be on the lookout for me.Having this map would help me avoid running into any of the other kingdoms’ military as I traveled into their territory to search for another Ethereum lord.
Tearing my gaze away from all the interesting points on the map, I focused on the Northern Kingdom, deciding which would be the fastest route to one of the neighboring kingdoms. As I was searching through the Northern Kingdom, I spotted several of the places Zander and I had passed through over the past week: Houndstooth Village, Harpy Bay, the village where we first met, and also—
I bit back a gasp of surprise. Zander had led me on a wild goose chase around his kingdom, zigzagging us back and forth rather than taking a direct route to Noreum.
My irritation spiked, but when I glanced over at the unconscious Northern lord, looking as devastatingly handsome and innocent as a lamb, I couldn’t hold on to my indignation. In fact, a puddle of warmth started to spread in my gut. I was annoyed by the time we’d wasted, but he’d purposefully kept me with him longer than he needed. I had an idea why, but I’d have loved to hear his explanation.
I sighed. I wasn’t ever going to know for sure why Zander did it, but I assumed it was because he knew who I was and was biding his time while he figured out what to do with me. If everything went to plan, this would be the last time I ever saw Zander.
My chest ached at the thought of saying goodbye forever. I wasn’t so stubborn that I couldn’t admit the handsome lord now owned a piece of my heart, but there was no reality where we could be together.
My eyes stayed on Zander, getting their last fill as I folded the military map of Ethereum and shoved it into my bag.It would come in handy later.
Leaning forward, I brushed my lips softly to Zander’s and he moaned lightly. “Goodbye, Zander.” Or maybe it was Roan. I didn’t know anymore.
Grabbing my cloak and the sunstone dagger, I made sure I had my poisons on me, then I slipped out the front door, twisting the lock before I left so that Zander would be secure inside. It was dangerous enough for Zander to be in the city, I couldn’t leave him too exposed. When I was satisfied he was safe, I took one last look at the door to our hideaway and then turned and walked away from the man I was pretty sure I was falling in love with, and toward the duty I had to my people. By my count, I still had over three weeks left to get the heart of an Ethereum lord before I wouldn’t be able to use the dagger to portal back to Faerie anymore, and I wasn’t going to let anyone down.
I relied on all of the skills I had learned and clung to the shadows as I passed building after building inside the city. It was well after midnight and the guards patrolled the streets with their whips, but I was under the cloak of darkness, walking on tiptoes and crawling in some cases as I made my way to the castle like a ghost. When I reached it, I prayed the guards on watch would be asleep. I hated to kill an innocent bystander, but if they agreed with whipping these people, then were they really innocent?
I clung to the walls and risked a peek around the corner to see two guards pacing the front of the castle.
Damn.
I didn’t want the alarm raised before I even got inside. I could kill them no doubt,but before they could scream? Before someone found their bodies while I was inside?
Always have three plans. Master Duncan’s advice came to me, and I shrank back into the darkness and began to scale the wall.
I was an expert climber; my fingers and the tips of my boots barely held on to anything as I climbed up to the cracked-open second-story window. I was shrouded in shadows, my black cloak blending with the dark stones, but I still had to move quickly lest I be seen by a guard below. Reaching the window, I hoped it didn’t lead to a room where anyone was awake. The curtains were drawn shut, so I quickly popped open the pane even wider and was immediately hit with the warmth from the inside. Whoever opened this had done so because the fire got too warm. Just my luck.
Slipping inside as quietly as possible, I held my breath as I stepped onto a tile floor and shut the window, concealed behind the curtain. No one had said anything, so I peered from behind the curtain, my dagger in hand, and sighed in relief.
I was in a library of sorts, stacked high with books. The fire that I’m sure was once roaring was now dying out.
As a well-trained assassin, I had already committed the map of the castle to memory. I needed to get to the tower in the east wing of the castle, but first, a stop at the kitchens. Padding across the room, I took off my boots and strung the laces together, placing them around my shoulders. I was basically a ghost as my thick-socked feet tiptoed across the tile floors, not even making a creak. I got to the kitchen in record time. It was closed down, not a person in sight, but the giant stainless-steel countertop was set for breakfast.Eggs, a block of cheese, and a basket of bread with a linen draped over it sat atop the cool steel.
I pulled out the block of cheese and then used my dagger to cut off three huge chunks. Reaching into my cloak, I grabbed my small poison vials that the potions master had made me and retrieved three liquid-filled capsules.
Shoving them inside the cheese, I then made my way to the east wing and up the seemingly never-ending spiral stairs toward the rondak’s bedchambers. It was time to right a wrong here in the Northern Kingdom. This kingdom had been taken from Zander, and I was going to put it right before I murdered his brother.
Chapter 9
Istood outside the rondak’s bedroom door. On the floor, the guard was knocked out cold from the butt of my knife. My heart hammered in my chest as I placed my hand on the door and cracked it open.
A low growl sounded the moment I did, and I reached into my cloak and retrieved the cheese chunks. Throwing them one by one inside the room, spaced apart evenly. I heard the sound of an animal wolfing it down, then I waited an agonizing two minutes for the poison to kick in. The best kills were the ones you did while the person slept. Like my mother would have wanted, you didn’t even give them a word to speak before you took their life. I hoped this could be that easy, but if not I had three plans.
When I was sure the poison had done its job, I pulled my boots back on and clutched my dagger in my right hand. Slipping into the room, I let my eyes adjust to the low light.
The fire was roaring, which allowed me to see everything. A hideous three-headed creature lay dead on the floor at my feet, white froth of poison dripping from its lips. Two sets of small horns protruded from each head,and I was grateful I didn’t have to tangle with that thing.
Next, I stared at the fae lying under the covers, watching the rise and fall of his chest. From what I could tell by the shape of the blanket draped over him, he wasn’t all man, but had the body of one. His face, however, was another story. It was scaled and knobbed like a dragon or a beast of some sort, and when he breathed in and out, small puffs of smoke left his nostrils.
