Page 60 of Shadow Queen
Anger stirred inside her. “It’s one man that embodied them.”
Soren raised a brow and glanced at Mikael. “She’s in shock.”
“I am not in shock!” she said angrily. “And don’t speak about me like I can’t hear you. I know how it sounds, and I don’t understand it myself, but he spoke to me through each man, as if he possessed them. He sees through them, he speaks through them, but none of them are actually him.”
“It’s a trick,” Soren told her.
Norah pushed out a frustrated breath. She didn’t have the energy to deal with him, and instead turned her attention to the assassins. They didn’t share a common skin color. Two were darker, like men from Kharav. Perhaps even darker. Several were white, like her. But they all wore their hair trimmed short. Then something caught her eye. On each of their foreheads was a small smear of rusty brown. She hadn’t noticed it during the attack; it had been hidden under their face coverings.
“I’ve seen this before,” she said, drawing closer. She reached and touched it, then pulled back, eyeing the substance closely as she rubbed it between her fingers. Blood, maybe? “On one of the drifters. Near the village that had been destroyed after we left Bahoul. The night…” her voice trailed off. The night she had been attacked by the Horsemen. Even after all this time, the memory still made her stomach turn.
“These men aren’t drifters,” Soren said gruffly.
Clearly not. But… “They’re linked somehow,” she insisted. “And the lord justice is his target. He attacked me to get to him.” She looked up at Mikael. “He was angry when he discovered Alexander wasn’t here.”
Mikael’s breath shook in anger. “Well, whatever he is, if he jumps to another body when you kill him, then he’s still out there.”
“Only if you believe this nonsense,” Soren muttered.
“I do,” Mikael said gruffly, and the commander’s eyes darkened.
“Then the solution is easy,” Soren said matter-of-factly. “We kill the Bear.”
That was his solution to everything. “You won’t touch him,” she warned.
“If his only cause to come after you is to hurt the Bear, then we should eliminate the Bear to eliminate the cause,” he argued.
“How convenient a solution for you,” she seethed. “Will you kill your king as well?” She looked back at Mikael. The assassin had wanted to hurt both AlexanderandMikael. “This man wasn’t a supporter of yours either.”
Mikael stewed in anger. “I want to know who he is.”
Norah sighed. “He wouldn’t tell me his name, and his accent…” She paused. His accent was similar to her own, yet different. “Not Mercian, but close. And he called the lord justiceAlexander, and youtheShadow King.”
“Similar to the North, and now wanting revenge. Sounds like Aleon,” Soren said, looking at her darkly.
“But he’s not from Aleon,” Norah cut in. “That much he said.”
Soren tilted his head, as if mocking her. “And you believe him?”
She eyed him, irritated. “Yes.”
Norah looked back at the bodies. Who were these men? And where were they from? This was personal, driven by a deep hatred. This was an enemy of Alexander, an enemy of Mikael, and they had no idea who it was.
The night was eerily quiet, and Norah woke in a cold sweat. She sat up abruptly, not able to shake the feeling of someone watching her. She and Mikael had moved to her sanctuary, out of their bed chamber that still made her jump at every turn.
Mikael sat up beside her and reached out, putting his hand on her arm. “No one’s here,” he told her.
“He is.”
Mikael called out in the Shadow tongue, and a guardsman quickly entered. “Have the Crest sweep the castle, every hall, every stair,” he told him. “Recheck the perimeter.”
“Yes, Salar.” The guardsman bowed and left quickly, closing the door behind him.
Mikael rose from the bed and looked through the bath chamber, then checked the balcony to make sure the doors were latched. He sank into the quilts beside Norah and held his arm for her to come to him. She slowly lay back, pulling the quilts up and trying to calm her breath.
“Don’t be afraid,” he told her. “You’ve never been one to be afraid.”
“But this… I don’t understand. This man, whatever he is, he has unnatural powers. He’s able to speak through other men, see through other men. He passed through what’s supposed to be an impenetrable kingdom, into the city, into the castle. He knew you were away with the lord commander. He knew I was alone.”
