Girls like her don’t come into an assassin’s office unless they’re in real trouble.
This is going to be interesting.
“Are you really the Scorpion?” she asks, her voice dropping to a whisper.
Chuckling, I tug down my left sleeve to reveal my black scorpion tattoo. “Of course. Even got the tattoo to prove it.” Technically, I got the marking before I earned my title, but I suppose the name fits – especially since my scorpion would be the last thing anyone would see before I slice their throat open.
“It really is you…” she breathes. Then she pauses, her face scrunching with confusion.
“Not what you were expecting?” I lower my sleeve, leaning back in my chair.
“I just don’t understand.” She shakes her head. “I thought you were supposed to be… scary.”
Laughter rolls off my chest. Really, I should be used to this kind of reaction. Yes, I’m tall, and of course fit enough to take down someone twice my size, but my hands are always clean of blood and the only scars I have are hidden away beneath layers of black leather and armour.
“No need to be scary in this line of work,” I say with a shrug. “I can be in and out and finish the job before the target’s even noticed me.”
“But how?” she says as her pretty lips fall open.
“Let’s not distract ourselves with the details.” I lean forward, pressing my elbows against the table. “Why don’t we start with your name?”
“My name?” the ruby-haired woman repeats. “My name is A—” but then she stops herself, shrinking into her seat. “Actually, I’d rather not say.”
“Not a problem,” I reassure her with a smile, “Many of my clients prefer to stay anonymous. Let’s just call you Ruby, for now.” Reaching for a quill, I slide parchment from a pile and scribble down her ‘name’ at the top of the page. “Now, Miss Ruby.” I glance up from the paper. “Please tell me: how can I help you?”
Ruby blinks at me, before speaking in a quiet tone. “His name is Hugo.”
“Hugo?” I raise an eyebrow. “And who is this Hugo to you? Family? Town menace? Ex-lover?” My heartbeat quickens. “Current lover?”
Wrinkling her nose, she shakes her head. “Nothing like that. I’m here on behalf of my si—” she stops herself again. “I’m here on behalf of my close friends. One of them will be forced to marry Hugo, but he’s hideous, and old, and looks at them in such a disgusting way and?—”
“So who is forcing your friends to marry Hugo?” I cut her off, writing down as much as I can.
“Oh. Well, yes. It’s um, my… no. It’stheirfather,” she explains.
Confusion tugs at my brow, but I continue writing anyway. “So the target istheirfather?”
“No! No! Definitely not!” Ruby squeaks. “It’s Hugo we want gone.”
With a sigh, I lower my quill to meet her gaze. “Surely you know I cannot kill someone just because they are old and ugly.”
“Kill him?” Ruby’s face pales. “No, no, we just want him to leave and never come back!”
My head tilts.
“I heard that you can sort people out,” she continues. “Like… scare them away? Perhaps you can say something to him so that he’ll leave the kingdom and never bother my friends again.”
There’s so much hope in her eyes it makes me sniff with laughter. Somehow this girl is even more innocent than she looks.
“I’m an assassin,” I reply bluntly. “I don’t scare people away – I deal with them. Permanently. With a dagger or an arrow. So unless you have a real target for me, I’m afraid I cannot help you.”
Ruby stares blankly, and there’s a silence until I let my chin rest in my palm.
“Why don’t you speak to your friends’ father? Change his mind, perhaps? You could tell him you paid an assassin a visitso he understands how serious you are,” I laugh, but Ruby only stares with wide eyes.
“You’re an assassin?” she gasps, finally breaking the silence as her pretty lips part once again. It’s a damn shame she’s not a whore. With lips like that – so full and probably softer than silk bedsheets – it’d take just a few weeks of work at Lady Carp’s for her to be richer than the king.
Clearing my throat, I try to ignore the tightening beneath my belt. “I kill people, Ruby,” I tell her, adjusting in my seat. “I don’t scare old men away. Even if they are hideously ugly.”
