With one lingering kiss, I slowly pulled away. “Go.”
A watery sheen glossed over her stare, but she dipped her chin once, though that hesitation didn’t fade. “You have an hour, Alastair Seridean. That is when we will depart, and if you are not back by then, I will leave and not look back.”
Scouring the near apocalyptic city streets, I scanned every alleyway I passed for that vibrant red hair. While we’d gone our separate ways to cover as much ground as possible, it became clear that decision was a mistake.
With the approach of the Royal Guard, I knew there would be trouble, especially considering the conversation I’d had with the king and Sorva—the Other who still plagued my mind even after I’d slipped from her probing judgment. She’d chilled me to the very bone in a way I couldn’t comprehend, a way that only ignited my certainty that the gods those in power demanded us to worship were just as corrupt as those seated on the throne.
The aura she carried emanated destruction, and while I wanted nothing more than to butcher my ex-best friend for what he’d done tome, the searing rage that her utterances ignited within me only pushed forward a front of concern.
If she was that influential, there was no telling?—
A hissed curse split through the air, carrying with it an inflection that belonged to the woman I’d been scouring the streets for. As if on cue, she stumbled into the mouth of the narrow passageway I’d been traversing.
Crimson stained her azure blouse, its vibrant hue undoubtedly hers, because the essence of the man pursuing her was a dull scarlet, so dull it mirrored polluted ink. Hair disheveled, she swung her sword, barely catching the one Caspian wielded.
It was an unfair fight. Even though she was one of Malrik’s esteemed assassins, Caspian fucking Vayne was King Marellan’s perfected mercenary. He was a man more than capable of slaying Malrik with his eyes closed, and he’d been trained that way for a purpose—to protect the crown from the potential double-crossing corruption Malrik acted with.
Fingers coiling around the hilt of my cutlass, I freed it from its home. Footsteps increasing, each movement Rohen made seemed to slow as the gap between us vanished. Foot sliding behind her, she tensed to brace for another attack, but I was there before she could take the brunt of it.
The force behind the blow rattled my bones, coiling up my arms in the way it always had. Caspian had been the one to teach me how to fight, the one who taught me how to leverage the weaknesses of an enemy to an advantageous point, but opposing him had never been easy. His attack was brutal, swift, and efficient, just like the type of man he was.
The corner of his mouth curled upward as our gazes locked, those smile lines burrowing into his cheeks with the confidence he always carried. Chest raising, it wasn’t a steadying breath that followed, but a mocking laugh as he shucked his blade against mine, forcing me back a step.
Clad in a white linen shirt, its neckline cut to settle in the center ofhis chest. The edges of his brand fell into my line of sight. Leather harness cinched to his frame, the natural flow of the fabric conformed to him like a second skin, highlighting the assets I already knew he carried. With the familiar crimson bandana tied around his head, his curled raven locks had been combed back with an intention, not a single one out of place even though he’d been battling a woman as deadly both in physicality and tongue as Rohen.
Crimson eyes shifting between us, he lifted a brow. “I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree now, does it?”
“Ironic coming from you, considering the obsession that pulses through your veins for this woman. Tell me, Caspian, has your bed gotten cold? Saph no longer warming your cock well enough?” I snarled, spinning my sword between my fingers. “That’s rather desperate for someone asgrandas you claim yourself to be.”
“Claim?” Chuckling, he flicked his tongue against his canine, focusing his attention on Rohen. “Is that what you’ve told him?”
“You’re pathetic,” Rohen spat, running the back of her hand along the cut in her lip. “He seemed rather familiar with yournuanceshimself,Captain.”
Unbothered, he returned his sword to its position on his hip. Craning his head to the side, his hands made quick work of rolling his sleeves up, the trail of dark lightning slipping into view. His expression seemed to bloom with amusement as we watched his movements with attentive analysis.
“Should’ve taken your chance,” he hummed, reaching behind him to grab his infamous curved sabers. Gliding his thumbs along both of the serpent-shaped pommels, he lifted his chin to settle on me. “Because by the time I’m done with both of you, there will be nothing left to salvage.”
CHAPTER 36
Sharpened Mockery
SYORAN
Whenever I found my conniving best friend, I was going to put my hands around his fucking throat and strangle him.
It had taken all of two seconds of me turning my back for Caspian to slip away, which certainly wasn’t surprising, but that didn’t make it any less infuriating. He’d always been a master of vanishing without leaving a trace, the shadows seeming to cloak him as if he commanded their very existence. And sure, it proved to serve as a great benefit whenever we found ourselves in questionable predicaments. But when he leveraged it against me?
All I felt was rage.
Dancing between the columns serving as structural pillars for the buildings they were attached to, I basked in the silence that had blanketed the island. When the chaos had unfolded, I’d merely watched. Townsfolk helped one another flee, leaving priceless items still stacked on tables as if there were no concern of theft. Where that may have been the truth on the afternoon of any other day, with the mumbled mention of the Royal Guard approaching, their reality was about to shift.
Marellan’s men would destroyeverythingregardless of the treaty.
Each footfall guided me closer to the opposite side of the nowvacated market. The steady drum of my boots seemed to supply the only sound slithering through the cobblestone streets of Veilmar, and I couldn’t help but wonder?—
The sharp clash of metal rattled my senses, the sound rolling to life from the town’s innards. I pivoted on the ball of my foot, my path detouring toward wherever that all-too-familiar noise had come from. Not only did its reverberation point to the use of steel, but the percussive patterns that followed immediately gave away the man I’d walked alongside for years.
“Caspian fucking Vayne, what have you gotten yourself?—”
