Roger started for him, but Callie jerked at the rug beneath Roger’s feet and sent the man sprawling.
Hiding his amusement at her aid, Sin angled his sword at Roger as the knight slowly regained his feet while Callie stepped back to observe them.
The knight’s eyes glared his hatred and Sin was amazed Roger didn’t run away and hide. It was what the knight did best.
Sin lowered his confiscated sword. “Care to explain?”
“Explain what? That someone needs to kill you? Everyone knows you need to die. How many sleeping throats have you cut in the name of Henry?”
Sin heard a soft gasp at the words. He glanced behind Roger to see Caledonia covering her mouth with one hand, her eyes wide. Now she knew the truth of him.
So be it. He’d never hidden from what he was.
Perhaps it was for the best. Now she would hate him as everyone did. It would make avoiding her all the easier.
And yet something inside him shriveled at the thought of her hating him. It made no sense to him at all. But then, few things in life did.
Roger looked to the woman and his eyes narrowed. “Does she know you were a hashishin?”
Sin took a deep breath as he recalled the days he’d been thoroughly trained in ways to take a man’s life. He saw the confusion on Caledonia’s face as she regarded the two of them.
“She doesn’t know the term assassin, Roger.”
“She knows the term murderer. That’s what you are. You are a filthy murdering dog with no conscience or morals.”
Sin lifted the tip of the sword to Roger’s throat. “You’ve said enough. Anymore words, and I will show you firsthand what my trainers taught me.”
Roger paled.
The gilded oak doors opened to admit Henry and his guard. The king drew up sharply as he caught sight of Sin in the middle of the room with his sword at Roger’s throat. “What is this?”
Henry’s guards came around to protect their king.
Sin stepped back and handed the sword hilt first to one of the guards. “Nothing of any great import, Sire. ‘Tis only another attempt on my life.”
Callie stood in shock at Sin’s bored tone. It was as if he thought little of the fact the man had just sought his death.
Rage suffused Henry’s face as he faced the handsome knight who was almost a head shorter than him. “Any good reason why you felt the need to kill our advisor?”
Roger glared his hatred at Sin. “He killed my father in cold blood and yet you reward him like some treasured hound. ‘Tis obscene the way no one dares make him pay for what he’s done.”
Henry’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “We understand you are upset, but we stringently advise you to counsel that tongue lest you find our wrath falling full force onto your head.”
Roger stepped back and turned his chastised gaze to the floor.
Henry glanced to Sin. “Is it true? Did you kill his father?”
Callie saw pain flare in Sin’s eyes a moment before he shielded it.
Sin shrugged. “How would I know? I never asked nor knew my victims’ names.”
By Sin’s expression, she could tell he did remember their faces. There was such a haunted look to him that she had no doubt it troubled him still.
“See!” Roger snarled. “He doesn’t deny it. I want justice for my family.”
“Justice, sir, or were you after a more selfish end?” The words left her mouth before she realized she’d spoken.
Suddenly all the men turned to look at her.
