“Now you know.” Vander shoved his sword through the boy’s chest. I gasped and my hand flew over my mouth. The boy choked out a spatter of blood and wheezed his last breath. Gray covered his body, and he petrified against the bark.
I clenched my teeth and shoved down emotions that wanted to rise.
“It hurts the first time you watch someone change and have to kill them.” Vander cleaned off his blade on a nearby patch of moss. “Then you realize you saved his family who would have let him in not knowing what he was. Who knows how many more would die if he turned them.”
I blinked away my blurry vision and pushed my shoulders back. “Yet you were going to let those other vampires leave. Idon’t understand this unspoken agreement, Viper. We take care of wildlings in our land, why would the vampire kings care to send anyone to help us?”
He shifted from one foot to the other. “They see vampires who don’t comply as the enemy. They don’t want the wildlings who don’t follow orders to take all their supply. Vampires aren’t allowed to change humans or ducai without permission from a superior and wildlings do what they want.”
I shook my head and started pacing. “So you’re saying they control their own lawbreakers the same way we do? But instead of prison, they just kill them.”
“That sums it up well.”
He tilted his head. “Come, we can talk on the way back.” I fell into step beside him, giving one last glance at the boy who would never get to see his mother again. “You did well tonight, Bonecarver. I meant every word I told your father. After a few more hunts and passing the exam, you’ll be ready to graduate to level one assassin.”
I smiled beneath my mask, but that nervousness twisted my gut again. “You’re not going to leave when that happens. Promise me.”
He went quiet. The silence was strained. I almost couldn’t bear it. I was ready to beg him to stay.
“He knows your name. If they target you because of me...”
My breath pulled from my lungs. I hadn’t thought about that.
“That’s why you killed her.”
“I should have killed the other one too. Should have just left the boy to die, he was going to die anyway.”
“You didn’t know that at the time.”
“You’re more important to me than some random human. I should have tracked that vampire down. He’s long gone now.”
“How do you know they don’t already know I’m your apprentice? We go everywhere together and have for a longtime.” I stopped as realization hit me. “Did Dravyn target your sister to get toyou? They knew you’d go after her.” As the most deadly assassin in the League, they must have wanted him on their side or dead. And they must want him even more now as the first daywalking vampire in nearly a century.
“That’s very likely to be the case.” His eyes showed sadness he rarely revealed to me. “I don’t want that to happen to you. I might have to leave. If I give them what they want?—”
Fury ripped through me. “No. You can’t give in to them because of me,” I snarled. “You can’t give them what they want. You are LOA until you die! I could die any day, that’s the nature of being an assassin, that’s the way of this world. So fight harder than ever, but don’t you dare give up. I’m safer with you beside me. Would you leave me to deal with Beast and Dred on my own? Who better to fight beside me on missions than you?”
He faced me fully. His eyes glittered in the moonlight. One word could shatter my heart. An ache throbbed in my chest.
“Alright, Bonecarver. I promise I will fight harder than I ever have. For you.”
Chapter 27
In the morning, we ate breakfast with everyone in the courtyard. The sun warmed my face and the birds sang in the trees. I sat with my friends but kept an eye on Beast for any signs he remembered what had happened a couple nights ago. It was ridiculous to even worry. If he did, he would have already gone to the Commanders and Vander wouldn’t be here. Still, paranoia that someone would find out Vander’s secret ate away at me. What if we had an encounter with the Nocturnus vampires when other assassins were around and they outed him?
If Belladonna was tired of waiting for him to join their side, they might start pushing to expose him. Even one of them calling him “brother” again would make assassins suspicious. I wanted her dead. I thought back to Celine saying us women would have to do it. I wanted it to be me. Belladonna thinking she had some kind of claim on Vander awakened a darkness inside me I hadn’t realized was there.
“Did you hear that Commander Ace said we’re going to take out Dravyn Knox tomorrow night? She and Commander Locke are going to come out and brief us on the details before dinner is over.” Celine nudged my side. “But better news, we get the nightoff tonight! I heard some of the others talking about going into the city, just us apprentices. Are you in?”
“Uh, yeah sure.” Vander had already told me about the mission. I picked at my food. I didn’t feel like eating. Even though the ham and potatoes and fruit smelled delicious.
“What’s wrong with you?” Taewyn squinted at me as if he could read my mind by doing so.
“Nothing.”
“You seem off. You’ve been waiting for this mission. Aren’t you excited?”
Shadowhawk leaned forward from Celine’s other side as if waiting for my answer. He didn’t say much to me or Taewyn usually. It was clear he sat at our table for Celine.
