Adeline yelped and flung herselfout of Lorne’s way. Yet she kept going, racing toward the door as the guards attempted to break it down.
The assassin turned toward her, as if realizing what she was after. Lorne leapt at the assassin, sending him toppling off the far side of the bed. The assassin grunted as he hit the floor, his head and shoulder knocking against the bedside table on that side, sending a book toppling.
Landing stretched out on his stomach on the bed, Lorne scrambled to get to his hands and knees. He’d lost his grip on the candlestick, and it must have gone flying somewhere in the dark. He cast about for something, anything, but the only things near to hand were the pillows. He gripped one, raising it as a pitiful shield.
On the floor, the assassin rolled, the movement taking him several feet from the bed. He hadn’t lost hold of his dagger, and another dagger had appeared in his other hand.
Lorne raised the pillow slightly higher. He wasn’t liking his chances, bringing a pillow to a knife fight.
The door finally slammed open, accompanied by the stomping of feet, shouts, and the swish of swords.
The assassin took one look at the charging guards and turned to run toward the balcony. Considering they were on the third floor, Lorne wasn’t sure the assassin could escape out that way. Unless he could climb as fast as a squirrel or fly like a bat.
As the guards closed in, Lorne hurried to Adeline and drew her into a hug. He held her close as steel clashed, men yelled, and Adeline trembled in his arms.
Adeline tried notto look at the body on the floor, the blood spreading in a dark liquid puddle, as Lorne steered her across her room and toward the connecting door that led to the room designated as his.
The assassin had fought to the end, forcing her guards to kill him. While she was relieved the threat was gone, it also meant they couldn’t question him to find out who had hired him.
They paused by the door, waiting, while two of the guards searched the other room. Only once a guard gave them a nod did Lorne lead her inside.
The other room was peaceful and quiet, the bed neatly made. The room was carpeted, upholstered, and draped in deeper, richer colors than her own room while the bed was a heavier, darker walnut.
Lorne steered her toward the bed, then gently lowered the two of them onto it, sitting against the headboard.
Adeline didn’t resist, curling against him in the warmth of his arms. She tucked her feet under the covers, not caring about trying to appear dignified.
“Are you all right?” Lorne’s voice was soft, his breath whispering against her hair.
“Yes.” She wasn’t. Not even close. But she was physically all right, so it wasn’t a complete lie. “You? That couldn’t have felt good on your ribs.”
“I’m fine.” Lorne’s grip tightened around her, as if he heard the truth of how not-fine she was in her voice.
“They’re trying to kill me. They’re actually trying to kill me.” She squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed her face into the hollow of his shoulder. She hadn’t realized how it would feel to fit so well against him. Despite his still healing ribs, he had regained a level of strength that she could feel in the arms that held her.
Safe. It had been so long since she’d had someone to hold her tight and safe like this. Not since the last time her father hugged her before her parents left for that ill-fated diplomatic mission to Lalsacia.
“That assassin could have been sent for me, not you.” Lorne traced a line down her back, his touch gentle.
“Not exactly comforting.” She fisted her hands in the front of the light shirt he’d worn to bed. The assassin hadn’t looked particularly picky about which of them he targeted. Had he been ordered to kill Lorne first, then go after her?
Footsteps drew her gaze to the door, where one of the guards had halted. “Your Majesty, we’ve searched the body. But there’s no indication of who hired him.”
“Not unexpected.” Lorne sighed, shaking his head.
She didn’t mind that he answered for her. Not in this moment when all she needed was someone to take over while she clung to him and tried to gather her frayed senses back to a semblance of calm.
When he spoke, Lorne’s voice rumbled beneath her ear, his confident tone reverberating through him into her. “He seemed to be somewhat professional. He must have scaled the castle wall to get in, and he took thetime to lock the doors before going after us. But he wasn’t the most skilled assassin. Otherwise I doubt I could have fought him off.”
“That would be our assessment as well.” The guard tilted a nod to Lorne.
Adeline worked up enough strength to speak. While she appreciated Lorne stepping in, she had to be the queen and say something, both to assert her authority and to confirm Lorne’s in speaking for her up until then. “Thank you for the report.”
The guard bowed, nodded, and backed out of the room. He closed the door after him, as if acknowledging it was time to give them privacy while the guards finished cleaning up the mess in the other room.
“You did well in going for the door during the attack.” Lorne shifted, and when she glanced up at him, he was smiling down at her. “I’m impressed. I’ve known a lot of people who would freeze in that situation.”
“It was all I could think to do.” Adeline gave a shiver, trying not to think too hard about those minutes of waking up to a man swinging a knife at them. “You didn’t freeze either. You were pretty heroic, defending us with a candlestick. And a pillow.”
