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“Are you the one they call Skull King?”
He laughed. “I may be a king, but not the one you speak of.”
Huh? None of this made any sense. It had to be the exhaustion that clouded my thoughts. I didn’t believe him. I knew he had to be working for the Red Bones.
Okay, I was officially fed up with semantics. I was done with this conversation. I was done with this night. I was done idling. I jumped for him, one hand outstretched while the dagger was in my other. I swung with my blade and knew he was going to step aside to dodge, exactly like I predicted, leaving him open for me to reach my empty hand towards the back of his neck to snap the bones in it.
I was only able to grab a hold of the hood of his cloak and pull it back before the second crate lifted by his shadows hit my other hand, causing me to drop my dagger. I staggered back and let out a grunt, gasping at the bones that just shattered in my wrist. Pain flared up my arm, distracting me from the man that rushed me and then shoved my back hard against the brick wall.
My back cringed at the impact, my hood finally falling off. Before I could find the strength to shove him off me, he grabbed my wrists in one hand, the pain from the shattered bones causing me to scream. He pinned them above me as his blade rested against my throat. Trapping my hands from being used against him.
I breathed heavily and brought my eyes to look upon him, at possibly the last thing I would see before I was sure to die, but the eyes I stared at were not black anymore. They were navy blue.
Bennett.
He looked stunned, and as I took in his shock, I realized my hood had fallen down.
The boy who once saved me from the circus was now that man who wanted me dead.
The shock in his eyes suddenly disappeared, replaced by a sinister look instead.
“Well, well, well, how ironic is this.” His lip smirked to one side. “A healer as the king’s assassin.” Disgust lathered his tongue. “So, this is why you’ve been training? So that you can do my father’s bidding and slaughter every person he asks you to at his beck and call?” The word ‘slaughter’ made me shudder. “When you said you changed, I didn’t expect you to have turned into a killer, Rhiannon.” He shook his head as if he was disappointed. “Why? Why do you work for him?”
“Why do you work for the Red Bones?” I spat, furious that he was actually mad at me when he was the one working for the enemy.
He sighed. “Like I said, I don’t work for the Red Bones. I don’t work for anyone.”
“You said you were a king, then inevitably waited for my return back to the castle to murder me. I’m just supposed to believe you aren’t one of them?”
“I was never going to kill you, even before I knew who you were.” He paused, as if thinking of what to say next. “Did I say king? Well, I meant prince. They’re both pretty much the same.”
He gripped my wrists harder, causing me to swallow another scream at the broken bones. “You didn’t answer my question, assassin. Why do you work for him?”
His stare was intense, and I was confused on how to answer this.
“Because he asked? I don’t know what you mean and why you’re angry with me.”
“You slay innocents,” he said dryly. I cringed at the tone.
“I only end the ones who plot against us. The ones who have stolen from the city and make plans to kill those with Artis blood. I assassinate the Red Bones to keep the rest of us safe. You have been gone for a long time, so let me fill you in. The Red Bones think they are entitled to do whatever they want. They hate the king, and they hate people like us. They retaliate against our positions by burning businesses, stealing from the merchants at the dock, attacking servants that leave the castle.” My throat started to close. “They killed Amica’s family, all because their daughter had Artis blood. They are most certainly not innocent.”
Bennett looked a bit taken back but he didn’t let up. “What about the children?”
“What?” Embarrassment flooded my face at the thought of Bennett seriously thinking that I would ever harm a child. Anger quickly replaced the embarrassment. “Never. Never have I once hurt a child. You know my past; you know what was once done to me. I cannot believe you would seriously think I would stoop that low.” I bared my teeth and lowered my voice. “Let go of my wrists.”
His eyes softened as he read my reaction. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Don’t know what?”
“Oh, Rhia.” He sighed, lowering his head. That was the first time he had used my nickname since he returned. There was a sadness etched into his features, a look of disappointment. “You have just made things a lot more complicated.”
“Stop talking like that!” I said, raising my voice in frustration. I hated not knowing things; not knowing things meant I was out of control, and being out of control made me vulnerable. “You need to tell me what’s going on, right now!”
“There is nothing to know.” He let go of my wrists and stepped back, turning away from me.
“That’s bullshit, Bennett, and we both know it.”
“You want to know so bad?” He twisted back towards me, water rippling on the stone steps around him. “I made a bet with my father, the one you think so highly of, that I could take down his assassin, that if I did, I could take your place and be deemed his favorite.”
