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CHAPTER 13
Does the sky have a problem with me or something? Why was it that recently it had decided to rain during my assignments? It was even more annoying because I actually loved the rain, and it was the perfect weather to snuggle up with a good book, but of course whenever I was in the mood for that, there was not one cloud in the sky.
I was in a bad mood already, and I wasn’t sure why. It could have been a mix of being rushed here without saying bye to Miles, past traumas of the circus surprising me every corner we turned in Vicinus, or that all I’d had to eat today was a corn muffin that Bennett stole from one of the bakeries we passed. Usually I would’ve felt bad, but my stomach showed no pity as I devoured it whole. Or maybe I was just pissed that I was on another assignment to do the king’s bidding. Or maybe I was just pissed at being the damn assassin—
I immediately shook the thought away, internally scolding myself for even allowing my thoughts to go there. It should be an honor to be the King’s Favorite, but I was—I was fine.
I let out a deep sigh. What I really needed was to focus on the assignment and on completing this task, instead of fantasizing about a life that would never be mine.
The sun began to set as I followed Bennett to the tavern, winding in and out of different allies, trying to stay hidden from the townspeople. We had to leave Equis and Jasmine at a horse stall, paying the keeper to look after them for one night. It would’ve been too difficult to steer them through the back alleyways and it would risk too much attention.
It was colder than it had been this afternoon, rain falling from the sky, just on the brink of turning to snow. A shiver ran down my spine as goosebumps crawled up my arms from the chill of the wind. The alleyway we crept through shielded us from the moonlight, making the world around us look almost pitch black. Without much light, it was hard to avoid the pools of rainwater. My socks were now soaked, causing my toes to go numb from the cold.
I angrily stomped in the puddle beside me, causing a splash of water to soak Bennett’s clothes.
That felt good. I smirked as I shrugged. “Oops.”
He slowly looked up at me, water droplets falling from his eyelashes and down past his plump lips.
“Rhiannon,” he sighed. My eyes followed the way his lips formed when he said my name, pursing on the first syllable, his tongue flicking behind his teeth. My attention snagged on the water droplets sliding over and down his bottom lip, some beading at the curve. The sight of it made me swallow instinctually. “I need you to behave tonight.”
My eyes snapped away from his lips to his cold navy eyes.
I scoffed, my lip curling. “Behave? What am I, a dog?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Please calm down, I don’t want to have to deal with this Rhiannon tonight.”
Oh, he did not just go there. I was already in a pissed off mood, and the last thing I needed was a pissed off Bennett. “This Rhiannon? What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”
I threw my hand up to shove him hard at the passive comment, but he caught me by the wrist, the force of his strength slamming my body into the wall of the alley we were waiting in.
My arm was held above my head and was digging into the brick beneath it. My other arm hung beside me, where I chose to let it stay, not feeling threatened enough to use it. “Calm down,” he said on a whispered breath, the cold causing white clouds to take up the small space between us. “Something got you off. I don’t know what it is, and you don’t need to tell me, but I need you to act wise.” His other hand cupped the right side of my face, his thumb brushing the rain drops off of my cheek. “I need you to be safe.”
Bennett was talking about dealing with ‘ThisRhiannon’ BUT WHO THE HELL WAS THIS BENNETT?
I swallowed at the caress, trying to keep my head from spinning at the un-Bennett-like comment.
The touch was soft and only lasted a second before he let me go and turned down the wet alley, towards Jack Hacker. I let him take the lead on this one, following close behind him. We were as silent as thieves in the night, and the rain added an extra layer of noise coverage to our footsteps. After our quick pitstop to the woodshop, Bennett and I retraced our plan on how to successfully gain knowledge from the Red Bones. After about a half hour of arguing whose ideas were better and why the other’s sucked, we essentially decided that the plan was having no plan.
Pater would surely be having a heart attack right now if he knew Bennett and I were going in operation-wing-it style, but I honestly wasn’t worried. We didn’t need a plan when the task was simple: get inside, find the Red Bones, make them tell us where the Skull King was, kill them, and leave. Easy.
“This way,” Bennett said. Considering he grew up here, it was kind of taking him a while to find this place, but I kept following his lead, figuring he knew better than I would where it was.
When we turned the corner of an alley, across the street we found a crowd of rowdy people streaming in and out of a small pub with a worn-down sign displaying the name Jack Hacker. Many of the people lined up around the block were already drunk, and some smaller groups had broken out into brawls.
“There is no way we are going to be able to slip inside without people seeing us and thinking we’re cutting the line,” I whispered.
Bennett grabbed the top of my hood and pulled it over my eyes. “That’s why we’re going in the back way. Hold on to me and try to just act natural.”
I linked my arm around Bennett’s, resting my hand over his bicep. The two of us walked in silence across the street as we kept our heads down. With the hood over my eyes and the pouring rain, I was practically blind, so I let Bennett be my eyes.
“Hey! The line’s back here, assholes!” a man with a deep voice yelled.
“Run!” Bennett said.
He took off before I could even comprehend what was happening, and it took every ounce of strength in me to keep up with his Shadow blood speed and not slip on the wet cobblestone. Bennett yanked my arm and pulled me around the corner and behind the building. Both of us were panting heavily, but from what I could tell it looked like no one was following us.
“Why doesn’t anyone else sneak in the back door?” I asked.
