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“Now,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
My feet pounded against the floor, matching the stampede of my heart. Whatever, whoever had tried to do Dace harm at his crowning wasn’t done with him yet. Shelves rose to the ceiling around me. Books tumbled to the ground behind me as I pushed off of them, and their wobbling stacks clattered to the floor.
My breath caught in my throat as an outstretched arm grabbed for me. I swatted it away, twisting to remain out of their reach, but their image was already gone. Solid muscle bumped into me from behind and I spun again, realizing I’d walked right into them. Him.
A tower of a man, built with biceps as large as my head and broad shoulders, snarled. His hand struck out again, a knife cutting through the air. I screamed, or more accurately snarled, as I caught his wrist and bent the knife away. His mass of muscles meant one good thing for me, he was slower than I was. Although as I tried to dart under his arm, his body disappeared like mist and I caught myself stumbling.
Glowing lights guided the way back out of the library, a relatively short distance, I could make it out and then Graceson’s office was nearest.
I could be faster than this assassin if he ran on foot, but if he could manipulate travel, I’d never know where he would appear next. As a last ditch effort, I grabbed a sturdy hardcover novel off the stack as I ran past it. I staggered my steps, weaving in what I could only hope was an unpredictable pattern.
The assassin sprang out of the folds in the universe, appearing near me, but thankfully, due to my unusual run, I was just out of arm's reach. He disappeared again, but it didn’t matter because I was already approaching the exit. I’d be out of this room and in Graceson’s office in a matter of seconds.
His icy blue skin filled the doorway. My feet skidded to a stop under me, helped by the weight of the book I still grasped in my hands. I refused to be helpless. Use what’s around you, I thought as I scanned the stuffy room for a weapon.
This time the assassin had learned from his mistakes. He moved faster now, slicing at the air with his knife. He was still not as quick as me. Thrusting the novel up with as much force as I could muster, I grunted as our hands collided. Sharpened steel cut through the cover, into the pages, the blade just long enough to poke out the back. I could see the glint of its tip between my palms.
Yelling, hoping that Graceson heard the commotion and chose to investigate, I ripped the knife, firmly stuck in the book, out of his hand. The weapon leaving his grasp came as a surprise to him, one I’d gladly take advantage of. He was clearly not used to fighting a Nymph who actually knew what they were doing. Kinda.
I rammed the book into his skull with a satisfying crack. He stumbled back, cupping his temple where blood oozed out of a cut. Steam filled the space he once occupied, his angry, shocked expression gone for a second. The book and the knife thudded loudly against the floor as I discarded it.
He wouldn’t be gone yet. I’d only managed a small cut, a blow to his pride. If he wasn’t following me, he’d go back to help the other assassin with Dace. Time was of the essence.
My boots squeaked as I pushed off into the hallway. Graceson’s door was closed, but I yanked it open, creating a breeze that tossed my hair back.
“Graceson!” I yelled, registering the figures in the room.
Graceson sat on the edge of his desk, his hands folded in his lap, his mouth still open from whatever it was that he was going to say to Jesseline, who was reclined in one of his chairs with a flirty smile. Where was the witch? I thought immediately.
“What a surprise, Ryker. Go ahead let yourself in, we don’t believe in knocking here anyw—” Graceson turned to me with a mocking grin on his lips.
“Assassins in the library. Two attacking Dace,” I cut him off.
“Oh, my gods.” Jesseline bolted out of her chair, already dissolving into the air. It didn’t come as a surprise to me that she would already know the layout of this castle and exactly where to go.
Graceson reached behind him, his belt with the sword he carried lain out on his desk. He picked it up, springing forward, and together we sprinted back into the library. His feet narrowly missed the book outside the door, the knife no longer wedged in its cover.
“This way.” I point around him, leading him back to where I had left Dace. A silence had fallen throughout the library. Not the usual hush out of respect for others reading books and seeking knowledge, but a new quiet with the absence of breath. Were we all holding our breath? Was I about to encounter the unimaginable?
I swallowed down my nerves, praying I’d find Dace alive. Praying I’d find Dace at all. As we rounded the last bookshelf, my knees got weak and I had to stop moving altogether for fear I’d melt to the floor.
Jesseline was poised with the knife she’d ripped from the book, or one that looked similar, her weapon pointed at a new face I could barely make out between his sea-green hair and the floorboards he was pressed into. Dace’s boot held him to the ground. The bow and arrow that he’d used from wherever he’d been hiding in the shadows were shattered around them in large splinters of wood and limp noodles of string.
Dace smiled when he saw me, his shoulders falling away from his ears. “So a bid on King Ottack is too risky for the reward, but one on my head isn’t?” He sounded exasperated.
“What in the hell?” Graceson growled. “This won't do. I’m going to have to have a talk with King Windre. We have a ward in place specifically so this shit doesn’t happen.” He shook his head. “Do you have this under control?”
“Oh, yes,” Jesseline sang. “I've been under a lot of stress lately, and I think this is just what the healer ordered.”
“Keys to the cells if you need them.” Graceson tossed them at me.
The metal was warm from where they’d been in his pocket. I fumbled with them as I caught them, still watching Dace, unable to look away.
“Can you figure out who sent him?” Dace blew the hair that had fallen forward off his forehead, pressing harder into the assassin’s spine.
“How is he still here? Can he not travel manipulate?” Jesseline looked at him sideways. “I’m assuming assassin number two was smart enough to get away.”
“I’ll up security just in case,” Graceson said.
