Chapters (46)
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
There were certainly still assassins at the inn, and it was too late to get everyone to safety. What if she turned herself in? Could the Palace offer protection? Kyra felt sick at the prospect of arrest and trial. An association of this magnitude with the Assassins Guild would certainly mean death, especially now that she had innocent blood on her hands. And could she even trust the Palace? Or would they just torture her for information and leave her friends to the Guild’s mercy?
Kyra reached to her belt and untied the vial, letting the shape blur before her. No matter what she did, someone would die tonight. Malikel was a knight who’d accepted the risk of death when he pledged his allegiance to the city. Bella and the girls, they were just innocent bystanders, victims of—of what? Kyra’s own stupidity. Everyone had warned her against the Guild, but she’d been caught up by the lure of challenge, of security, by her own fascination with James. The clues had been there, but she’d ignored them.
Bella would tell her not to go through with the job, even if by killing Malikel she’d be saving four others. But Bella hadn’t seen the assassins’ eyes that morning as they followed Idalee around The Drunken Dog. She hadn’t heard the chill in James’s voice when he delivered his threat. Kyra retied the vial to her belt. Blanking her mind to the dread and self-loathing that threatened to overwhelm her, she continued farther into the Palace.
The living quarters were deep inside the compound. Several times, Kyra had to double back to avoid guards, but eventually, she was perched outside the topmost windows, ready to enter. The shutters made a high squeaking sound as Kyra pried them open, and she stopped, heart skipping a beat. She peered through the opening. No one was inside. Kyra waited for her pulse to calm and tried again. The shutters didn’t make any more noise when she pushed them wider, but there was no way Kyra could risk a noise like that again. She would have to leave them slightly ajar.
Sooner than she expected, Kyra found herself in front of a pair of solid oak doors, reaching for her lock picks. The lock yielded all too quickly to her efforts. It was so easy now, to enter the Palace and do what she wished. James had molded her well.