Page 65 of Null & Void

“Yes. Such a shame. Too bad I was already in bed asleep and didn’t notice until the morning,” she replies with a steady whisper.

“Do you have work?” I can’t help but ask, as she stands frozen in place, staring at her deceased husband’s body.

“I’m still an apprentice midwife, but I will be able to start attending births myself in the next moon. That’ll bring coin.”

Further relieved that I haven’t fucked this woman’s future entirely, I start digging in my pockets for the gold I’ve been accumulating from ambushes. I hand her a gold and a few silvers to tide her over until she’s earning her own.

Staring at the coins in her hand, she asks, “Who sent you after him?”

Containing the unhinged bubble of laughter in my throat at the thought of this man being worthy of the Silent Assassin, I answer. “No one. Call it a happy coincidence.” Turning to leave, she whispers a small thank you, and I disappear into the night.

The bakers of the city are starting to wake which means dawn must not be far. I slip all the way back to the nighthouse without incident, Bitty swinging the door open before I even have a chance to turn the handle.

All three of them are awake and waiting for me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Beans growls for me to get inside. I put my head down in contrition, but I’m trying to hide my smirk at the fact I’m about to be reprimanded like a naughty child by Daddy Beans. The mirth is completely extinguished by yet another unwanted thought of Tovi tonight.

“The man will no longer be a problem, I assume?” his deep voice asks stiffly.

“Correct. Nor will he beat his young wife anymore,” I reply, looking up into his eyes. I stay there for as long as I can before the revulsion gains traction, and I look away. I'm frustrated that it looks like weakness when I do that.

Bitty pouts. “We could have gone together,” they say, earning themselves a glare from Beans.

“You’re part of a team Mika. We should have discussed and planned this together,” Beans is saying as I glance at Riley, who is looking at everything but me.

Once an assassin, always an assassin.

I walk toward the washroom to clean my face and rinse my mouth as I reply with exasperation, “Agreed. But then murder would have been on four sets of hands instead of one, and if we delayed, we risked him blabbing to people who believed his story.”

Bitty had already debriefed the other two on our slightly successful day. We learned of the new royal gardens on the edge of the castle, which are in view of the western part of Castle City. We plan to go there tomorrow—today. The first glow of sunrise has reached our window.

“I’m going to get a couple of hours of sleep before we head out,” I say through a yawn, unlacing my boots.

“Sleep as long as you like. Bitty and I will go out today. Rain is predicted, and I can wear a jacket and scarf to hide my Nemorisborn features,” Beans says, the last words trailing off as I slip into sleep.

“Kill her,” the older woman instructs while pointing at a snowolf pup wriggling with excitement in front of them.

Fear shoots into the heart of the little blonde girl. Tears fill her eyes before spilling down flushed, pale-skinned cheeks. She doesn’t protest or beg. She knows it would be futile.

In the blink of an eye, the pup is dead, mutilated beyond recognition.

With the almost unrecognizable body of Anerea in front of her, the little girl looks at her hands, covered in blood.

“No!” she screams in confusion. “I didn’t do that to her!” She stands on shaky legs. “I didn’t kill her like that, did I?” she asks in disbelief.

Uncontrollable sobs escape her throat, as she struggles to understand, while confusion and fear bloom to a painful crescendo. “This isn’t what happened,” she pleads to no one.

Jaena approaches with vicious precision, reaching to take the knife from the little girl’s blood-stained hands. She lets her.

Briefly, for a tiny, soul-crushing moment, she thinks the older woman will cuddle her this time, comfort her instead of scolding her for crying. But Jaena stabs the 7-rev-old girl in the abdomen.

“Do not cry for the dead,” the older woman says as she slices the little girl’s throat. “I will not cry for you.”

Jaena continues to mutilate her beside Anerea’s desecrated body while she screams in agony, the little girl knowing she deserves every bit of it.

I fling myself to a sitting position, a knife in my hand as I look around, the remnants of a scream in my throat.

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