Page 44 of Null & Void

Blowing slowly out of my nose and trying not to lose my temper entirely, I explain through gritted teeth. “Hastieni is the Ofosraed Gifted finder for hire. Was he unavailable, or were you looking for someone to purchase and not hire? Why did you ask for me?” Though Hastieni is an item finder, I am sure he would have been of some use.

“We didn’t ask for you, we didn’t even realize that Osraed had a finder for hire. The council president suggested you specifically, after we explained what we needed,” Beans offers in his smooth baritone that suddenly grates on my nerves. He sounds far too calm when a storm is raging inside my chest and ears.

“No. You asked for me, and the council voted to allow the sale.” I state this as fact, though I can hear the fallacy of it as it unravels on my tongue.

Silence.

After far too many heartbeats, Beans speaks, softer than I imagined he could with that deep voice. “Mika, we had no idea who you were. President Jaena said she had a Null that was an excellent sneak with exceptional fighting abilities who we could purchase, albeit for more gold than we had planned on spending. She said you had the perfect skill set, even for a Null. We agreed, got the queen’s seal to sign the bill of sale, and then said we’d be back in five days to collect you. As far as I am aware, there wasn’t a vote.”

I don’t remember when I stood up. I’m staring at the fire, trying not to look at anyone, so they cannot see the pure and unbridled fury dancing like the flames in my eyes, though my fisted hands would give me away.

“Does this mean you had no idea who you were actually purchasing? The reason why I was worth more gold than a typical Null?”

Riley speaks for the first time. “What do you mean ‘who’? We knew your name from the bill of sale, and your abilities were detailed by the president. We knew who you were.”

“She means you didn’t know you had purchased the Silent Assassin,” Tovi says, picking her nails with a knife and not looking up.

Bitty openly gapes at Tovi, and then me. “You’re the Silent Assassin?” Bitty says with an endearing amount of childlike excitement, before whipping their head back around to accuse Tovi. “And you knew?!”

The barest of shrugs lifts Tovi’s shoulder as she raises one of her sharp eyebrows at Bitty.

I’m pacing. My skin is prickled and on fire. My heart is beating like it’s trying to escape my chest so it can self-immolate in the campfire. “You purchased the most hated and feared assassin in all of the Divine world, and you didn’t even know it?” I’m not speaking to anyone directly, and every word I say is a sucker punch to my own stomach. “You didn’t know. You haven’t known this whole time.” I’m rambling now, trying to piece together everything while a fog of fury starts to choke me.“I have to…I need to…”

“Do you want to spar?”

I spin myself back to look at Riley, who is already standing, and gives me a nod to direct me behind him.

Beans growls. “Riley…”

“Yes.” Without looking at anyone or giving Beans time to throw a wet blanket onto what I know I need right now, I stride directly through them toward the clearing Riley gestured to.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Iwouldn’t call it a clearing, so much as slightly flattened ground with no sudden death drops in the immediate vicinity. I spin around, rolling my shoulders. I’m far too tense, like a too-tightly-wound string instrument.

Riley isn’t far behind and is removing his leathers and tunic, revealing his bare chest. An unnecessary distraction that I cannot fully appreciate. But I do catch a glimpse of his scars, and my heart and stomach temporarily swap places. This enrages me further, and I’m vibrating with the fury I need to unleash.

The rest of the group has taken up positions among the trees to spectate. Beans is standing on the edge of the clearing with his arms crossed, possibly ready to step in if it gets too violent or out of control. To be fair, he did just learn that I’m the Silent Assassin.Fuck.

Not giving Riley any more time to undress, I launch myself at him with the frenzied wrath I wish I could aim at Jaena.

Jaena. The lying, betraying, deceiving, cozen piece of Gifted shit.

I swing a fist, but he blocks, trying to land an uppercut in my stomach before I parry out of the way. Riley cracks his neck and then begins to cautiously walk toward me, fists up.

Spinning with a jump, I connect my heel to the back of his head before he has a chance to deflect.I’m a fraction too slow and cop his fist to the side of my face. He’s tempering his blows which only makes my rage soar.

“Fight me properly!” I scream.

The fight is similar to the night he was unwell in Nemoris and we fought blow for blow, yet where that was about movement, this is about violence.

They know I am the Silent Assassin.

My reputation is known across the world.

I’ve had people spit at me when they put a face to the name.

He lands another tempered blow, a kick to my thigh, and I scream with all the rage in my chest. A flurry of my punches and kicks land before his elbow smashes squarely into my top lip. I spin and kick him again, hard, and he stumbles into a tree.

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