Page 110 of Kingdom of Crowns and Daggers

Tackling the male to the floor, I rip off his head covering in the process. I don’t recognise him, but that is no surprise. Alyx already told me what happened with the last assassin and the cyanide pill he was hiding in the back of his mouth, so as I manage to pin him to the ground, I shove part of the bow into his mouth, stopping him from biting down. He bucks and tries to throw me off, knowing what I’m doing, but I’m too quick for him. Sticking my fingers in his mouth, I scrabble around until I find the tablet. I throw it onto the ground beside us, then I reach back in to make sure there isn’t a second.

“Who sent you?” I demand, moving around to keep him down.

He has dark hair, dark skin, and a fine powder on his clothes. He’s one of the assassins from the Burning Lands. Narrowing his almost black eyes on me, he gives me a look full of hatred. “I do not answer to you.”

“Then whom do you answer to?” I counter. “You’re clearly not from around here.”

He grins at me, winding me up. This guy is not going to tell me anything, so I smash my fist into his face. His head slams back against the marble flooring, and he grunts with pain, yet he still says nothing, so I hit him again and again.

“Crux, stop. We need to question him,” Joha calls out from behind me, shock lacing his voice.

“What do you think I’m doing?” I snarl, not having the patience to pander to him right now. “Go back to your chambers and lock the doors. I won’t be long,” I tell him, keeping my eyes locked on the assassin. His head lolls to one side, and a small puddle of blood pools beneath his face, his eyes fluttering as he fights unconsciousness.

I don’t have anything to restrain the assassin with, so I’ll just have to make sure he can’t run away from me. Standing, I take advantage of the fact he’s dazed, and I stomp down on his left leg. The bone snaps beneath my foot.

This wakes him up. His body jerks, and I watch without an ounce of pity, aiming a kick to his ribs. “Tell me who ordered the hit on the king.” I kneel by his side.

“Never.” The assassin smirks up at me despite his pain. “Does it annoy you that assassins are getting into your city and there is nothing you can do to stop us?”

Yes, it does, but I’m not going to tell him that. I don’t want this type of scum in my city, and I will go hunting to make sure none of them are bunking down, otherwise they will spread like mould.

Nodding as though he told me something interesting, I stand again and move over to his right side. I stretch his arm out, stepping on his fingers to keep it in place as I stomp again. He screams in pain.

This is obviously going to take a fair amount of convincing, so I need to disable him so I don’t have to worry about him escaping. Grabbing his right, non-injured leg, I twist it roughly so I can see his heel, then I pull my dagger from my jacket and stab it straight through the skin. The effect is immediate, the blade severing the Achilles tendon from the heel, causing the tight bundle of fibres to spring up and bunch by the back of his knee. I’ve been told the pain is immense, and there’s no chance he will be able to walk now, having lost the ability to point or lift his foot.

Any assassin worth the designation is trained to resist torture, and so far, he’s done well to keep his information to himself. He’s never come up against me before, though, and torture happens to be my speciality.

As I toss my knife and catch it by the hilt, I allow a chilling smile to pull at my lips as I stare down at him. I am not a good man, and I will do what I have to when it comes to protecting my family. Somehow, Joha is included in that now, and this assassin just tried to kill him.

It’s time for me to get to work.

Chapter

Fifty-Nine

ALYX

We reach Tundra Province by mid-morning. The small village, Fireheart, is bracketed by the mountains, cast in an almost constant shadow. The temperatures are cold, and the land is even harder to live on, meaning those that do are strong, smart, and determined. It also means they are not used to visitors, especially ones dressed like us. Here, they are cloaked in furs, their hands and faces covered in oil and coal. We stand out even after riding for days, their suspicious eyes following us as we move through the village.

Taking the main road, we dismount at the tiny stables, and I let Orion pay the unfriendly worker there. I push back my hood and eye the village, noting all possible threats—a habit I will never be able to break. It has saved my life on countless occasions.

The houses here are not like those in the Uppers nor the Lowers. They are made of stone and wood, scraped together by whatever can be harvested and found. Drying racks sit out front, and fires burn brightly within the walls. I don’t see any children playing, nor any animals scampering about. Most of the houses are empty, and it’s clear everyone is busy at work.

It’s eerily quiet, and the stable hand is about as hospitable as the land as he spits on the floor after following Orion to my side.

“He’s not here, apparently,” Orion offers, his eyebrows drawn together in anger. Both of us know how precious our time is. I turn my attention to the man, running my eyes from head to toe, noting his tattered and worn clothes. His hair is long and shaggy, his face is streaked with dirt, and his eyes are hard.

Pulling out a bag of coins, I toss them to the man, knowing that is how you get someone like this to speak. He catches it, weighing it in his hand as he eyes me. I arch one eyebrow, my own eyes hardening, and he glances away for a moment.

“You will not find the healer here. He’s an hour’s ride north. He has his own compound there, which is where most of the elderly and sick are treated. They don’t take kindly to outsiders, and the road is hard. Maybe it’d be best if you head back to where you came from,” he says, spitting once more on the hay-covered dirt.

I understand the mentality. The Lowers are like this. We protect our own, and we do not trust outsiders.

I incline my head in acknowledgement of his warning. “Either way, we will go. Is it sign posted?”

“Nothing out here is.” He chuckles before ambling away. Clearly, that is all we will get from him.

Striding to my horse, I mount it and turn to Orion. “What are we waiting for?”

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