Page 53 of Kingdom of Crowns and Daggers

“Oh, let us not play games, Mr. Beaumont. Your family was selected because of your recent struggles with money after your ship sank. They knew you were desperate and used that against you. You took the payment, and your older brother, a captain of the guard within the palace, tried to assassinate the king last night. He failed. Now, shall I carry on with everything I know? Like the fact that you are here proves your money troubles are over or that your wife has no idea you have three bastard children?” He gasps, his composure broken, and I grin. “Good, you understand me now. I know everything. I see everything. You can’t fool me.”

“What do you want?” he whispers.

At least he is no longer trying to act stupid. That makes it easier.

“I do not care about you or your other secrets. You are inconsequential and not deep enough to be part of it. They used you knowing it could be traced back, but I want the one behind it. I want the one who approached you. I want the one with the money who gave the order,” I admit as I pour him another drink.

He doesn’t touch it. He just watches me. He might be foolish enough to accept the money, but he’s not foolish enough to give them away, knowing it means death.

He just doesn’t know he’s screwed either way.

“I truly do not know who it was. They wore a mask and approached us on the docks a few nights ago. They knew everything, that we were ruined and desperate. They offered us more gold than we could make in ten lifetimes if we did one simple task.”

“Kill the king.” I nod and shoot my drink as I wait.

He swallows and nods. “He spoke with a lilt, but I do not know what kind. He was not from here, that is for sure. He was neither short nor tall. That is all I can tell you.”

“I need more than that,” I warn him. His description is useless. “You fear that man, I can see it, but you should fear me right now, boy. He cannot and will not protect you. You are a dead end to him, but to me, you are the key. You know what I am, yes?” He nods, and I grin. “Then you know what I am willing to do to get the information I need. It is your choice how. You booked this room for an hour. I will have you broken within half that time, or you can tell me what I want to know now and make it easier on yourself.”

He pales even further, slumping into his chair as he realises just how fucked he is. Suddenly, he reaches into his side, and I stiffen, my hand drifting to a blade on my hip, but he pulls out a silken coin pouch and roots around inside it.

He tosses me a coin, and I catch it midair, my gaze on him for a moment before I turn it to the gold coin. I flip it in my fingers, noticing the difference. “I do not know their names, truly, but that coin can only belong to those within the palace who have access to the treasury.”

“Why?” I ask, needing to know his reasoning. I will not be led on a wild-goose chase.

“Why? Because that is the new currency being rolled out this year. The only ones who would have access to it yet are the ones closest to the king and the treasury. There are only certain people who could have it. Find that list and you will find the one who hired me. That is all I know. I was a fool, I know that, but we had no choice.”

“There is always a choice,” I inform him as I stand. I press the coin into the pocket over my chest as I watch him. “You chose wrong.” He stiffens, but then I walk past him, and he slumps, thinking he is safe.

“I am going to use you to send a message,” I murmur in his ear from behind.

“What message? I will convey it eagerly.” He straightens with purpose.

Placing my hands on his shoulders, I straighten. “I know you will.” In one quick move, I snap his neck, watching his head hit the table as he crumples. I grab his glass and down his shot before pulling the rest of his coins, leaving them as a tip for the entertainers who will find him.

After all, he knows too much.

He saw me, and he saw them.

I cannot let them know I am coming for them, not yet, but this is a warning to them. Next time, they will second-guess their moves, and it will buy us time to trace this coin and find out who is behind it.

This is a game. They move, we move, and it goes like that until one of us wins . . . and I never lose.

That will not change now, not with my revenge and Joha’s life on the line.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

ORION

Alyx is up to something.

I know she’s here to find out who is ordering the hits on Joha’s life and that requires her to sneak around, but something deep in my gut is telling me that she’s up to something else. If she were truly just working to keep him safe, then she would share her plans with me and we could work together. While the thought of that makes me wince, I would do it for my king.

I would do anything for him.

This is the reason I am sneaking around the palace in the early hours of the morning. I went to see Alyx after our argument earlier in the day and she wasn’t there. I had it in my mind that perhaps I had been a little harsh, yet finding her missing from her rooms only aroused my suspicions again.

---