Page 92 of Kingdom of Crowns and Daggers

I don’t know why my mind chose now to remember the time I stopped Joha from doing something stupid, since most of my other memories from that time are gone. However, I cannot quite believe how fate worked. My life was knocked off track with the fire, yet somehow, Joha and I were reunited despite the changes in our circumstances. The king and the assassin. We had no idea at the time, but now it feels like I was on the right path after all.

“The fates have brought us back together.” My voice is little more than a whisper.

Joha closes the distance between us and rests his forehead against mine. “It seems our paths were destined to cross.”

Having him this close does something to me, and in my mind’s eye, I can see how it could have been if the fire never happened. I would have grown up as a lady, met with the prince again in court, and then perhaps we would have begun courting.

It is a fanciful dream, but just for today, I’m going to allow myself to pretend there are no attempts on his life or assassins and we are just two people falling in love.

Chapter

Fifty-One

ALYX

Ican do nothing but stare into those eyes that are becoming very important to me. This might have started with revenge and a deal, but it is turning into something much more . . . messy. I can’t seem to care, though, especially when Joha smiles at me like that, and instead of me taking his arm once more, as is protocol, he laces our fingers together and tugs me into a walk.

“You are the reason I am here,” he says softly as we walk towards the lake. “If I left that day on the boat, all this would already be in the Queen Mother’s hands. You kept me here, Alyx. You have given me purpose and hope, and I have carried that with me, and now here you are, at my side, doing the same once more. It seems you are always here when I need you.”

We stop at the shore, watching the way the sun reflects on the lake. The trees blow in the breeze, and the flowers grow around us. It’s beautiful, and sometimes I get so lost in the darkness and death of the world I live in that I forget to appreciate it. “I guess I am. It’s gorgeous here.”

There’s a slight pause that makes me lift my head to see Joha watching me, a wicked grin dancing across his lips as his eyes sparkle in the sun. “It is,” he agrees as he runs his eyes over me, letting me know he doesn’t mean the place like I do.

I feel a slight blush tinge my cheeks, and I’m about to taunt him for his cheesy flirting when my eyes catch on something shiny—something that does not belong. If I had not been facing him this way, I would have missed it.

There, upon the peaked roof of the closest building, is a black shadow. My eyes narrow, trying to focus through the sunlight to figure out what it is. My brain catches up before my eyes do. The shine is an arrowhead, and it’s pointed this way. The black shadow is an assassin.

My eyes widen, and my heart freezes as more shadows appear on either side of him until a whole band of assassins are aiming right at us.

Our guards have stepped back, giving us privacy, so they are too far away.

We are exposed.

“Sorry, was that too corny?” Joha laughs self-consciously as I spin to his guards.

“We are under attack!” I scream as I grab Joha’s arm, ready to pull him back to the safety of the buildings, but I hear the bows let loose. The sound of the arrows screaming as they cut through the air reaches us, and the guards do not stand a chance. They turn, ready to defend us from an assault, but as they do, the arrows hit their marks.

I watch in horror as their bodies jerk, and then they fall. Orion ducks behind a tree, his dark, angry eyes turning to us, and we both realise the truth at the same time—the arrows cleared the path, exposing us to their next batch.

Just as I think that, I hear more cutting through the air, and I meet Joha’s scared eyes, but despite his fear, he grabs me and shoves me behind him, hunching his back to protect me.

No, this is not how this will end.

Joha will not die today.

The king will not die protecting me.

In a split second, I make a decision. I grab his arms and meet his eyes as I spin us, giving my back to the arrows heading right to us, and before he can protest, I throw myself into him, knocking him back. He stumbles, grabbing hold of me, and then he falls right into the water, splashing into the deep lake. I dive in after him.

I meet him under the darkness, his eyes wide as he struggles and tries to swim to the surface. Three arrows hit where we were in the water, and I grab him, dragging him deeper into the depths. We need to obscure their view of us, and the only way to do that is to go down.

Turning his face to mine, I cup his cheeks and drag him closer, blowing air into his mouth as we start to sink, our robes weighing us down. My hair comes unbound and floats around us as we stay like that. Amazingly, he does not fight me, trusting that I know how to keep us alive.

I pull away, keeping his body pressed to mine. He swallows, bubbles escaping from his nose, and jerks his head up. Looking at the top of the water, he starts to struggle. He can’t hold his breath for long periods like I can, and the panic of running out of air is a difficult one to overcome. I know I have to take a risk. I swim to the top, peeking my head above the water for a blink of an eye, only to see more arrows heading our way. Sucking in air, I dive back down to give Joha what he needs.

I hear the arrows hit the water around me as I swim hard to get away when one sinks through my shoulder.

I jerk, the sudden agony making me want to scream, but if I do, I’ll choke. Instead, I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes. Ignoring the arrow in my body, I grab Joha and give him my air once more, and then I start to swim towards a murky structure in the distance. He nods in understanding and follows, both of us swimming hard towards the lake house. We can’t stay here, it’s too open, and if they come after us in the water, then we are at a disadvantage.

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