Page 20 of The Uncrowned Prince

Her dagger was drawn before thought or intention caught up with her reflexes, but almost as quickly, her wrist was captured in a firm, warm grip.

“He means no harm,” Niell murmured in her ear. “He is only selling cakes. If you threaten him, the guards will throw us out of the market.”

The market.

Yes. They had reached the market—a large city square with a smattering of temporary tables and a fair number of permanent booths laid out in rows. Where that part of the city had been dull and shuttered the day before, today it was considerably more lively. Fully half the stalls appeared to be open for business, and traffic seemed brisk. While the atmosphere was by no means jovial, it was at least a bit less grim.

“I was not going to stab him,” Karreya said, feeling slightly embarrassed as she pulled her wrist away from Niell’s grasp. “He startled me.”

She should have been more alert. She had not lost control of her reflexes in some time, and if it hadn’t been for Niell…

Come to think of it, how had he managed to stop her? Unless he had been expecting her response, but in order to do that, he would have to understand exactly what she was. How quickly she had been trained to react. And be fast enough in his own right.

He had already hinted at his suspicions, but surely he did not know beyond all doubt.

“The market will be louder today.” Niell dropped his hand and moved off down the row as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. “The hawkers will see you and guess that you are a foreigner, so they will be more likely to approach.”

Karreya shuddered. She strongly disliked crowds. Too many potential threats. So many hands that might hold hidden weapons, so many ways to disappear. She had been taught that it was a safe place to work, but not to linger.

“You know,” Niell suggested, “if you were to take my arm, they would see that we are together and be more likely to accost someone else.”

She shot him a sharp, reproving glance. “Save your flirting, Abr…” She choked off the word as she recalled that she had agreed to no longer call him that. Especially not if it made her stand out from the crowd. “I can protect myself from the enthusiasm of a few overeager merchants.”

As was his way, Niell just shrugged, winked, and continued to walk beside her, closing the distance between them until it would appear to anyone watching that they were together—friends or comrades, at the very least. He really was too close. If they were attacked, she would have difficulty drawing a weapon with her right hand. And when she focused, she could almost sense his warmth and energy pressing against her skin.

It was unnerving. Unsettling. Fascinating. Unlike anything she’d ever experienced. And even though she should have stepped away, she did not, because it reminded her of standing beside a hearth-fire at home—strangely comforting, and therefore dangerously hard to leave.

If she did not fulfill her part of their bargain soon, this man might well prove to be equally dangerous. Just like that fire, he could all too easily consume her, leaving only ashes of the life where she had once found focus, purpose, and identity.

In truth, no matter how harmless he seemed content to appear, Niell was very likely the most dangerous person she’d met since her arrival. Should she be fool enough to forget it, Karreya had no doubt that she would pay a heavy price indeed.

CHAPTER5

As they passed a crowded booth, Vaniell was forced to step quickly to the side to avoid a collision, and felt his elbow brush Karreya’s arm as he did so. He heard her quick indrawn breath, sensed her jolt at the unexpectedness of the contact, and could not help feeling the tiniest surge of relief.

At least he was not the only one feeling perplexed and uncertain in the wake of their interactions.

He was used to provoking uncertainty in others—had made a game of it for much of his life—but he’d not been knocked this far off-balance by a woman since he was a great deal younger and less experienced.

And why this one? What about this particular woman had roused his interest to the point of making him feel both awkward and unsure? As they sauntered past booths selling fabric, jewelry, shoes, and trinkets, Vaniell kept his stride and his posture deliberately casual, while shooting occasional glances at Karreya in a vain attempt to determine the nature of his fascination.

She was attractive, without question. Her white blonde hair was in a single braid today, pulled forward over her shoulder. Those golden eyes roved the crowd, searching for something, never pausing for more than an instant, while her hands remained deceptively still by her sides.

Her eyes… They were so expressive and open, and he doubted she even realized how much she gave away. Every other part of her was so completely controlled, but those eyes did not lie.

How did one end up trained as an assassin without learning how to lie?

Somehow, she was both deadly and innocent—her purpose shrouded in shadow, while her character remained essentially honest. It was a glorious contradiction, and it called to his curiosity, as all mysteries did.

Perhaps that was all this was—curiosity.

He would do better to direct that curiosity where it belonged. To finding the owner of the medallion. To helping Karreya locate her father so she would answer his questions about the Empire and its intentions. To determining exactly who was responsible for King Trevelian’s death. To discovering the truth about his own “father” so he could plan his next move.

And yet, it was all too easy to become discouraged whenever he looked ahead or dwelt for too long on the many grim possibilities before him. The future often seemed littered with nothing but dead ends and insurmountable obstacles, so perhaps he found himself fascinated with Karreya because she was a distraction from that future. Something bright and beautiful and fully present. If that was true, he would need to keep his feelings and his fascination to himself. Choose instead to focus on today. On this one task he could accomplish without dwelling on his failures or endangering the fate of kingdoms.

“Boden said the woman with the medallion sells herbs and teas, so she’ll be in the middle aisle somewhere with the other herbalists and apothecaries.”

Karreya nodded but did not glance in his direction, as if she were studiously avoiding his scrutiny. “Is it your intention to question her today, or merely to locate her and assess the threat?”

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