Page 73 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

Before I could respond, I heard the soft creak of someone sneaking up to the door. He heard it too.

“Go to your wife and pretend to be sleeping. I will kill them when they both come in,” I whispered.

He opened his mouth like he would argue.

“Cassius will kill me if something happens to you,” he whispered back.

I flashed my eyes red at him, and he didn’t look scared. The king gave me a sassy look, like he couldn’t believe Iwould try that on him. After a short stare-down, he sighed in defeat before turning to the bed and crawling in, holding his wife closely. Something about his wife glowed. It was odd, but I forced myself to focus. I grabbed my daggers and hid behind the door.

It only took a few seconds for the doors to slam open.

These are the worst assassins. The king and his wife sat up and stared at the men.

“King Sybrien. Queen Petra.”

One of the men chuckled and did a half-bow.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Sybrien barked at them.

“I think you know what we are doing,” the other man said. I couldn’t see anything about them with their backs to me. They were dressed in all black with hoods on.

“You won’t get away with this,” Petra snapped.

“We will. By the time Crimson or Falgon realizes what happened, our men will be sneaking into their homes and killing them too.”

My darkness was fuming inside of me.

"Hello, fellas,” I said as they approached the bed. They stilled and twisted to me immediately.

“Thea,” one of them muttered.

They slipped off their hoods and stared at me. Their faces werefamiliar.

“Did your father send you to do the honors?” The one with black hair asked, confused. But the one with blonde hair glared at me.

“You came to protect them?” he questioned.

I smiled.

“Fucking Crimson whore.” He charged at me. The insult made my darkness explode from me with anger. I humored him by using my daggers against his. He swung and swung, too angry to fight well. Shoving him off of me, I readied my dagger for the killing blow, but before I could, my darkness seeped from me. It shot through the man like an arrow, leaving a gaping hole in his chest as he fell over dead.

The next man stared at me, terrified. Taking a small step backward, he tried to show that he was no longer a threat, but I could never let him go willingly.

“I’ll leave,” he begged.

“Too late for that,” I answered. “You’ll tell my father what I did.”

“I won’t,” he cried out. “Show me mercy.”

This made me angry.

“Show you mercy,” I snarled. “Like you were going to show them? You came here to kill an innocent couple because of greed. I will show no one mercy.”

I wrapped him up in my darkness, squeezing him until he cried out. Then I summoned my fire magic, focusing on the man’s heart. His cries stopped instantly, and it made me smile as he burned from the inside out. His charred body fell to the floor. My skin felt hot, my eyes blurring with rage.

“Thea.” I heard Sybrien speak, but it was as if he was far away, not right next to me. “Thea.” He tried again.

It wasn’t until Petra stood in my line of vision that I blinked out of the rage that was taking over me. Her red hair fell in pretty curls over her nightgown. She was glowing, and for some reason, it concerned me.

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