Page 91 of A Broken Promise

This one was so simple. Servants’ quarters, I realized. The walls were now just decorated wood, the rich statues replaced by tall flower vases.

There was nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run as the narrow hall only had two doors at each end. Though the hall had lots of windows, none of them were big enough to crawl out of. Priya realized that too, yet she continued walking until the doors opened. Ten worn out guards full of adrenaline and anger poured in. They saw us as soon as we saw them.

All of us halted to a complete stop.

My mind calculated our chances. Two assassins versus ten well trained guards double our size. Priya could take on five, I didn’t doubt that, but could I? Sleep powder on one. Poisons for the rest, I just had to live long enough for them to kick in.

Both of us had to make it out of there.

Dagger, pins, and anger were my ammunition.

The guards pulled their swords out.

“Who are you?” one of them asked, as we stared each other down.

“Your mamma’s boyfriends, that’s who.” Priya grimaced in annoyance, pulling her own daggers out. “Ready, Freckles?” she asked, without turning her head to me, assessing the enemy in front of us. I pulled Heart Piercer out as well.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, dipping the end of my dagger in the small vial of poison.

“Good,” Priya said, throwing her own dagger without giving a guard so much as a chance to blink. She jumped on them like a leopard on a gazelle. I followed. The clash of metal and daggers filled the air, poisons and powders coming out to play.

Quiet numbness took me over. It was comforting. Slash, slice, pierce. Wound all of them first, let the poison work, then finish killing them one by one. Staying alive was the next step of the plan as I dodged another sword. Gods, I was fast, but Priya? She was DeathIncarnate. Grunting, she stabbed one after another and another, as vicious and precise as a livid viper.

I winced as a sharp blade brushed over my arm. Six down, four more to go, I mentally tallied up the bodies. I could go a little longer. In fact, I welcomed it. The adrenaline, the sweat, the noise, my body fueled by everything but fear. I rushed and moved until another body thumped on the floor and then another and another.

We finally paused, our breathing rapid, sweat dripping down our brows. We both launched our daggers at the same time straight through the last fleeing guard. Our daggers both hit their mark as he dropped, gasping for air on his knees. Priya strolled to him, kicking him down with her boots, narrowing her eyes slightly at the sight of Heart Piercer wedged deep inside his body.

“Not so fast you rotten piece of shit,” she said, turning him to the side as he gagged on the white foam coming out of his mouth. She paused, staring deep into his eyes. For a minute I nervously glanced over the two exits. Whatever Priya was doing this was not the time to do it.

“We should really go.” I nudged her, pulling my dagger out of the now still body. She sneered but pulled her dagger, sheathing it as well.

But we were too slow.

Another group of guards rushed past the doors, this time I didn’t bother counting. There were more than ten, probably double. I calmed the sliver of panic running through me. The pins and poisons were almost gone and the three daggers between the two of us against twenty guards? My mind didn’t bother calculating our odds.

Exhausted, I gripped my dagger tighter.

The guards stared at the piled bodies around us, pointing their loaded crossbows at us.

Crossbows,not swords.

We could try and run. Terrible idea but in this case, our best option. Maybe if we were fast enough, we could find somewhere to hide. I nudged Priya a bit, as if asking her, telling her to be ready to run. She ignored me. Mentally I gave Priya one more second and then I’d drag her through the castle myself if she didn’t move right then.

“Priya,” I uttered her name with a demand. It had to be now. We had seconds now that the soldiers shifted their fingers closer to the triggers.

“Oh, for fucks sake. I amso overtoday,” Priya said loudly. Not scared or afraid, not even remotely tense, but more annoyed than anything. Some of the guards shifted on their feet. Uneasy, unsure of who of them would pull the trigger first.

Leaderless. I realized.

Being shot with an arrow in the back tonight was not a part of my plan. My eyes jerked between the guards and us.

“Priya. This is not the time,” I said cautiously.

If she thought we could take them on she was insane. Ten guards were almost too much, but we still had a slim chance. But more than twenty with depleted resources? We would die. Maybe not without taking a life or two first, but we would die.

She glared at the guards without speaking a word.

I gasped. Instead of firing their crossbows they all—alltwo dozen or so of them—dropped to the ground, squirming and screaming in complete agony as they grabbed their heads, blood rushing from their ears and noses.

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