Page 27 of Decoy

Though she’d only found one of many weapons I kept on my person, in this moment I felt entirely defenseless.

At my condemning silence her smirk deepened. “Your silence is as good as a confession: you attempted to poison me.”

The searing guilt returned, making it nearly impossible to maintain my mask of indifference. “That’s quite the accusation. Do you have any proof to validate your claim?”

“Beyond the fact that you’re the one who offered me the laced tea and my examination of the teapot determined that only my cup had been contaminated?”

I startled at the warmth of her touch encircling my wrist as she seized my arm to lift my hand eye level to examine my fingertips. I immediately knew what she was looking for.

“Your fingertips are calloused, evidence you handled noxroot, a toxin that wears the skin of all who handle it. It would have been prudent to wear gloves, though I suppose that would have been more conspicuous, and it’s only poor luck your victim’s knowledge of poisons caused the poisoning to fail and incriminated you as the primary suspect.”

Such a careless mistake. In my desperation I’d greatly underestimated her. “How did you detect the poison?”

“Noxroot causes a subtle change in the color and consistency of every substance it comes into contact with and created a slight film against the porcelain.”

Impressive. It was rare to find anyone who possessed this particular knowledge, let alone a royal. “Where did you obtain such knowledge?”

She hesitated. “I found the study worthwhile, for with all the glamour and elegance of the privileged come great dangers.”

Such knowledge only complicated my mission, but though her skills put me at a distinct disadvantage, I found myself grinning. “Well done. I commend you, Princess.” I bowed.

She blinked, seeming surprised I’d so readily admitted it even with all the evidence stacking against me; catching her unawares was all part of the fun. She hastily tucked her composure firmly back around herself. “Such a sloppy attempt made my efforts quite easy.”

Quite so. It’d definitely been the cowardly approach, but at least it’d satisfied the curse working behind the scenes, placating it just enough to buy myself more time.

She frowned. “Poison seems a weak form of murder.”

“Only when attempted against a poison expert such as yourself. I’ll be sure to be more subtle in my next attempt.” My stomach churned at the thought of there needing to be anext time, but the curse wouldn’t be staved off for long before it once more sought blood for its insatiable appetite.

Her brow furrowed as another thought occurred to her. “Have all your previous offerings also been poisoned?”

In fact they had. From the beginning I knew my aversion to blood would prevent me from killing her via conventional means. Yet while it was impossible for her to win against my own skills, I hadn’t expected her to seize victory via distraction by seducing me away from my purpose. The more entangled I’d become in her seductive web, the more impossible it’d been to give her the poison. Our earlier entertaining exchange had nearly robbed me of my nerve entirely, and after the torture inflicted by my resulting guilt, I doubted I could make another attempt anytime soon.

“But you ate all those…ah.” She nodded to herself. “Immunity.”

Once more she was right. She made it sound so simple when in truth, such a method had required years of turmoil to build an immunity to dozens of different poisons. I felt the urge to brag about my expended effort for no other reason than to impress her, but the last thing I wanted was to confirm her suspicions when she already held such an advantage.

“I feel compelled to ask after your motive for such a carefully constructed plot.”

I clenched my fists in an attempt to stave off the sickening sensation I could still feel from the invisible blood staining them. “I’m afraid that’s one secret I’m compelled to keep. You can attempt to coerce me, but if you go too far you’ll silence me forever and lose your chance at obtaining the information you seek.”

Despite myself, I found that I was curious as to what she might try. No matter her method, no coercion could ever compel me to share the secret Father had entrusted me with about why the princess must die, a motive that went well beyond petty revenge for the crime her ancestors had committed in cursing my family. My motive went beyond my duties as an assassin: I’d do anything to protect my family, even if the required cost took me to my grave.

The princess tightened her grip on her weapon, returning my focus to the matter at hand—I was still pinned to the wall with a makeshift knife at my throat, undergoing an interrogation at the hands of a determined investigator.

“Don’t think your lack of cooperation could compel me to give up; uncovering your motives has become my top priority after two murder attempts.”

It took me a moment to remember the first she referred to. “As I’ve said before, I’m not the assailant who tried to kill you last night; rather, I served as your protector. Such ingratitude for saving your life.”

She snorted. “You have no reason to protect me one night and attempt to kill me yourself the next.”

The only excuse I could even attempt to claim was my pride as an assassin; having a rival pursuing my target would only complicate the mission…at least I pretended that was the reason, rather than the unbearable thought of her blank eyes staring lifelessly up at me.

“I’ve told you before I’m not responsible for last night’s attack, which means you have another enemy lurking in the shadows. It appears Her Highness needs to better learn how to make friends.”

She scowled as I knew she would, and despite the shrouding tension her reaction tempted me to smile. “You truly expect me to believe such a claim?”

“Considering I’ve been honest about tonight’s poison attempt, I have no reason to lie about the other, not even for the sake of my dignity, considering both failed.”

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