Page 16 of Decoy

Nothing.

I searched again, more carefully, but the shadows seemed empty, making me wonder if whatever had captured my attention had been nothing more than the wild workings of my imagination, more paranoid after my sojourn in the dungeon. Yet my senses still tingled, a prickling warning I couldn’t ignore.

Too late, I realized I’d been too obvious in noticing the sinister presence behind me—my spotty training with Zeke hadn’t prepared me as much as I’d thought, leaving me overconfident…but at least my awareness would offer me protection in my quest, even if it came with the disadvantage of alerting whoever followed me that I’d detected them. Thankfully, this time I wasn’t left entirely defenseless. My hand hovered above the kitchen knife even as my ears continued searching the night.

My thumb had barely grazed the hilt when the whooshing sound of something being thrown penetrated the darkness. Only reflex gave me the speed necessary to dodge it in time. Instinctively I yanked my knife free and threw it in the direction the other had come. A soft grunt indicated it’d hit its mark, but without the light necessary to accurately aim, the wound was likely not fatal.

I reached for the weapon the assailant had thrown…only to find it’d disappeared, likely having bounced off the wall to become lost in the surrounding darkness.

Fear seized hold of me and I ran, hoping my loud footsteps would alert the palace guards of my flight, attention that would serve as my only protection as they defended the one they believed to be their princess. The sound of pursuit followed close behind, drawing ever closer.

Someone suddenly seized my arm and yanked me into a dark and enclosed passageway, which slid shut behind us. I flailed in protest and made to scream, but the sound was smothered by a hand pressing tightly against my mouth.

“Be quiet.”

Though I’d only heard him speak a few times, already his voice was eerily familiar:the assassin from the rooftop. Like last night, he was clad entirely in black with a cloth mask around the lower part of his face, exposing only his eyes, my only hint to the emotions he might be harboring.

“You!” His hand muffled my exclamation of surprise. He pressed his finger to his lips in silent warning before resting his ear against the door, listening…but there was no further sound.

Still he waited, tense and alert, trapping me in this awkward position far longer than I wanted. My breaths grew ragged in response to the dark, confined space closing in around me. It left very little room for us to maneuver, forcing me to remain trapped in the heat of his presence and every firm line of his body pressing against mine. Despite my embarrassment, it wasn’t at all an uncomfortable position, and even offered an almost soothing reprieve…which only escalated my annoyance.

The terror from my recent brush with death, magnified by the lingering memory of the agonizing hours before my execution, caused me to unconsciously nestle closer…before remembering he was also a threat. I pressed my hands against his chest in silent urging for him to step away, but he waited until another agonizing minute had crawled by before finally relaxing.

Though the danger had likely passed, he didn’t pull away, though he did lower his hand, allowing my suppressed frustration to finally escape. “How dare you. Unhand me this instant.”

“Not the gratitude I expected for saving your life.” But he obediently stepped away, leaving me relieved to be free from the confines of his embrace—and strangely missing it. “If you prefer to have been left at the mercy of whomever you were running from, I’m curious enough about your pursuer to use you as bait, if that is truly your wish.”

I glared, but as before, such a measly weapon had absolutely no effect on him. “You expect me to believe it’s mere coincidence I happened to encounter you during my flight from my attacker?”

“If it’d truly been me, then I assure you I wouldn’t have missed, which is clearly what happened considering you’re alive to keep me company in this cozy passageway.”

Considering he’d already demonstrated an uncanny ability to move about, the likes of which I’d never seen, unfortunately his boasting was likely not exaggerated. But before I could extend any of my carefully guarded trust, I spotted something that made my breath catch—a long andstill bleedingcut on his upper cheek near his eye that had definitely not been there last night.

My eyes narrowed. “Where did you get that?”

His brows furrowed. “Get what?” He grazed the scratch and stiffened at the sight of his bloodstained fingers. “Nowhere.” But his voice shook and his composure faltered into one of almost panic as he repeatedly wiped his hand on his sleeve.

“It’s fresh, so you clearly just acquired it.” The knife I’d blindly thrown had strucksomeone. If it’d been him, I found myself in quite the precarious position being alone in a confined space with a man bent on my murder.

He didn’t answer, his entire focus on struggling to breathe, as if in the time since I’d pointed out his cut he’d forgotten how. Gone was his usual confidence, taking with it some of his intimidating aura.

While not the most ideal distraction, it was better than nothing. I pushed against the wall and it opened easily, allowing me to stumble back into the corridor…but I hadn’t gotten far when he was suddenly in front of me again. I was so startled I didn’t even duck beneath his arm to keep running as I might otherwise have done. Instead I stopped short, gaping.

“How do youdothat?”

In his lingering fluster he didn’t immediately answer. He kept frantically scrubbing at his cheek with his sleeve before forcing a steadying breath and tucking his usual confidence back around him to straighten.

“Even though the danger has passed, I can’t allow you to escape until I’ve used this welcome chance to converse with you.”

Though the temptation to run lingered, his inhuman speed rendered it futile. Perhaps a conversation wouldn’t be entirely useless, considering I could at least use it to confirm whether this was indeed Lord Luke, son of the Duke of Rosewood.

I released an annoyed huff in acquiescence, and he leaned leisurely against the wall to look me up and down.

“In our previous introductions you failed to mention that you’retheprincess. I admit the discovery came as quite a surprise that has only invited more questions than from our initial rooftop encounter, enhanced by my discovery you’re sneaking about and being attacked in your own palace.”

I’d half hoped the faded light would prevent him from recognizing me, but I shouldn’t have doubted his aggravating skill. “Which means you’re either a nobleman or a royal, considering they’re the only ones I’ve currently interacted with.”

“You dismiss the possibility of my being one of the attending guards or even a servant. You must learn to think outside the box,Princess.” Rather than deference, only mocking surrounded my supposed title.

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