Page 48 of Decoy

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “You forget I’m skilled at detecting liars, Princess.”

Aggravating man. I heaved a defeated sigh. “I can never win with you.”

“But your continual efforts are endlessly amusing.” He leaned closer. “Though you owe me a secret, I’ll be generous and instead share one with you: you win more battles than you know.”

I found myself quite invested in knowing the particulars of these victories, but unfortunately, Luke decided to resume his assassin persona. His expression became instantly serious as he peered around the statue to search the darkness, his head tilted as if listening for something.

“Are the shadows speaking to you?” I meant to be teasing, but his eyebrow lifted in surprise as he glanced at me.

“An interesting observation.” He said nothing more as he unsheathed his dagger and withdrew a spare one for me. “The coast is clear.”

“Are you certain?”

He merely snorted in response, as if baffled I dared doubt him. I took that as ayes.

We stood and he reached for my hand, as if he meant to hold it…only for his fingers to accidentally brush against my bloody arm. He immediately stiffened. “We have to take care of this first; I can’t concentrate withthat stuffaround.”

“Did you truly forget?”

“Your presence is more distracting than you realize.” He pulled out a handkerchief—the second I’d borrowed from him—and with a shudder pressed it gently against my wound. I didn’t expect him to tend to me himself and tried to flinch away, but his hold was firm.

“You don’t have to—”

He took a steadying breath. “I know.”

With his pallor he truly looked near a faint, but his touch remained steady as he wrapped my wound. This assistance meant more to me than his willingness to search my room for evidence about my recent attack, considering he was willing to push through his aversions in order to tend to his supposed enemy.

“Why are you helping me?”

He paused to consider. “I don’t know.”

He continued without another word, his comforting touch similar to the memory of the last time my brother had tended to me…before I’d lost the last member of my family. I’d forgotten the tender feelings that accompanied such a gesture—they reached deep inside to dispel my usual loneliness, leaving me feeling cherished.

I expected he wouldn’t be able to pull away quickly enough the moment he finished, but instead he lingered, as a wordless conversation whose meaning I couldn’t quite decipher passed between our locked gazes.

“I’m glad you came to me,” he said.

“Me too.”

His hand trailed down my arm to gently squeeze my fingers. “Let’s search for the clues that will lead us to your attacker.”

We emerged from our shadowy hiding place and crept along the roof at a much slower pace than we’d done the first time. Though we were about to face potential danger, I only felt a sense of adventure thanks to the man at my side. The thought made me smile. Luke noticed, and though he didn’t say anything he smiled too. A sense of camaraderie passed between us, drawing us ever closer.

Only when we neared my window did Luke release my hand so he could slip inside, pausing only when I grazed his shoulder. “I’m not sure how thoroughly you investigated before, but there’s likely blood. I’m not sure if I killed him, but I definitely stabbed him.”

He squared his shoulders to brace himself for the confrontation with his crimson nemesis before jumping lightly onto the sill to peer into the room. After he’d ensured no one awaited us, he glanced back up at me. “Remain close to me.”

He slipped inside, and I immediately followed to find him already searching the room, avoiding the splotch of blood near my bed that was either mine or my attacker’s. I investigated that area, but all I found was evidence that blood had been spilt, the amount too little to know whether or not the wound had been fatal. The assailant had at least lived long enough to slip away, yet we hadn’t seen him on the roof. Did that mean he’d gone through the door past the guards posted outside—if there had been any guards there in the first place—or had he left when I was in Luke’s room or when we were on a different part of the roof?

I glanced towards the door. Sensing my silent question, Luke strode towards it and pressed his ear against the wood. He didn’t need to listen long. “The corridor appears empty, dismissing the possibility that anyone is present or conscious. Either your guards have abandoned their post…or they’re dead.”

Dread twisted my stomach. It was as I’d initially feared when they’d failed to answer my earlier cry and come to my aid.

His expression twisted in displeasure at the negligence displayed if my guards had left on their own accord, one that only added to the growing evidence that I wasn’t the true princess. If anyone could figure it out, it’d be this man.

His frown deepened when he tried the knob and found it locked. “What are you, a prisoner?”

“It’s for my protection.” But the explanation for my being locked away despite my royal status sounded insincere on my lips.

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