Page 73 of The King's Sword
Yawning, Sabine pushed herself to a sitting position, leaning against the headboard. Her neck was sore but other than that, she felt good. “I’m fine.” Her voice came out raspy—probably from all the screaming she did last night.
“I’m not sure what happened, but we’ve never had an attack inside the palace walls before.”
Sabine had no idea how to respond to that.
“I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t share this incident with anyone. If word got out, others might try to breach our walls as well.”
Sabine recalled Gemma telling Evander she would have her guards stationed away from a section of the wall for a specified amount of time so Evander could get out and kill Ex without anyone seeing. She supposed that was how the assassin got in. Instead of mentioning any of that, she replied, “Since you’ve been so hospitable, I won’t say a word.” The past few weeks—both here in Avoni and in Lynk—seemed to be filled with assassination attempts. The assassin who’d come after her in the seamstress’s room back in Lynk hadn’t been as skilled or ruthless as the one she faced last night. Which made her question if he was even an Avoni assassin.
She rubbed her forehead. Before the attack in Lynk, she’d heard a whistle and her dog had run from the room. That made sense if Lottie was involved since she trained the dogs. But her guards had to have seen something and they didn’t. That incident seemed like a coordinated attack—from the inside. The person had known how to get out of the palace via the secret tunnels. Granted, Lottie could have divulged that information, but Sabine wasn’t so sure she would. If Lottie told an assassin, that assassin would tell others. Lottie had to know that.
“What is it, dear?” Serilda asked.
Sabine glanced at the queen’s face. Her brows were drawn together, as if truly concerned. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I think I’m just tired from the events of last night.” Sabine had been attacked twice—both times by very different men. She knew, without a doubt, that the man last night was an assassin from Avoni. He had been well trained and ruthless. The attack in Lynk hadn’t been like that. It had been clumsy.
“Is there anything you wish to discuss with me?” Serilda asked.
Sabine shook her head, wanting to wait to talk to Evander about this.
“Very well.” The queen stood then headed for the door where she stopped and turned to face Sabine. “While we might have different methods, we want the same thing—peace.”
Sabine didn’t respond. If Serilda truly wanted peace, her kingdom wouldn’t still be training assassins. And so far, Avoni had done nothing to broker peace. They’d had more than enough opportunities to help Bakley but instead, chose to do nothing. But maybe Sabine was overthinking this. Looking for problems where there weren’t any.
Serilda reached for the door handle. “I want you to know that my son cares for you,” she said, her voice suddenly soft. “No matter what the future holds, know that he considers you a friend. Maybe something more. Don’t forget that.” She left the room before Sabine could respond.
Sliding her legs out from under the covers, Sabine stood and stretched, thinking over her conversation with the queen. Her throat was dry, so she went over to the door looking for a string nearby to pull a bell for a servant.
Evander’s voice came from the other side. She was about to open the door when she heard his mother say, “You need to fix this.”
Sabine had no idea what needed fixing. Then she remembered hearing Evander and his sister whispering about talking to their father.
“I know,” Evander said. “You don’t need to remind me. I’m painfully aware that I screwed up last night.”
Sabine froze, unable to move away from the door.
“What is it, Mother? I can tell you want to say something else.”
“You do remember what your duty to this family and kingdom is, don’t you?” the queen said.
“Yes,” Evander ground out, his voice sounding irritated.
“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I won’t,” he replied.
“Just remember what you’re doing. Don’t get caught up in it all.”
“Mother.”
“I see the way you look at her.”
“You can count on me to do my duty,” Evander replied, his voice steely. “Is there anything else?”
“No more mistakes.”
Since Evander was probably going to come into the room and Sabine didn’t want to get caught eavesdropping, she rushed over to the bed and threw the sheets back, pretending as if she’d just gotten up.
The door opened, and Evander entered carrying a robe. “I thought you might want to get out of the infirmary,” he said by way of greeting. “I brought this for you to wear.”
