Page 45 of The Dragon King's Assassin

“Ugh! Don't do that. Dealing with them will be more painful than this wound.”

I should have told him about the way they'd stood aside while I fought the other assassin, but I was with the Wraiths long enough to hate snitches too much to ever become one. I'd have to deal with the knights myself.

“You can sit up now,” the physician said.

I rolled over, sat up, and glared at Taroc as the doctor pulled a bottle out of his bag and set it on the side table.

“Take one spoonful no more than once a day if you're in pain,” he said. “I will check on you tomorrow.”

“Thank you, uh, who are you?”

“I'm Dr. Chisuren.”

“Thank you, Dr. Chisuren. You're a miracle worker.”

“Yes, well, uh, you're welcome.” He collected his things and, with one last strange look at the King, left.

As he walked out, a servant walked in carrying a tray of food. Following her was Captain Vettan. I glared harder at Taroc.

“You are supposed to be working with the palace knights anyway,” Taroc said as the woman flicked out the tray's legs and set it over my lap.

“Thank you,” I said to her. Then, to Taroc, “Fine, just for today, but I don't want them in here.”

“If we had been in here last night, you wouldn't have that wound,” the Captain said.

“What the fuck are you talking about? You were in here; you all followed me in.” I was about to say fuck it to the whole snitching thing and call him out on his little stand to the side and see if Lock gets killed trick, but then I remembered something. “Oh, right, you weren't with them. So you don't know shit.”

“My soldiers gave me a full report. And what I meant was that if they'd been in the royal suite while you were off doing whatever you were doing in the middle of the night, you wouldn't—”

“Fuck,” I interrupted him and jumped out of bed.

Taroc growled and pushed me back down.

“The violinist! I went to meet the violinist!”

“What violinist?” Taroc and Vettan demanded together.

“The musician, remember?” I said to Taroc, ignoring the Captain. “He had more information for me, something he wasn't willing to talk about in public. I was supposed to meet him in the south garden at 2 a.m., but he wasn't there.”

“Maybe he was just playing with you and didn't know anything,” Vettan said.

I continued to ignore him. “He wasn't there, but someone else was, and that person hit me over the head and knocked me out.”

“Are you sure it wasn't the violinist?” Vettan drawled.

“I suppose it could have been, but that would mean that the violinist had been hired by the same person who hired me.”

“To lure you out in the middle of the night,” Taroc finally spoke.

“Yes,” I said. “Lure me out, bash me over the head, and send another assassin to kill you while I was out cold in the fucking garden. That's why I came running back here. I knew there could be only one reason to get me out of the way.”

“Captain,” was all Taroc said.

“I will have this violinist to you in an hour, Sire.” Captain Vettan turned and started to leave.

“Hold on!” I called after him. “How the fuck did that assassin and whoever hit me over the head get past your knights?”

Vettan snarled as he spun back toward me. “If my knights had been allowed in the royal suite, that assassin wouldn't have made it this far.”

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