Page 48 of The Dragon King's Assassin

Chapter Twenty-Two

Four hours into my bed rest, I felt absolutely fine and utterly bored. We had fucked a few times, and Taroc had even managed to be gentle—spooning me while slowly sliding in and out. It had been fantastic, but there are only so many times I can come in one day, and I think I'd used them all up.

Captain Vettan had discovered the violinist's name—Edmund Oliver—but had not located him as promised. According to Edmund's wife, the violinist hadn't come home yet, and she had already been worried about her husband before the palace knights had shown up. Now, she was in a state of panic and, according to Vettan, was running about the city, trying to find him. That made one of them.

The Captain concluded that the violinist had probably been a victim and not the one who hit me. Which meant that he was likely dead and to search for him was a waste of time. He alerted the Talons and would be notified as soon as the man or his body was found. The King was not pleased.

To mollify Taroc, Vettan brought me a map of the palace with the patrol routes noted, a schedule of the soldiers selected for each patrol, and the Palace Guard's log that noted every reported activity. It was all spread out on the bed before me but, from the look of them, there wasn't much I would have done differently last night. The one thing I'd requested that hadn't been done was the posting of stationary guards at strategic points around the palace, including the King's private garden. Captain Vettan admitted that he simply didn't have enough knights to do the double patrols I'd insisted upon and guard certain areas. So there hadn't been anyone stationed in any of the gardens.

Yes, I was angry, but the Captain had made a judgment call, and I couldn't fault him for it. In the end, this was on me. I was the one tasked with finding the culprit behind these attacks, and I was the one who had left the King in the middle of the night only to get bashed over the head for my stupidity. There was only one course of action left for me to take; I needed to get out of the palace and do some investigating.

I glanced at the bedroom door. Taroc was off doing king stuff and would be for a while. After our last romp, he'd declared that I really did need my rest and that wouldn't happen with him there. So he left. Unwittingly playing into my plans.

All right, I didn't have any plans back when he'd left, but his leaving was now fortunate.

I looked at the balcony doors. If that Argaiv could get in, I could get out. Hopefully. If the Captain hadn't suddenly gotten his shit together and organized proper patrols. But so what if he had? If I were caught trying to leave, Taroc would be livid, but he'd get over it. And I would quick; I just needed to speak with Teng.

I got out of bed and crept down the hall to my room. As I got dressed, it hit me; Taroc had put me in his bed. Granted, I had been injured in his bedroom, but I would have expected him to have me moved to this room to recover. At the very least, he wouldn't want blood on his sheets. And then there were his pants. When he fled the bedroom, he'd been naked, but I woke to him wearing the same pants from the night before. He must have grabbed them off the floor and put them on while the doctor was tending me. But why not take them off afterward? Had he really been that worried about me?

“Huh,” I murmured. “Maybe I am important to him.”

I looked in the mirror and checked out the new outfit I'd put on—the clothes Taroc had bought for me. Stretching my neck, I turned away. I'd known from the start that I belonged to him, but it was in the way of a prisoner or an indentured servant. Now, I felt kept, claimed in a more intimate way, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

I pulled on my assassin vest over my new clothes and headed for the window. It would be easier to escape from that room than the King's bedroom. With my climbing claws, I wouldn't need a rope, and I could leave the window open to sneak in later. I fastened a set of iron claws on my boots, then went to the window. After opening it and checking out the garden, I hooked the hand claws on and shimmied out the window. Once outside, it took only seconds to get down to the garden.

It was aggravatingly easy. After last night's attack, Captain Vettan should have corrected his mistakes and put men on watch as I'd suggested. He hadn't. This stirred mixed feelings in me. On one hand, I was furious. On the other, if he had posted extra guards, I might not have made it off the palace grounds.

“Pompous asshole,” I muttered as I strode up the alley I'd landed in, stowing my claws as I went. “Even now, he thinks that he knows better than me. No, don't listen to the human even though he's been proven right. He's just a human. What could he know? Asshole.”

I hailed a carriage and went to the Shrieking Ghost first. Teng wasn't there so I had the driver take me to the docks next. I found Tengven on the dock before his ship, talking to his first mate. They both nodded at me when I walked up.

“We were just wondering when you would show up,” Ry, the First Mate, said. “I thought maybe the Dragon King ate you.”

“He did, in a way.” I grinned. “And I must have been delicious because he went back for seconds.”

Teng looked at my fine clothes and lifted a brow. “Did he? You fuckin' the King now, Lock?”

“Don't act as if the gossip hasn't reached your ears. You know I am.”

Tengven chuckled. “We heard that he calls you his assassin. There goes your cover, my friend.”

“I know.” I grimaced. “If I ever get out of this, I'll have to move.”

“You can always sail down the coast with us.”

“I appreciate that, and I just might take you up on it. But I'm sorry, I have to be rude and cut off the small talk. I snuck out so I could check in with you.”

“You snuck out?” Ry asked. “Is he like your daddy now? 'Daddy, may I go out and see my friends?'”

“I'm supposed to be on bed rest. There was another attack last night.” I looked around. “Let's take this on board.”

The men instantly went serious and preceded me up the plank and onto the ship. Ry came with us into the Captain's cabin, but I didn't mind. Teng would have told him everything anyway.

“Another attack?” Teng asked as he shut the door behind us. “Did you recognize the assassin?”

“No. He was an Argaiv. I managed to stab him, but I must have missed his heart because he flew away.”

“Did you get him deep?”

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