Page 96 of The Dragon King's Assassin

Chapter Forty

I could barely process what was happening. I went to the guest room I'd been using, packed a few changes of clothes, and left the rest. I carried my trunk out to find Captain Vettan waiting for me in the corridor, a smirk on his face.

“So, you've shown your true colors at last, Assassin.”

“Fuck you, Vettan.” I brushed past him. “I've always been honest about who I am.”

He turned and followed me out of the royal suite. A group of knights waited outside. I thought maybe I'd get thrown in a room and beaten before I left, but they only escorted me to the front gates as if I might steal something on my way out. Then they stood there, barring the way back.

I hailed a carriage, got in, and as I was shutting the door, I called out, “Good luck keeping him safe now, assholes!”

I shut the door on their furious faces and the carriage headed off toward the Broken. Only then, in the quiet of the carriage, did I really start to think.

What if the attack had been an attempted murder? Sure, it had been the middle of the day when I'd been assaulted, but in the Broken, that wasn't so shocking. That being said, if they had hit me over the head and dragged me into an alley to finish me off, then a group of people happened by, my potential murderer would probably have abandoned me. Conclusion, I may be in danger.

The problem was that I had this constriction in my chest that demanded all of my attention. If I let up on it just a fraction, I suspected I would start screaming and never stop. So I wasn't afraid; I was in too much pain for that. But I still had some sense left in my head.

I leaned out the window and said to the driver, “Change of plans. Take me to the Enchanted Swan.”

“Yes, Sir,” his tone and the loosening of his shoulders expressed his relief of being saved from entering the Broken.

The carriage slowed and turned in the direction of a much nicer part of the city. The Enchanted Swan wasn't the best hotel in Mhavenna, but it was close. Fancy enough that they had their own security. Plus, I doubted anyone would expect me to be there.

The carriage stopped before the immaculate stone steps of the Enchanted Swan and a uniformed man came down from its gilded doors to open the carriage door for me.

“Welcome to the Enchanted Swan, Sir,” he said as I stepped out.

“Thank you. I have a trunk on the seat.”

“I will fetch it.” He leaned in, pulled out the trunk that I had refused to strap to the outside of the carriage for obvious reasons, and carried it up the stairs for me. At the top, he set it down so he could open the door. “Keth will see you to the front desk, Sir.”

He waved another man over, and that man took my trunk.

“Thank you.” I followed Keth and my luggage to an expanse of polished wood where a human woman waited to check me in.

I'd learned enough in my time at the palace to fit in there and now, I had enough money to afford it. I secured a room, received a key, and Keth took me upstairs to a modest suite. I may be wealthy now, but I'd been poor for too long to spend frivolously.

Keth set my trunk in the closet, and I gave him a copper for his effort. That appeared to be the proper procedure because he nodded his thanks, advised me that one pull of the service cord would bring one of the staff to my door, then left. With the closing of the door, I plopped down on the bed, laid back, stared at the pretty moldings on the ceiling, and willed myself not to cry.

Turns out, my will isn't that strong.

When I was done with that, I sniffed and replayed it all in my head. Everything we'd said and the way Taroc had looked. He had been so determined that I was in the wrong. He wouldn't even entertain the possibility that I was telling the truth. Yes, I stole the medicine, but so what? It was a bottle of medicine. I'm suddenly nefarious because I palmed a potion? What the fuck? And who the fuck uses the word nefarious?

“Fucking Dragons,” I growled as I sat up.

Then I realized that I was free. And rich. And fucking free. Taroc had let me go!

I looked around the luxurious room. There was absolutely nothing for me to do there besides sleep, eat, and bathe. Basic things, but I hadn't been able to fully enjoy them in a while. Yes, I'd had a meal with Taroc, but that was one meal. All the others had been spent on my feet, and I couldn't remember the last time I'd bathed or slept without being prepared to jump to the King's defense. Yeah, a bath sounded amazing.

The bathroom wasn't as nice as His Majesty's, but it was mine for the time being, and no one would come pounding on the door telling me that the King had summoned me. I was out of it, all of that mess. No more worrying about finding whoever hired me. No more worrying about what Taroc would do with me after we did. Or if Taroc really wanted me. Or if Taroc were going to cast me aside. Taroc, Taroc, Taroc. I'd been so focused on him that I'd lost sight of me.

Me time.

I ran a bath. Because I fucking could. I'd never had a bathtub before, not unless you count a bucket, and I'd never had the time to use the one in my guest room at the palace. It was amazing. Sheer bliss. I lounged in that hot water, rubbing expensive soap over my skin until I was wrinkly and as relaxed as I could get after being cast aside.

Hold on, I was the one who had done the casting, not Taroc. He'd thrown a temper tantrum about it and kicked me out of the palace, but I had ended our relationship. There was a certain satisfaction in that, although it didn't do much to ease the ache in my chest. Still, it was something. Freshly bathed, I got out of the tub, dried off, and wondered what rich people did when they were bored.

“I could eat,” I said to my reflection in the gilded mirror over the bathroom sink.

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