EARNED by the KING

8. A night in the garden

Ahar

The moment those two men entered the palace we knew they were assassins. With the way a man takes in his surrounding, one can say much about him. When performers enter the palace, they are usually in awe by the grandeur and eager to see as much as they can. But these men had trained eyes that were forming a layout of the palace, looking for exits, reading weak links, taking in the number of guards at the door.

Even before I noticed this Mori had. Guess it takes one to know one.

There was a reason Mori was in charge of security because she had a knack to break into the most secured places and strike her target with a fool proof escape plan.

What we didn't know was who was helping them and is the target me or Mayara? The alliance with Mohriya was not favourable to a long list of powerful people.

So, we played along. We let them think that their plan was going smoothly and refrained from alarming them. We were waiting to see when they'd slip because they always do.

Half way through the plan we found out that their payment was already settled and they had no plans of escape. Money is already settled only when the assassins doing the jobs are expendables. They are usually killed the very night whether or not their job is a success to avoid tracing them back to the person in charge. Professional assassins receive money only after the completion of their task.

This changed everything. If they don't care about their lives then they'd be reckless. Attacking even in the midst of a room full of people and they did exactly that.

That was why I accompanied Mayara from the very moment she entered the hall. She had an additional glow on her today and I wasn't the only one who noticed it.
The woman just had to exist and every man in the room practically swooned over her. She didn't even batt an eyelid at anyone, including me.

She was graceful but cold something only she could pull off. Much like the sky she wielded. The dress hugged her in all the right places and her long legs were on display beneath the translucent material with every step she took.

I was convinced that it was a bad idea asking her to wear such a sensual dress. It was Kian's idea to gift her a dress that reminded her of home and apparently that's how women dressed in Mohriya.
Even powerful warriors bowed to her in respect, they could feel the power in her.
I thought sending that necklace would shake her a little. Even if it had, she showed no signs of it.

When I had to leave for a few minutes, my cousin Kian watched over her. I even went so far to make her sit with me on the throne to keep a closer eye on her.

If there is one thing I absolutely hate, it is to be wrong.

Making Mayara sit on the throne was a huge mistake because the attack happened when both of us were seated on the very throne.

Mori burned the arrows to ashes and even if she hadn't, I would have. But for a second, I feared what if an arrow escaped the fire and found her flesh. The injured maid could have easily been her.

It was the first time I was uncertain in decades and I didn't like the feeling.

Any other time the two men would have been executed only the next morning after a trial and I never would have commanded the ambassador of Suban in front of everyone like that. Hell, I never command anyone unless there is no other option left. We only had a hunch that the Subans were involved as one of the men had used a Suban currency to buy food this afternoon. For all we know it could be from his previous mission or his native currency. But I took a chance knowing full well the consequences if my accusation was wrong.