Blood Born: Assassin Book 2

Blood Born - Chapter 24

I sat up in a cold sweat. My heart raced as I swiped at my forehead. My breathing staggered as I climbed out of bed. My head spun and my stomach heaved. It felt, as though the little bit I'd eaten earlier was going to come back out. The moon hung high in the air as I flung myself across the windowpane.

"Be careful, dear tulip. You may fall out," a deep voice said behind me.

I spun on my heels and stared into Agnolo's face. "Why are you in my room?"

"I heard about the incident this afternoon. I wanted to check on my sweet petunia."

"Stop it. I'm not your sweet petunia. I'm your assassin. That's all."

"Oh, little princess, try not to be so bitter. This life isn't so terrible. You will come to love it in due time. Just don't be like your mother and fall in love with the king you're assigned to protect."

"Where are you sending me?" I inquired.

"There's a large empire in the far east. You won't be able to communicate with them, but the emperor needs someone who has no claim to his throne that will protect him with their dying breath."

"What? Nobody is loyal to him in his own country?" I asked smarmily.

"Now, now dewdrop, you know that's not how things work around here. When you are ready, you will set sail to the country and do your duty as an assassin. By then you will scarcely remember being a princess. All you will know is how to kill."

I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to yell to the entire castle that I wasn't an assassin, that they were wrong. Instead, I bit my tongue and gritted my teeth. I put my head down and listened to him.

"That is if you want to keep your family and love alive."

I looked up at him quickly and saw him clench his jaw. He was serious.

"Yes, of course."

He moved across the room quickly, grabbing my chin, and turning my head up so I had no choice but to stare into his piercing eyes.

"You understand if you do not follow our rules to the T then your family will die. Starting with your weak and pathetic father. How he managed to stay king for so long puzzles me. Wait, no it doesn't. He has your mother. Then she'll go. Not quick. I'll be sure her death is prolonged and painful. Then on to that prince from Scotland. The savages. I don't understand why your parents would waste such a resource like you on such an insignificant country."

"They're not savages and they're not insignificant." I instantly pressed my lips together and wrenched my face free of his grip.

"Not insignificant? It's a tiny plot of land. Nothing to be eager about. Why would a king and queen of a great nation want to merge with them?" He circled me, almost as though he could sense something was off about everything.

"I don't know. They don't discuss state policies with me. I'm simply a princess they use as a pawn."

"No. You're much more than that. You're as conniving and manipulative as your mother. There's more to you than meets the eye. I will find out why your parents want to marry you off to the Scottish prince."

I shrugged my shoulders and looked away from him. He couldn't find out about Draco.

"I'll find out your little secret, little tart."

He turned on his satin heels and glided out of the room, his shoes tapping on the stone with each delicate step he took.

Late-night visits? Is he on to me? Does he know I'm planning an escape for all the girls?