Assassins Crown

Chapter 24

There's a long, stunned silence.

The bomb has been dropped.

No one makes a sound.

I break contact with the archer's eyes; she is not worth it.

Instead, I stare at my father.

Why would he do this? Why would he want a Crowned Prince? He never had any love nor any hate towards the Royal Crown, so why request such a thing?

But I already knew exactly why.

He has found proof of a strong weakness in me, strong enough to risk my own life, and he intends to use it in every way possible.

My freedom has been reined in even more than before.

"You want to take my son?" the king asks in disbelief.

"I believe that is what I said, yes," my father says with dark amusement.

"But you can't! He's the Crowned Prince!"

"I also believe that I was informed that you have a daughter that could ascend the throne in the Prince's stead," my father reply's calmly. I could tell he knew exactly what he was doing. What the leader of the Assassins League wanted, he would find a way to get it no matter the circumstance.

King Spencer gapes, in total shock. I can see my father is immensely enjoying himself; my father always loved playing with people's emotions.

"Absolutely not!" the king shouts in rage.

One of my father's eyebrows arches.

"If that is what you choose . . ." my father leads off, almost as if it doesn't even faze him. My father looks at the king in a relaxed, uncaring way; like he was talking about the morning's weather or what they were going to have for breakfast the next day.

Suddenly, my father speaks sharply: "Kill them all."

Aaron watched as every assassin member brought back their weapons in an instant and aimed at random people. Several people screamed and whimpered. Aaron struggled against his perpetrator.

He saw Nicole look sharply at him with her icy blue eyes. It froze him; somehow, Nicole always managed to have the ability to control people with a simple look. He now thought she had gained it from her father. Her father did the same exact thing.

The ruler of the Assassin's walked towards him and Aaron froze. As he watched, Tarik Malak pulled out a thin dagger from somewhere on his person (he couldn't tell where, he was too fast for him to track the movement) and pressed the blade against his throat.

Aaron's throat tightened and he tried to lean away from the knife, but he had nowhere to go. His eyes frantically searched for help.

His eyes landed on Nicole.

He could see her muscles strain and relax and strain again. Her mouth was clenched and it looked like she was just seconds away from attacking someone.

She looked much like a lion ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Or more accurately, a cornered wild lion.

But she wasn't looking at him; she was looking at her father who was holding the knife to his neck.

"Wait! Wait!" the king shouted panicky. "Take my daughter instead!"

Aaron felt a wave of disgust and hate toward his father. Oh, no he was not going to drag Rosily into this. No way.