Shadows and Steel | ✓

chapter forty-two

-42-

The assassin bided her time, watching chattering agents stream past her. She had slipped as best she could out of the door, stepping to the side to avoid getting flattened by the masses. All she could hear as they passed were comments about how handsome the Imperial Heir was and how great he seemed. Exhaling sharply, she kept her vision trained on the doors.

Tristan and Jax had their heads together, muttering. The brown-haired man caught Elle's eye and promptly dragged Tristan over. She raised a brow at the pair as they approached.

Tristan's sentence trailed off at the tug, eyes scanning her crutches, her bandages she had tried to conceal with a jacket and her bruised face matching most of those around them.

He began to speak but was shushed by both Jax and Elle. "Wait until we're somewhere secure." She murmured, starting down the hall as quickly as she could. Elle opened the doors to the library and ushered them both inside. No one would bother them there.

"We were just discussing the heir." Jax started, plopping himself down in one of the chairs. He had earned a nasty slice down his cheek from his final trials. He looked smug, for once. The kind of smugness a cat wore once it had killed its prey. When she turned to Tristan, he wore a less amused expression.

"Cerid." Tristan uttered the single word. He hadn't forgotten her mentor's name. Elle didn't know what to say, other than she really wished they had whiskey available in the library.

"This traitor knew." Jax tilted his head, that same feline sharpness lighting his eyes in the dimly lit room. "You knew who he was, what he stood for and you didn't tell us." She shook her head, looking to Tristan to defend her honour.

He said nothing as Jax leant forwards. "We now know his identity—no thanks to you. I could have told Mikel right from the beginning you would be a useless, self-serving cow."

She growled a warning, pacing forwards towards his chair. He didn't flinch as she leant forward, swallowing the truth. "If Cerid had told me his identity I would have reported it back. Isn't that what you told me to do?"

"It wouldn't surprise you that I don't believe that tale. Any good assassin would have figured the fucking thing out!" Jax listed the indications on his fingers one by one. "You didn't ask yourself why it was you two who were attacked?"

"That would imply that someone from the Order, that Mikel, already knew the Imperial Heir's identity as well as happening to get him in the ideal place for attack right at that moment."

He brushed her retort aside. "His disappearances? To meetings or whatever Imperial Heir's do?"

She shook her head once. "He told me he was an officer, that he had to sit in on meetings."

"Were you blind to his prominent features? His long blonde hair—" To demonstrate, he yanked one of her strands. "His pretty eyes, almost identical to his mother's?"

"Enough." Tristan grumbled. Jax turned, chest heaving and eyes aflame. "She betrayed us." He growled, pointing to Elle. Was Tristan going to defend her?

"She's still here, isn't she? We all made it through." His simple words were enough to stop Jax's attacks. He said nothing more, idly picking up a book and leafing through the pages callously. Elle cringed when he ripped one from turning too fast. It wasn't exactly the support she had wished for from Tristan, but it was certainly better than the silence.

Something in his eyes made her think he knew she lied.

Jax pressed his lips together. "We kill the heir. Mikel has sent an update."

"How is he sending these updates?"

"The Order has friends everywhere. That should come as no surprise. Hidden in the Imperial Heir's apartments is a safe. Reportedly carved from dragonstone. He wants us to bring him what's inside."

"Are you certain?" Elle frowned. "Dragonstone?"

The assassin had read about it briefly. It couldn't be opened by a key or combination. No, it required something much more complex. A specific type of key.

"Blood." Tristan confirmed, finishing her thought as he put down the book he had been pretending to read. "The only way to prise open a dragonstone container is by using the blood that the stone was infused with."

"Magic," Jax spat.

"Of a sort." She murmured. "I thought dragonstone itself is impossible to find, let alone to harvest enough to create a safe."

"Whatever Mikel wants is inside. This safe has been designed so that the thing inside," Tristan met her eyes. "never is taken out again."

It might have been a stupid question. A part of Elle already knew the answer but she felt she had to ask it anyway. "And...whose bloodline has been connected, do you think?"

Pity flashed in Tristan's eyes. It made her want to slap the emotion from him. "Who else? The Blackwood's. It's in his chambers for a reason."

"We find the safe, kill Cerid Athar Blackwood and harvest his blood. We retrieve Mikel's sought after item and then we run." Jax listed feat after feat as if it were just his shopping list.

Elle swallowed loudly. "When's this going to happen?" Her voice broke slightly, but she covered it with a small cough.

"It should be on the night of the ball." Tristan supplied.

Jax, of course, disagreed. "Their suspicions are mounting, especially since they know the Order managed to get inside. Why not tonight?"

"Tonight?" Elle snapped, standing abruptly. It was always going to come down to this: her choice. Loyalty. In her case it was a fickle thing. Cerid was going to die because of her. She had seduced countless men, entrapping them with her tinkling laughs and simpering compliments, but this time it was different.

Her mouth grew as dry as the Ayan desert as Jax illustrated his plan. "He's your mentor, Elle. You will be the one in his chambers and locate the safe." They would kill him in his bed. A quick death, Jax assured. "We only need one person to do it, really."

"I won't do it." She rasped.

"So you are turning on us?" Jax growled, standing. Tristan placed a hand on his chest, holding him back. The man looked like he was going to strangle her and she didn't have the strength to fight him off. "You're just as bad as her. I want to be done with this mission and return to Eryan. One person can kill the man." He shoved Tristan away. "If I have to do it alone, I will!"

A sort of madness had descending upon him. Jax was anger than she had ever seen him, frustratedly throwing his hands into the air. Elle bit her lip as he left, swearing and grumbling, slamming the door shut behind him.

She didn't have to speak the words aloud. Do you think he'll actually attempt it tonight?

Tristan's eye said as much. I wouldn't put it past him.

Numb and sore, she nodded once. She squeezed his hand with her good one, feeling suddenly draped in sadness. It clung to her as a sickly companion she couldn't shake.

Cerid: the man with a love for vanilla pod biscuits who had put up with her whining and snark; whose kisses made her feel all sorts of warm she had never felt before. His long honeyed hair, the cheeky smirk she glimpsed when he was pleased with himself. The boy in the beautiful library.

"We will finish this on the night of the celebration. Everyone will be distracted." Tristan said, not looking Elle in the eye. Did he believe what Jax had said about her traitorous actions? Before she could ask, he let her hand fall to the side. "You need to decide where your loyalties lie. We'll kill the Imperial Heir, you just need to find the vault." Contempt stained his tone. It might have bothered her a few months ago.

She sucked in a shuddering breath. Her legs wobbled like a newborn. Slowly, she made her way out of the library, blinking tears from her icy eyes. The assassin scrubbed off a fat tear from her cheek angrily as it fell. No crying in the City of Smoke. Elle Hallor didn't cry, not anymore.

The assassin bowed further onto her crutches for fear that if she let go of their support, she'd crumple to the ground.