Secrets of the Crown Assassins

05

"Like murdering them and dumping them in the training room," I finished.

Wolf nodded. "I need you two to figure out who it is."

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know I'm not the mole?"

"Because we've already seen you in action," Wolf reasoned. "And your preferred method of annihilation happens to be more discreet."

He wasn't wrong.

"You shouldn't be so quick to trust."

His strange eyes bore into mine, a steady assault which I had no way of fighting. "Just because I recruited you doesn't mean I trust you. Not completely. That kind of trust needs to be earned. Here's your chance."

I shook my head. "But everyone else is just like you. If they don't trust me, how am I supposed to snuff out their secrets?"

"I chose you two for a reason. Both of you have experience with some undercover work."

"And I failed at it," I pointed out. "The assassins were playing me all along and I didn't even realize it."

"That's because they're the Crowns. They trust no one but themselves. The Streeters aren't like that. They want to be friends, to find a confidant because if you don't have one, in the world we live in, you're as good as dead."

"So I'm supposed to become friends with people who hate my guts?"

"Yes."

"I suck at making friends."

"I guess I'm just a sidekick then," Nydia stated.

"Okay, fine," I threw my hands in the air. "But even if I manage to become friends with the others, how do you expect me to make them spill their secrets? Or even just lower their guard long enough for me to figure it out?"

"It's simple. You're the biggest suspect behind the murder for obvious reasons. They'll think you're too busy trying to prove your innocence to pay attention to their actions."

"That's a shitty excuse to lower your guard," I said.

Wolf shrugged. "Humans enjoy shitty excuses if it makes their life a little easier."

"Humans can also be paranoid when in the face of danger."

"Nope," he smiled. "That's just you."

Damien's face flashed in my mind, and I remembered the feeling of his presence when I thought he was my friend.

"And yet I wasn't paranoid enough."

"Obviously," Nydia said as she squinted at the few drops on the bottom of her cup. "Otherwise, you would've known about the snakes trying to get in your room."

Sometimes I think she's high.

Wolf tilted his head. "How do you stop them?"

"I don't. They just slither in and out as they wish."

"I see."

I had no clue what they were talking about, considering I hadn't found a single snake since I came here.

"Anyways," Wolf waved a hand and refocused the conversation. "Nydia, you're already friends with most of them, so they'll be more inclined to let their guard down."

"But she's friends with you too," I pointed out.

"That doesn't mean I'm on his side all the time. I can keep secrets," Nydia pouted.

"But they aren't anything that could deeply affect me, of course," Wolf said, though the statement sounded more like a question.

Nydia shrugged. "Depends."