In. The princess, the king's rebellious daughter, wanted in.
"No," Rafe scoffed. "No! You are not going." Sophie turned.
"For the first time," Sorin grunted as he got up, "I agree with the kid."
Sophie's eyes narrowed. "It's not up to you," she spat. "Either of you."
Then, all eyes went to me.
Before I could deny her, before I had even considered it, Sophie quickly continued. "I overheard about your mission from my father. You have a very small chance of completing it alive, and I know you'll need all the help you can get. I can help. I can-."
"What?" I interjected. "You... can... what?" The princess fumbled for words.
"I-I can provide information. I've been to Targaryen on a military trip. I know the land, and I have allies there." Placing the side of the glass to my head, I exhaled.
"What you are, Sophie, is a liability." I drank from the glass. "And I'm not one to carry dead-weight. I have a very weak back." From behind Sophie, Rafe stepped forward.
"Yeah-," he started.
"You see, even your boyfriend agrees with me." Rafe glared at me.
Gritting her teeth, Sophie tried again. "I'm not dead-weight. I'll provide you with any information you need."
"Like what knife you think will look best in your father's back?" I asked, raising a brow.
Sophie's lips pressed into a frown. "I know I said I wanted to get back at my father, but that doesn't mean I want him dead, assassin." I sighed.
"It is true what they say. Royals really are boring." She ignored me.
"How am I a liability?"
"Easy. You're a princess. Your father is a king. People want you dead." Sophie scoffed.
"I can think of about 50 people that want you dead too, Ms. Drystan. Get to the point."
"The point is, no one will come for me, for such trash, if I'm in danger. They'll cut their losses and let me die at the hands of another bloodthirsty psychopath. But you? No. No, you are royalty. You'll have armies march for your name, men and women who are willing to bleed and die to see you home safe. It's hard being royal, isn't it? Knowing you have millions of enemies and allies? Not knowing which ones are which." I watched Sophie visibly swallow.
"And which one are you?" She whispered.
I smiled. "I'm the rare one in the middle, the one who is not on either side. Don't give me a reason to hate you, I'm not your enemy, but that doesn't mean I'll help you."
"Because you're selfish," Sophie finished.
"Because I'm clever." We fell into silence, one broken by Sophie.
"I can help. I know I can. If you're worried about my skill to defend myself, that I'll somehow slow you down, Rafe will tell you how much I've improved. He can even teach me on the road." I glanced at Rafe who reluctantly gave me a tight nod. "And I know how to get us into the castle." At this, I looked back to Sophie. My interest officially peaked.
"I'm listening."
"The Wintertide Ball," she said. "The royal family of Targaryen hosts it every winter to celebrate a year's good harvest and the first snowfall. Allies of Targaryen are invited. Wintertide lasts three days. It takes place in the main village, but the last night, there is a ball in the palace where diplomats, royals, ambassadors, and their guests dance and drink all night. Since the Targaryen's raided the southern beaches, Father isn't attending this year. It's in a month, tomorrow. That's our only way in." I inhaled deeply, knowing I'm going to regret this. I rubbed my face.
"I need the list of who's attending," I told her. "And I need it by tonight." Her face brightened.
"Is that a yes?" She asked. I could tell she was holding back a smile.
"Get me the list, and we'll see," I said stiffly. "Come back here at ten sharp. Rafe will escort you to the castle and back. Your father can not know you're helping me, so whatever you do, do not get seen and do not make him or his advisors suspicious. Okay?" Taking a breath, the princess sighed satisfactorily and turned quickly toward Rafe who was looking angrily at me. She slid her hood over her curls and disappeared, Rafe close behind her.
I glanced at Sorin who was staring at me. Exhaling, I sighed, "What are the chances you go to the king?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. What are the chances you're actually stupid enough to let the crowned princess in on this?"
Looking away, I admitted, "I don't know. I'm still figuring that part out." Silence fell between us yet again.
Ten o'clock came quickly. I sat in my usual chair, feet propped up on my desk. Ace was on the floor, sitting with her legs crossed, tinkering with one of her new inventions. Sorin sat on the edge of my desk, looking deep into thought, and Carter, draped over one of the chairs, was sketching in his journal.
There was a roaring fire in the hearth carved out in the wall next to where Carter sat. Wood cracked and popped as the embers danced around, painting colors of burnt orange and red along the ceiling. Warmth spread throughout the room, blocking out the frigid air behind the window.
When my office door opened, and a shivering Rafe and Sophie stepped in, all eyes went to them. Snow was stuck on their clothing. With a trembling hand, Sophie walked over to me and handed me a piece of paper. Rafe shadowed her.
"Here's the list." Carefully, I unfolded it and read all of the fancy names on the list. There was a lot more than I thought, maybe 200, all scribbled hurriedly in cursive.
"Who's this?" Ace asked, frowning, her hands still frozen on the metal tool she was building. I inhaled and nodded toward Sophie.
"The newest edition to our team. Sophie." Sorin gave me one look and started getting up, angrily stalking out. "Sit down," I ordered, sternly. Sorin's fists clenched. He spun around.
"You are not my boss."
"No, but I'm about to tell you how we're going to survive this, so unless you want your ass to be dead, sit down." He kept eye contact with me, muttering something incoherent under his breath before reluctantly sinking down onto the arm of one of the ottoman. I stood and walked around the desk.
"We don't have a lot of time, but since not all of you know each other," I gave a glance to Sophie who had retreated to the fireplace, "I figured introductions are in order."
I motioned lazily to Ace. "This is Ainsley, but everyone calls her 'Ace'. She's my inventor and chemist. If you want something made, go to her, but don't piss her off unless you want one of your limbs blown up." Ace gave a small wave and went back to her work. Going in a circle around the room, I moved to Rafe, leaning against the wall. "Of course, you know Rafe, my spymaster." He quirked his lips up briefly.
"Carter," I said, tilting my head to him. He looked up and studied the princess, still in her palace dress. Giving a shy mumbled greeting, he turned back to his sketches. Lastly, I turned to Sorin. "And you've met Lieutenant Stryker. Pleasant, isn't he?"
He glanced at me and proceeded to glare. "What's that supposed to mean?" He seethed.
"It means you're a bipolar pain in the ass."
"Oh like you're just a ray of sunshine."
"Your words, not mine." I went back behind my desk. "Everyone, this is Princess Sophronia, and now she's one of us. She will be accompanying us on the journey."
"And what exactly is this journey?" Ace asked, the slightest bit of edge to her voice.
"We are journeying to Targaryen in a little over 24 hours." I paused. "And we're going to kill the crowned prince." Besides Sorin and Sophie, everyone's mouth dropped. Even Rafe, having not heard all the plans in depth, looked shocked. Carter, shockingly, was the first out of all of them to speak.
"You have to be joking." He looked around the room, mouth gaped. "Please tell me you're joking." When his gaze met mine again, his face pulled taut into a wince. "You're not joking, are you?" Ace irritably tossed down the current tool in her hands and stood.
"You may have a death wish, but I don't. I have something to live for, someone to go home to, and quite frankly, I don't want to leave her for money I may or may not get. I don't want to die risking my life as your shield, as your protection." I calmly took this in, my chest rising and falling once.
"I don't want you to be my protection either, Ainsley. I don't need you for protection. I need you for your brains, your wit, your inventions. And I can not complete this without those, without you." She shifted, her lips pursed, swallowing hard. Finally, she asked coolly,
"And what are you getting out of this? It must be something big to turn the attention of the Scarlett Assassin, the renowned and ruthless killer." I shrugged.
"You have your reasons and I have mine. What those reasons are are only for me to know. And I think we can agree that we don't want our past exposed," I responded, hoping she caught the threat. When she glanced around then glared at me, I knew she had. Rafe was the next to speak.
"How are we going to pull this off, Vera? Let's face it, even traveling in the ocean these days is dangerous, and that's just getting there. How are we supposed to isolate the prince, kill him, and escape without detection?"
"Oh, and let's not forget we have the king's daughter who will easily be recognizable with her fancy dresses and deep pockets," Ace added, throwing a brief glance to an unbothered Sophie. It wasn't a glare but still wasn't friendly. Ace wasn't exactly known for her warmth.
"And the fact that most of us are criminals," Carter put in, tentatively. Ace laughed.
"Yes, exactly! Your picture will probably be plastered on every wall, Rafe's will be sitting next to yours, and Carter's will be stuck to every building his father owns, worldwide," she said crazily, as if the words were shocking her as she spoke them.
"And Mr. full-of-himself will be recognized as the great war hero," Rafe said sourly. Sorin cut his eyes at him but didn't retort.
"Are you all done complaining?" I asked. Five faces, reading different expressions, different levels of ease and stress, silently gave me answers. I nodded and picked up the map showing the Eastern Sea and Targaryen. Going behind my desk, I stuck a pin into the wall and the map, hanging it up. Everyone stared at it...
I turned. "Great. Let's get started. Try to keep up."
__________________
Everyone had gone besides Sorin. It had taken more than three hours to get everyone on board with the journey. Even now, Ace was still hesitant, but I knew she'd eventually come around. As much as she hated it, she would do anything to go back to her family. Ace could deny it all she wanted. I knew she wanted to find them.
Sorin followed me to the apartments. He was wrapped in his jacket, hands shoved in his pockets, head down, blocking out the snow that fell at a slow, constant pace. Every now and then, I felt him look up at me to make sure I was still in front of him as if I was trying to shake him. For the first time, I wasn't. I'd spent 24 hours planning with only a few of those sleeping. I was exhausted and was too tired to mind my permanent shadow.
Once at the building, we climbed the stairs all the way up to our floor. My hand found my doorknob. I fumbled around for my key and unlocked my door, starting to go inside.
"What happened to you?" Sorin asked, more sinister than genuine, like he was upset or confused. Or both. I really couldn't tell. My head pounded.
I stifled a sigh and barely turned my head toward him. "What do you mean?"
"I miss the old you," he said. "What happened to the girl in the castle -the one who would smile at everyone and watch the soldiers train earnestly? The one who would dance when no one watched and dreamed?" My hand clenched the doorknob. I would've retorted back, would've played it off with something sarcastic. Instead, I looked right into his eyes, the candlelight showing the gold specs laced into the otherwise brown hue, and said firmly,
"She woke up," before walking into my room and shutting the door behind me.
I don't know how long I stood there, hand on the doorknob, staring at the floor. It wasn't until there was a creek in the floorboards in the hall that I realized I'd been frozen in a trance. I moved to the other side of my room, starting a fire with a few pieces of wood I'd stocked up with. Then I boiled some water and waited for it to cool before rinsing myself with a cloth and changing into a loose nightgown. What happened to you? The words played over and over in my head. I huffed.
What happened to you? What happened to you? What happened to you? What a stupid question. Life happened, shit happened. How the hell are you supposed to respond to that, what happened to you? It's an impossible question. I could say I woke up or I didn't get enough sleep or I drank too much or I didn't drink enough. I could say I went to war or started my own gang to cope or started being resilient because if the war taught me one thing it was that no one can push me around or use me to do their bidding. What happened to you? Ugh.
Heaving a sigh, my eyes closed. I sunk into my bed. My mind was racing though, an endless river always running, never stopping. So much to do. There was an endless amount of shit to do and so little time to do it. 24 hours. I only had 24 hours to come up with a full-proof plan, get everyone on board, and prepare.
I shifted in my sheets, tossing and turning, never finding a spot where my mind shut off completely. It must've been hours or maybe just minutes that I sat there silently planning. I didn't know. It felt like days.
When I finally did fall asleep, I woke up not long later to moans coming next door, in Sorin's room. With a groan, I covered my ears with my pillow and tried to drown out the noise. After at least ten minutes, I couldn't keep the sounds away. Suddenly, I was up, walking around the room. There was a whimpering and I shuddered with disgust. Of course he was fucking some girl. He could've at least had the decency to do it at her place. My skin prickled. Quickly, I grabbed some knives and slipped down the hall into his room, picking the lock and ducking inside.
I was expecting Sorin on top of some young girl from a brothel, and I was hoping to scare the shit out of both of them, but I found no one but Sorin. He was tossing and turning, the sheets thrown about. It took me a second to realize that he wasn't awake and restless. He was sleeping, dreaming. I told myself to turn away but I was stuck there, frozen.
Sorin was mumbling something incoherent, his breath heavy. I rolled my eyes and stepped forward until I reached him. "Sorin, get your ass up, you're gonna wake up half of the kingdom with all your noise." He stirred but kept on muttering his nonsense. "Wake up!" I hissed. "Damn it." In anger, I threw my knives down on his table. They clattered on the wood, but it still wasn't enough to wake him.
"Leave... leave me alone!" He screamed. Sorin was deathly pale, cold sweat on his brow.
I froze when I realized he wasn't dreaming, when his breathing labored. He was having a nightmare, I realized, and I've had my fair share with those. Suddenly, I started shaking his shoulders, hissing his name to try and wake him up. Nightmare or not, I still couldn't get back to fucking sleep.
"Sorin!" I finally yelled loud enough to wake him. He jolted awake, gasping for a breath. "Finally you damn-." His hands grabbed my wrists and pulled me onto the bed before I had a chance to breathe. I yelped. Underneath him, as his face darkened and his breath touched my skin, my nightgown became hitched on my waist.
His face was full of pain and torment. He blinked twice, the weight of what he'd just done sinking in. Slowly his face, full of pain and anger, smoothed. He let go of my wrists -I took notice of his trembling hands- and sat up, the most vulnerable I've ever seen him.
"Assassin?" He asked, his voice hoarse, sitting on the foot of the bed. I picked myself up, ignoring how I was suddenly shaking with him, ignoring how I was just underneath Sorin, ignoring how our legs still touched. I caught my own breath and smoothed my nightgown down over my thighs when Sorin's eyes glanced down.
"You pulled me on the bed, you dumbass," I seethed, eyes narrowed, standing up and grabbing my knives. "You were yelling and I couldn't go to sleep." Not meeting his eyes, I turned away and started to walk out.
"Vera, wait-."
"What?" I hissed, my hand on the door. I ignored the fact that he said my name. My real name. Not that awful nickname. Sorin swallowed.
"I'm sorry." I paused. That was the first time he'd ever apologized to me. Ever. His pride was nearly as big as his ego and both pissed me off. Still, I didn't miss a beat.
"Just shut up and go to sleep." Then, I walked out and slammed my own door shut.