She knew there was an assassin somewhere here. She knew she was sore and slow. The last time she was slow, she got stabbed in her shoulder, a scar that has been slowly fading. Then, she used a mirror shard. Now, there was no mirror to ruin.
She looked around, seeing a metal pipe against one of the houses. She did not always need a weapon, but she did not have the element of surprise to overpower the assassin this time. She rushed towards it, running as fast as she could despite her legs protesting it. And when she arrived, rapping the metal pipe from the floor, she barely had any time to raise it over her head to parry the assassin's attack before her legs gave out.
She was at a disadvantage here. A very big one. She was not strong, not as strong as Choi Han or Ron for that manner, Rosalyn might have won in an arm wrestling match. But she was fast, and even now she did not have that advantage.
The assassin tried to strengthen his attack, but Adara used the metal pipe to push the dagger away from her.
Ugh, Adara thought. A professional one, I have not had one of these in a while; why now?
The assassin was aiming for her stomach, her arms stiff as she blocked the assassin's glinting blade a bit too slowly. A second longer, and she would have been hit.
But something made her pause.
Why is he aiming at my stomach? Assassins never aim for the stomach; there is no point. It is much faster to aim for the neck or the heart. An assassin is supposed to kill as fast and efficiently as possible, but the stomach is not an option. So why the stomach?
She parried another attack with her metal pipe, noticing how the dagger seemed too shiny. Her eyes widened as she realised there was poison on the blade. With poison on the blade, of course, it didn't matter where he struck as long as it got into her blood.
But then she was thinking again; it would have to be a very fast-acting poison if he was so confident in its abilities. And that was not necessarily good. She didn't know how well and how much the Vitality of Heart could heal since Taylor still died when that assassin came after him. She just shouldn't get hit by the assassin's blade.
The assassin, getting impatient, raised his poisoned dagger to strike her shoulder. Adara saw the strike. Was too slow to counter it. She felt the cold metal slice deeply through her upper shoulder, a cut. She raised her hand to cover the cut, the warm blood contrasting the cold night. The pain was nothing compared to the fact she felt the poison already moving in her shoulder. It was moving to her heart. She fell to her knees. All the gods should curse you, she thought, grumbling.
She froze as she realised she recognised this poison. It was a numbing/paralysing prototype. Close to the prototypes from 70-79 in particular.
Shit, she thought. It was moving too fast. She took her hand off the wound, looking at the blood covering her hand. It had been a long time since her blood was covering her. She's almost forgotten how much it hurts to be wounded.
She looked up at the assassin; he was backing off, a smile on his plain face. "Hah!" he exclaimed. "It was so easy to defeat you! The Queen of Poison!"
Adara made a face at him. Queen of Poison? The fuck? Where did that come from?
But the assassin frowned when he stared at the still-breathing Adara. "What?" he murmured. "You should be dead by now."
Adara wasn't paying attention, she was looking at the dagger the assassin held loosely. He continued muttering, but Adara wasn't listening. She only saw that poisoned dagger.
As quickly as she could, she kicked the assassin's legs, took the dagger out of his hands and climbed on top of him to cut his cheek.
She raised the dagger as high as her sore arms could go and was about to impale him in the throat. But he was freaking out, muttering shit, breathing rapidly. And a few seconds later, he was lifeless under her.
She threw the dagger far away, reminded of a moment when she stabbed an assassin in the throat multiple times. She had cared that time that she couldn't feel anything. She didn't care anymore.
It was them or her.
And she would always choose her.
But her shoulder was still hurting. Fuck, she thought, putting her hand over the bleeding cut again. Why am I always getting hit in the shoulder?
Then she remembered how fast the assassin had died, and she froze. With how fast the poison worked, it could only be Prototype 71. He was an assassin, the only natural place for him to get a dose of poison was from the Underworld. The only question was, who released it?
They did not release the poison for sure, so it had to be someone else.
It could not be from one of their competitors. The Thornwin Family were a big dealer in poison in the Underworld, and all competitors that dared to compete with them had plenty of background checks done on them and were monitored extensively. She would have been alerted immediately if anybody released a poison like this.
She also knows that her Family did not release it, as her approval is needed before releasing a poison, and Sadie would never let her need to see Adara surprised interfere with the work. And even if another member of her Family authorised it, Sadie— according to policy— would have to ask her anyway.
And she knows that they would never release Prototype 71 onto the Underworld. It was too fast.
Usually, they only released a poison onto the Underworld when they had an antidote that worked 100% of the time. They did have an antidote for Prototype 71, but they haven't released it because it was too fast. You didn't have time to take the antidote before the poison reached your heart, and you died.
So they've been trying to dilute it, make it slower. It hasn't worked, and she's lost 5 people working in the Poison Department because of it.
That leaves only one possibility, she thought. Someone has leaked the poison to the Underworld. Someone with access to the poison. One of the people working on it.
But she paused. It was odd for one of the Poison Department to be the one responsible since the Thornwins pay exceptionally well, especially the Poison Department.
Especially the Poison Department, since Adara guessed that if they were given higher pay checks, they would be less willing to volunteer themselves to test the poison out and possibly die.
So it needed to be someone who wasn't in need of money but was greedy for more money. That could be any of the Poison Department. But not Sadie.
Sadie was content where she was, and Adara knew that. She was Head of the Poison Department, one of the highest-paying jobs in the Thornwin Territory. She had anything that she needed or wanted provided for her by Adara.
So it must be the others.
She looked down at the body still under her. She sighed, standing up though her legs protested even more to that. Her shoulder was tingling, and she felt dizzy. She needed to get to the Palace immediately.
So she put a quick invisibility spell over her and started running. She wouldn't be able to scale the wall and climb into her room; she would need to use the main entrance.
She knew the only reason she was still alive was because of the Vitality of Heart, and for that, she was truly thankful. She would be dead by now if it hadn't been for Cale. Or maybe she would have never been in the Capital if it wasn't for Cale. But then she would have never met Bede and Priest Charlie. It was a good thing she came to the Capital.
It was a good thing she had Cale. A good thing she had Kim Rok Soo.
She wasn't sure where she was. She thought she knew, but it all looked the same. All the doors were the same, and the hallways all looked like the other. But as she quietly staggered through the quiet hallway, ignoring the knights standing guard, she though she saw her room. She walked to it, opened the door, and let the invisibility spell drop.
In her tunnel vision, she could only see a blonde prince sitting at a messy desk. A blonde Crown Prince.
"Oh," she said, swaying. "Wrong room."
And she passed out.
Alberu stood up from his desk quickly, rushing over to her. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard her breathing softly, the breaths ragged. She had multiple red marks around her neck, a bunch of bleeding bitemarks as well, her shirt was soaked in blood around her shoulder. And she looked paler, her skin ashy. Her necklace, the sun pendant, was shining in the reflection of the light, dried blood smeared across the sun engraving.
He was unsure of what to do in a moment like this. A guest collapsed in his room, covered in blood that was possibly hers.
What he did know was that the floor was mighty uncomfortable, even with all the carpets. He picked her up, hooking his arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. He had a bed to sleep in when he was too tired to walk to his room. He could set her there to inspect her wounds.
But as he picked her up and headed to her bed, her head sprayed behind like she was motionless, she stirred, setting her head on his shoulder and her arms around his neck instead.
Ahh, she thought, at least Cale is here. But then she froze, Alberu feeling her tense up in his arms. Cale isn't strong enough to pick me up, she realised. Despite the ringing headache and the intense tingling in her arm, she struggled to open her eyes.
And when she did, instead of being greeted with the familiar brown eyes and bright red hair, she was greeted with golden blonde hair. She felt a fear go through her, her breath quickening as she focused on that golden blonde hair. But it was too short, too tousled, to be hers. It could never be hers. She wouldn't have been caught dead with messy hair.
Then she opened her eyes further and saw the blue eyes that were looking at her. She did not have blue eyes, she had green. It could not be her.
Her head was at an angle as she tried to see the features of the person holding her. Blonde hair and blue eyes. She saw him then. Her eyes wide. "Fuck," she cursed loudly.
Alberu stared at her curiously. He's seen much more emotion in these few seconds than he's seen in all the times they were in each other's company combined. And she just swore in front of Royalty, but he figured she might do that even when she was conscious of what she was doing.
"How are you doing, Your Highness?" she asked, her voice betraying her sluggishness.
Alberu smiled his nice smile, hoping to calm her down a bit since her breath was still quick. And it wasn't because of her wounds. "I'm pretty good."
But the smile only unnerved her further, making her eyebrows frown slightly. "Oh," she said. "Lovely to hear. What are you doing?"
Alberu blinked at the direct question. Of course, how could I forget? This is still Adara, even if she is showing more emotion than usual. "I'm putting you in bed to rest."
Adara stared at him with a deadpan expression. "Your bed?"
Alberu nodded. "My bed," he confirmed.
"Oh." Her expression didn't change. "Why?"
"Well," he started, still holding her, "you stumbled into my room and collapsed, bleeding from bitemarks in your skin. I think a wild animal bit you. Maybe a vampire; there seem to be a lot by your neck."
Ugh, Adara groaned inwardly. It was a trick question. Alberu was mentioning a creature that has the darkness affinity to see how she would react. If she reacted in disgust and disdain, then she wasn't a Dark Elf. So she decided to completely gloss over it by distracting him.
"Wild? Definitely. Animal? Probably," she admitted, "she had way too sharp teeth to be fully human."
Alberu sighed at her answer, catching the implications of what had transpired a few hours ago. "Do you do this often?"
Adara made a face at him. "Sleep with women?" She patted his shoulder lightly. "You need not worry, Your Highness, I sleep with both."
Alberu felt his face flush at her insinuation, and his ears were now red because of the sly, pretty, smile on her face. Well, one of the rumours is true, then. "No— that's not what I meant." He got control over himself, his redness dying down. "I mean, ignoring direct orders from the Crown to rest and engaging in sexual activity when you're not fully done healing."
Adara shrugged but regretted it because of the pain in her shoulder. "Well, I do not often get orders from the Crown. But I did not mean for it to escalate in the way that it did; I just wanted some alcohol since you wouldn't give me any. And then things led to another and now I am here."
Alberu sighed again, his ears still a bit red. "But now you're bleeding. And— and did she make an attempt on your life?" he asked, seeing the cut flesh where the sleeve of her shoulder fell apart.
Adara pulled a face at him. "I think not? I do not know how many— or what type of— people you have slept with, Your Highness, but they don't really try to kill the person they are sleeping with."
And then his cheeks were red again. "That's not what I mean," he explained, only slightly exaggerating. "You have a wound on your shoulder, like someone attacked you with a knife or a dagger or something."
Assassins use daggers, he thought, his eyes narrowing.
She looked at him, gaining her facial control back at the harsh word. It would be in her best interest, however, to pretend she was putting every emotion she had on display. "I do?" she asked, confusion on her face. She looked at where she knew the wound was, the blood soaking through her shirt and smeared across her hands. "Oh, I do."
She felt a rather painful tingle in her arm and the urge to cough. But when she did, bringing her hand to cover her mouth, blood came out, coating her hand.
Alberu almost dropped her at the sight, but Adara only stared numbly at her blood-covered hand. The tingling got better, but it still wasn't healed. Adara figured the fast-acting poison was overworking Vitality of the Heart.
"You craz—," Alberu almost cursed before he stopped himself. "You've been poisoned."
"Oh," she said, as dumbfounded as she could be without being obvious. "That is what the tingling feeling was."
Alberu narrowed his eyes at that. How could she not know? Is she faking, then? Has she been faking this whole time? But his eyes widened when Adara coughed again, more blood coating her hand.
Alberu panicked; he did not know what he had to do in a situation like this. Normally, he would have called a priest the second she collapsed. But he could not. Because it was clear the Young Mistress was attacked, and the priest would surely realise that and then spread the tale all across the Palace. And, if she was a Dark Elf, then a healing potion would not work, and the priest would become suspicious.
"Do healing potions work on you?' he asked.
Adara looked up at him. Haaa, another trick question. "Do not give me a healing potion, I will heal on my own."
Alberu frowned at her words. Avoiding the question, again? Is it purposeful this time or not? "Are you sure? I can get one–."
"No," Adara protested. "I am fine. See?" She lifted her arm, showing the blood smeared across her skin and a healing cut. "It is not bleeding anymore, the wound is even closing up. I am a very fast healer," she said, a smile on her face as she looked back into the eyes of the Crown Prince.
Alberu was frowning even further, watching the scar slowly close. Is this a Dark Elf trait I did not inherit? I need to ask Tasha.
"It will not even leave a scar," Adara said.
Alberu took his eyes off her disappearing wound and looked down at her. "Like the scars on your face?" He regretted his words the second he said them, but just as he was about to take them back, Adara spoke up.
"Ooh, low blow," she said, not caring, her arms still wrapped around his neck. "Can you let go of me, though? I cannot imagine it is very comfortable for you to be carrying someone for so long, however strong you might be."
Alberu would have waved her off if he had a hand to wave off. "It's fine, you're light. Have you been eating enough food?"
Adara shrugged as best she could. "I do not know, you are the one feeding me."
He sighed.
And she latched onto it immediately. "Am I making you tired? That is fine, just put me down. Then, I will find my room, and I'll be out of your beautiful hair," as she spoke she raised her hand to ruffle the golden blonde hair in front of her. "Ooh, it is soft." But, with her hand in the soft hair, she blinked.
Huh, she thought. Maybe I am still not fully conscious of what I am doing. "I probably should not do that with the future King of the Kingdom." She took her hand away, letting it rest around his neck.
He sighed again. "I can't let you walk down the corridors alone, you might step into someone else's room next. I'll just carry you to your room."
Adara frowned this time. "What if someone sees? I do not think it will be good for your reputation if you are seen carrying trash like me."
Alberu raised an eyebrow. Trash? he thought. Oh, you should see the rumours they are spreading; you are no longer Trash. "Worry not, the Knights are all mine; they will not say a word."
"Are you sure?" Adara asked.
Alberu smiled slightly. "I am sure."
Adara put her head on his shoulder. "'Kay, I am trusting you."
Alberu walked out of the room on his way to her room. "Are you getting tired?"
"Mhm."
"Well," he started, "stay awake, please. I do not want to give Young Master Cale a heart attack thinking you are dead."
Adara chuckled slightly.
Albert sighed; of course, she would find his completely serious comment funny. "Come on, stay awake. Tell me something you like."
Adara's eyes struggled to stay awake. "Henituse wine."
Alberu wanted to sigh again. It was such an Adara thing to do, to think of wine even now. Well, at least I know that particular rumour is true then. "That's not what I meant. Tell me a colour you like."
"Brown," Adara mumbled. "I like brown and red."
Alberu looked down at her, at her tired face and half-lidded eyes. She regained the colour in her face, but her sun pendant was still smeared in dried blood. Those colours... his eyes and his hair. He believed Tasha's theory of them courting a bit more by their every interaction. I can't blame her, he is very handsome. And she is very beautiful. "And?" he continued asking. "What else do you like?"
Her eyes fluttered. "I like that there is a moon in the sky tonight."
Alberu laughed softly. What a weird thing to like. "Why?"
"Because," she trailed off. "I'm scared."
He stopped laughing, frowning at this Young Mistress in his arms. "Of what?"
"That I'll meet him," she murmured. "I'm scared that he'll ask me to go with him. I'm scared I will."
Alberu was frowning more and more as she continued talking. "Who is he? Go where?" He was in front of their door by now, his hand on the handle.
"I know," she said. "You don't need to."
Alberu frowned at her answer, but he decided not to press. If Adara wanted to tell him something, then she could tell him on her own time. He will not force answers out of her, however concerning the questions would be. He opened the door.
Inside, Cale was anxiously sitting on the bed, bouncing his leg. He looked up at the door opening, his brown eyes widening when he saw his bleeding friend in the Crown Prince's arms. He got up, rushing over to them.
"Is she okay?" Cale asked, his eyes on the blood on her arm.
Adara's eyes flickered open. "Good morning," she said, waving with her bloody hand.
That did not reassure him much. So, he looked up at Alberu to see if she really was okay.
Alberu gave him an unsure nod. Cale sighed in relief, the tenseness in his shoulders relaxing. He looked more like the indifferent Young Master now, not a concerned friend.
Alberu turned to the Young Mistress in his arms. "I'm going to set you on your feet now, don't fall."
A dry laugh came from her lips, her arms unwrapping from his neck. Alberu did not quite know what she was laughing about, but he did not really care.
On her own two feet but leaning on Cale for support, Alberu watched them.
Adara's hands were covered in blood, her shirt as well, though most of the blood came from her shoulder. The hickeys and bitemarks in her skin were gone. She really was a fast healer.
Cale was in his nightclothing, his hair messed up, and his eyes anxious. But there was something in his eyes as he looked at Adara. A certain type of concern Alberu never saw before. But as he watched him— as he watched both of them— he thought they were incredibly beautiful.
He nodded to himself, almost confirming to himself that they both looked beautiful. "I need to get going now, I will be visiting tomorrow morning after you have breakfast."
Cale nodded at him, a slight thankfulness to his eyes.
And Alberu left, the door closing behind him.
Cale turned to Adara. "Can you stand on your own?"
She nodded, letting out a yawn. "I am just tired. And stiff."
He slowly let her put her weight on her own feet. "I'm going to start the bath so you can clean up." She didn't respond, but he started walking to the bathroom.
He stopped when something tugged on his sleeve. He turned around. It was Adara. She was holding onto his sleeve. She was looking at him, her eyes almost closed. "I'm sorry," she said.
Cale took a step closer to her, frowning. "For what?"
She swayed lightly. "For not taking you along. I'm sorry."
He waved it off. "It's fine, the important part is that you're here now. And in one piece."
"Thank you," she said as if she did not hear his words.
He observed her for a second. "For what?" he repeated.
"For everything."