Page 64 of Decoy

What I saw rewrote all my previous assumptions guiding me to this point, but it confirmed some of the niggling doubts I’d had. My mind whirled in a frantic attempt to assemble pieces that seemed impossible to ever fit together. The picture they formed was haphazard and riddled with holes, yet it gave me a new suspect to track until I could fill in each missing gap one by one to see what completed conclusion awaited me at the end.

If this suspect was the one I was truly after…then I was in far more danger than I could have ever previously imagined.

CHAPTER18

LUKE

Istood midst the rows of shelves long after the princess’s footsteps faded, fighting the urge to follow her. Though we’d chosen to conduct our own personal investigations, I found my thoughts focused more on her than on my mission.

I struggled to wrangle my distraction into submission as I ventured deeper towards the farthest alcove, rumored to contain historic contracts dating back to the centuries when the curse was first cast upon my family. Such records could only be found within the royal palace or the magical monastery, the latter of which assassins were forbidden from entering through an ancient charm, leaving these as my only hope.

Despite the shadow it’d cast over my entire life and that of my ancestors, I actually knew little about the curse or its origins. The mystery had haunted me my entire life. I hoped that by delving into the curse’s origins I’d be able to discover how to break it so I could finally escape the shadowy chains that had trapped me and my family for so long.

I’d spent years searching every book on curses I could get my hands on, but I’d never discovered anything even remotely resembling our family’s supernatural masters. These shadow wardens remained determinedly silent, never betraying any hint about their origins, leading me to finally conclude that the only means of extracting information would be to seek it from the source that could only be found in the palace records room containing every contract throughout Estoria’s vast history.

Past research had informed me that these records were buried in the deepest section of the forbidden tomes. I made my way past the towering shelves, drawn by my desperation for answers despite my reservations about drifting farther from the princess. Our having used the room’s sole key to enter and lock the door behind us offered me some assurance of her safety, but I remained uneasy.

The shadows stirred restlessly, silent watchmen lurking in every corner that would make it impossible for my actions to escape their notice. I feared their retribution once they realized what I was up to, but I couldn’t sacrifice my last opportunity to discover the truth about the curse. Whatever consequence I’d be forced to pay would be well worth the lives I’d save by forever freeing my family from the shadows’ clutches.

At the back stood stacks of cabinets filled with files, sorted in alphabetical order for convenience, where I found three contracts under my family name. I passed those bequeathing my ancestors our land and title and settled on the document I’d spent the entirety of my doomed life seeking: the contract forged between a previous king of Estoria and my ancestor, Gadreel. It appeared blank, its contents hidden beneath a layer of magic that could only be viewed by the touch of a descendent.

Upon seeing it, the shadows’ restlessness immediately grew into an encircling cloud, but their efforts to stop me came too late. A single touch was all it took for me to tumble into the memory preserved within the contract. The world around me faded before rearranging itself to form the vast, gilded throne room where one of Estoria’s earliest kings sat on a raised dais.

His greying temples testified he was getting on in years, while the man standing before him was the embodiment of youth. I recognized my ancestor from the portrait that hung in several rooms of our estate, a memorial honoring the first assassin under the Shadow name.

His features could also be found scattered across the portraits filling our gallery of his descendants…including the shape and color of his dark brown eyes that I saw every time I looked in the mirror, a resemblance I constantly cursed. Something ominous lurked within his expression as he faced his monarch that no mixture of paint had been able to reproduce on the canvas.

Though the king appeared the embodiment of calm, his white-knuckled grip clutched the armrests of his throne, betraying the tension choking the room. “Who told you about the assassin shadows?”

Gadreel’s responding smile was as sinister as the shadows slinking around the chamber. “Their existence was admittedly carefully hidden within the legends I perused, but once I knew what to look for, it wasn’t difficult piecing the clues together. All the magic within the kingdom derives from the Estorian throne…which would include curses. Tell me, what is the price to obtain the shadows’ infamous power?”

The king set his jaw. “Such dark magic is under the protection of the royal family, and no price would compel me to give it to anyone.”

“Not even for, say…half of my remaining life bestowed upon you? My research revealed that the nature of the curse makes such bargains entirely possible, if both parties are in agreement.”

The king’s mouth fell agape, rendered speechless by such an absurd offer. Gadreel smirked.

“I see that you’re tempted.”

“Certainly not. What kind of monarch would I be if I was tempted by such a selfish offer?” But the king’s indignant resolve wavered, betraying the lie he was undoubtedly desperate to keep hidden.

“What kind of king would you be if you ignored it?” Gadreel asked smoothly. “It’d be in Estoria’s best interests if you outlived your son, a man unfit to be heir. But unfortunately, his time to reign is soon at hand due to the heart condition rumors whisper you possess.”

“Who told you about—” the king began, but Gadreel talked over him.

“What concern is it to you what my family does with the shadows’ magic for what you get in return? Think what you could do with several more decades of life. If you need additional persuasion, I also vow to serve as your figurative sword for the remainder of my days to dispatch any enemy that stands in your way, a promise my descendants will keep in my stead. It is a sacrifice I would gladly pay for the power it’ll bring my legacy.”

It seemed the desire to live beyond the steady approach of death was too persuasive against even the most noble of intentions. I watched in horror as the deal was struck and my ancestor sold his own soul—along with those of his descendants forced to follow in his bloody footsteps—in order to obtain the shadows’ power. The moment the deal was struck, the shadows filling the throne room that had been waiting impatiently in the wings slunk across the marble floor to greet their new master.

And my family had been their prisoners ever since.

I could only stare in disbelief as these horrific events unfolded, even as I struggled to process the unexpected revelations the vision had revealed:my family had cursed themselves.

This entire time I’d been led to believe that the curse was the royal family’s fault after my ancestors had somehow fallen out of their favor, a crime which had forced us to serve as their blade for centuries before we’d eventually established enough independence to forge our assassin house. So to discover that this entire timewe’dbeen the ones who’d initially sought such a doomed contract…

My head spun with this revelation, but even through my shock I’d seen enough to understand the reason why the curse had likely chosen the princess as its next target. Outside the formal requests brought to our assassin house, the shadows’ targets chosen to quench their insatiable appetites were always those who’d get in the way of their sinister goals.

Though I didn’t know the reason the shadows sought her life, I could think of no worse threat than the descendent of the monarch who’d doomed my family to such a curse; eliminating her would end any possibility the royal family would break the contract and take back the dark magic that gave us our power, leaving our family no way out from this cycle of blood and murder.

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