Page 123 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

“Our leader went to find the Heir and never returned. One of the Kolbeck princes fought the rest of us through a maze in their garden to get to her,” Sven said, eyes on Bryn’s knife the entire time.

Bryn ran the tip of her blade over his collarbones as she continued to circle him.

“What else?”

“I pretended to be dead when their reinforcements arrived and then disappeared the same way I entered the city.”

“How did you get in?” Bryn stopped in front of the assassin.

His lips remained tightly shut. Bryn chuckled and straddled him, sitting on his lap with the point of her knife under his chin, tilting his face up to meet her cold gaze.

She knew what he was seeing: the Lieutenant General’s dead hazel eyes staring back at him, her smile full of malice.

“How did you get past the most heavily guarded border in our land,soldier?”

Sven swallowed, his almost black eyes taking in her threat hanging between them. He tugged against the bonds keeping him tied to the chair but found no give in them.

“I don’t know,” he said, voice shaking,

Bryntsk’dat his response and moved her knife so the tip caressed the side of his face. “You wouldn’t lie to one of your commanding officers, would you?”

“I swear,” Sven said quickly. “When we got to the suggested meeting place, the gates were open, and the guards were already slain.”

Shock rolled through Bryn, but she did not question further, unwilling to give away the fact that she wasn’t a part of the planning process to get them into Veter. Bryn kept her mask in place as she removed the knife from his face.

“Will you free me now?” Sven asked, feeling Bryn relax slightly on top of him.

She cocked her head and swallowed her disgust, plastering a soothing smile on her face.

“Of course.”

Before Sven could relax, Bryn ran her knife across the assassin's throat. His lifeblood spilled onto her lap in a rush, but Bryn felt nothing as she dove deep into herself, trying to mentally protect herself from what she had just done.

Gods, spare me, Bryn thought to herself as she stood and walked out of the cell, Sven’s blood staining the ground beneath her with every step.

A few hours later, the door to Bryn’s room slammed open and crashed against the wall, but she didn’t really acknowledge it as she tipped back the rest of the clear contents of her glass into her mouth.

“What the fuck, Bryn?”

Revna entered Bryn’s room and slammed the door shut, leaning her shield against the door.

“Please, come in,” Bryn slurred from her seat at the window as she waved a lazy hand.

“Bryn,” Revna said again, walking over to where she stood, staring out over the city. “What just happened down there?”

Bryn closed her eyes for a moment, but the room spun too violently. Stumbling into Revna’s arms, Bryn felt her world tip onto its side, the contents of her stomach following her.

She landed on her hands and knees, hurling everything she had eaten that night onto the carpet in her room. Revna, crouching next to her, brushed her copper hair back into her slender hands and murmured reassurances as Bryn emptied everything in her body.

When she finally stopped, Revna ushered her into the bathroom, stripping Bryn’s bloody uniform from her body and moving her into the copper tub. Slowly, Revna filled the tub with the standing buckets of water that had been left by the servants and coaxed Bryn into heating it.

She refused, choosing to shiver in the freezing water instead. Bryn brought her knees to her chest and lay her temple on her knee, eyes closed, unable to look at her lover.

“Haven’t you punished yourself enough?” Revna asked as she washed Bryn’s long locks.

Bryn’s aggressive shivering helped her clear her mind.

“N-no,” she responded, teeth chattering. There was no heat in her blood tonight, not after what she’d done.

---