Page 31 of Seven Ways to Kill a King
She was only a maid. They thought they could take her. But Myrina of Stormskeep was no maid. She hadn’t run at his warning call. Instead, she’d turned and moved back toward the soldiers in their momentary distraction. A scarf was suddenly over her face, a blade in her hand.
Cass moved, too, but the kingsmen had drawn up on her. They hadn’t realized they’d walked into a trap.
Don’t kill them,Cass wanted to call, but he held his tongue and instead drove the hilt of his sword down hard on the base of a kingsman’s neck. He staggered forward, and Cass followed, shoving the man to the ground.
Miri crouched low, her dagger hand ready. The guard muttered a curse and reached for her, as if to knock the weapon away. Miri’s other hand slammed into his chin, knocking his head back, and she reset and followed with a solid blow to the nose.
Cass hit the back of the third guard’s knee an instant before his forearm was pressed against the kingsman’s neck. There was a short, grunting shuffle as the first two rose and were batted down again. Miri produced a rope from somewhere and tossed it to Cass. He looped it around one guard’s wrists as she swung a brutal kick into the side of another’s head. She yanked off her belt, threw it at Cass, and shoved a sword away from the third guard with her foot.
Cass made quick work of the second’s wrists as Miri pulled a vial from her waist.
He caught her gaze and gave her a look.
“It’s not permanent.”
That was all she said before she pressed a soaked cloth over their noses. Cass’s eyes watered against the fumes, but he dragged the bodies behind a wall of crates. Gods, they’d been in an open alley, in plain view. It was beyond foolish.
Miri tossed the cloak into a bin at the opposite wall of the alley then checked the end of the street. No one had seemed to notice. Or possibly a hundred kingsmen were on their way.
They moved a few crates to block the pile of men, then Miri glanced at Cass.What do we do?her look seemed to say.
“We get through the outer gates. Now.”
* * *
“We have to go,”Cass hissed. He’d argued against going back to the inn, but Miri had threatened him with blood. She was impossible and unbearable, and he would not stand for watching her be killed. “The moment they realize their rogue maid is not inside the castle walls—” It would be too late. They would all be done for.
Miri jerked her shift from inside the mattress, glaring up at him. “I know. They’ll close the main gate.”
He glared at the garment in her fisted hand, remembering all the times she’d reached for her hem. “You have to tell me, Miri. If you’re caught, if you end up dead—” He bit down the words but didn’t look away. “There is a sorcerer within these city walls. If we lose you, nothing will stop the remaining queensguard from moving on the kings.” They would attempt a rescue of Lettie and give everything in a final attempt.
He could see Miri understood. She knew it meant they would all die.
“I need to know,” he said quietly. “I need you to tell me.”
Miri’s hands shook. They did not have time for this and needed to escape. The kingsmen had seen Cass. They would be searching for a maid Miri’s size and possibly a man of Cass’s.
He realized his hands were on Miri’s, and he drew back, glaring at the straw mattress.
She shifted nearer and said, her words no more than a whisper, “Why can you not even look at me?” There was hurt in her tone and concern that she’d somehow done everything wrong.
But Cass’s answer slipped angrily free before he could rein it in. “Because I like looking at you.” Expression hard, he forced himself to face her. “And that’s something I shouldn’t.”
Miri did not move. Her entire being had gone terribly still. Her voice was all air when she asked, “Shouldn’tdoor shouldn’tlike?”
Cass’s fingers curled into fists. “Either.” He snapped the fists open. “Both.” He turned, moving to peer out the window. He hated that he’d said it and that he’d had to move away.
Behind him, Miri said, “I like looking at you too.”
Cass felt his shoulders drop.Of all the things she might have said.“That only makes it worse.”
Miri moved closer. “I’ve never told. Not anyone.”
When Cass turned, her gaze was cast down. He let it stay there and only stood before her, inches separating them as Miri breathed her confession.
“Mother had been reading, and I had fallen asleep. She’d left me there, though I should have been in my rooms, like Lettie. When I woke, Henry was already covered in blood. He was saying something, grabbing at her. His hands were so tight. I remember his knuckles going white, snowdrop pale in the midst of all that rose-red blood. I didn’t even listen. I couldn’t even hear. I only stared.”
Miri’s arms wrapped around her middle, and Cass could almost feel the heat of Henry’s warning.
