Page 41 of The Assassin's Promise
“Roya…” I began, feeling a sudden rush of shame. She thought I was a good man, yet I had taken Thorn in for a bounty.
“Little queen?”
Suddenly, she was gone. “Thorn?” She hovered over the thin bunk, her eyes skating over the wounded man’s body. She pulled back the sheet, and blanched at the number of bandages, many of which were blood-stained already. “Thorn, you’re safe. We’ve been rescued by the captain of a ship.”
“Don’t... trust,” he said. My stomach lurched and I wanted to slit his throat for the way Roya’s eyes grew shadowed.
“Of course not,” she whispered. “You taught me better than that.” The corner of her lip turned up. “Never forget, I know six ways to kill a man with nothing but wire.”
“S-seven,” he rasped.
She grabbed the water and lifted it to his lips. “Ah, yes. Wadding it into a ball and choking him with it. That’s number seven.” Her eyes sparkled with tears that never fell, but the love that shone from her every move humbled me.
It gutted me. My sky bond was as deeply in love with this man as she could be. “Shit,” I mumbled, trying to think what to do. I couldn’t collect a bounty on him. She would never forgive me.
My head ached with all the problems I’d inherited in the past day. I needed time to think. Suddenly, a few days’ rest stop on the small island sounded better and better. Maybe more than a few.
I left the two of them there and raced back up on deck, relieving Whistler and changing course.
“You sure about this? You know Talon expects us in port in four or five days. He’ll send someone looking.”
“No, I’m not sure,” I snapped, knowing far too well what my brother might do. He had been waiting for a reason to force me to come back ashore and suffer even more for my imagined crime. For all I knew, the errand to pick up Roya might have ended with me in chains in his dungeon. I had been shocked to hear he was inviting another woman to Wyngel. From the rumors I’d heard from Shahaf—the only one of my crew who wasn’t exiled—Talon hadn’t shown any interest in women in years. I wasn’t sure I believed it; he had earned a reputation for being a ladies’ man before his first, disastrous marriage.
I hadn’t believed Roya would truly be an Omega when I set sail for Havira, but I had hoped if Talon accepted her, he would soften. Be happily mated, though a normal woman would not be able to bear his young.
But an Omega would. Roya could birth wyverns, something no Beta woman could ever accomplish. My wyvern roared in my mind. She would bearouryoung, bringourbabes into the world to fly with us. I breathed through my nose, fighting the urge to launch myself into the sky for a mating flight.
I would have to face Talon and tell him she was mine. There was no way I would give her to him, even if it meant committing treason and running away with her. I turned the wheel and let my gaze follow the horizon to where I hoped to find peace for a few days before I bearded the dragon in its den. We would stay as long as we could, then go to Talon.
Because if we didn’t, he would come for us, and he wouldn’t send anyone. He’d come looking himself.
ICARUS
Two days later, we were out of stew and bread, and down to boiling jerky for broth when Torio shouted, “Land!”
I heard Roya’s answer—“Thank the Goddess!”—from the cabin where she had been spending every hour attending to Thorn. She was a fair nurse, even though he’d insisted on Kavin’s help with his bodily functions.
I’d joked about it being a great excuse to get her hands on Thorn’s cock, and he and Kavin had both eviscerated me with their glares. “She’s an innocent,” Thorn had growled. “Keep those thoughts to yourself.”
That had both shocked me and made my wyvern wheel with joy. She hadn’t accepted any of these Alphas yet. I still had a chance to be her only mate.
In less than an hour, all seven of us were on deck as we approached the island. Kavin held Thorn in his arms; the spy had insisted on leaving the cabin, though it still hurt to look at him. I’d seen scars from previous injuries—from torture, was my guess—so I knew he was tough.
Kavin, like young men do, had healed entirely, save some peeling skin on his nose and shoulders, and had also turned out to be a very competent seaman, faster on the rigging than even Whistler.
Prince Altair was looking better, too, though he was partly to blame for the fast depletion of our rations. He apologized, but I knew he hadn’t eaten enough for years, and Torio and I gave up our hard bread and salted meat in turn for him.
“You’re all fast healers,” I said as I passed them, taking in their improved condition. “That’s good. There are two huts on the island. We’ll leave Thorn inside the larger of those today.”
Thorn sent me a look that promised a long and lingering death. I fought not to shudder; even half-dead, the man was terrifying.
“The rest of us will hunt and gather fruit. Whistler, you and Altair collect water from the spring in the island’s center. Take the small barrels. I’ll go with Roya to get coconuts. Torio, you and Kavin want to see if you can find us a pork loin for dinner?”
“Yessir,” Torio answered. Kavin shot a longing glance at Roya, who rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Captain,” she mocked, leaning against the rail. Her cloak covered almost every inch of her, so her skin was healing from the abuse it had taken in the water. I was glad she had the garment, but my wyvern wanted to throw it into the ocean. It hid far too much of her, even her expressions. Half the time when I spoke to her, I couldn’t tell if she was listening intently or taking a nap.
Torio and Whistler weighed anchor, and we took a dinghy through the sharp coral reef that protected the small island from the worst of the waves. In no time, we were wading through the knee-deep turquoise surf to the warm sand.
