Page 43 of Sword of Desire
She set her fork down and folded her hands together. “I stumbled into my cousin’s office. I ended up standing there thinking about him.” A version of the truth since his door had been the only one left open.
“He would have made a terrible king,” Lyle responded. “He was too disorganized and had his father’s propensities.”
She tried not taking offense to that.
“Did you do anything else?”
She considered every section of the castle she’d been in today. “Yes.” She took another bite of food to stall. “I went to the guest wing. To the room we stayed in when we came for Oriana’s birthday party.” Tears threatened just saying Oriana’s name out loud.
“Why did you go there?” he demanded.
“To gather my possessions that were in there. I had a few dresses and trinkets.” The room was close enough to the one she’d hidden the sword and letters in that Lyle shouldn’t question her story.
“Oh.” His brows furrowed and he took a drink from his goblet, as if trying to think of what to say next.
Harley rarely threw him off, and he hadn’t expected that answer. Taking another bite, she forced the food down. She would need her strength to do what needed to be done tonight. Ackley had briefly shown her where to strike a man in the neck to kill him. There would be a lot of blood. Lyle would awaken and realize what she’d done. Her stomach rolled with nausea. She was going to kill a man. And there was no room for error. No hesitation. Or she would be the one to die.
But if she succeeded, she would single-handedly save her kingdom and countless lives.
Ackley had faith in her—otherwise he wouldn’t have given her his sword.
A seed of doubt crept in. Ackley had said the best assassin was the one sleeping next to the target. Even though he’d sent her there to kill Lyle, surely he didn’t intend for her to be a whore. Or had he? To get close to Lyle, she had to sleep with him. Ackley knew that; yet, it didn’t seem like he hesitated to send her on this assignment. Maybe he didn’t care for her the way she cared for him. Because if she knew he had to share another woman’s bed, it would drive her mad.
Since the last person she’d been with was Ackley, she didn’t know how she could be with Lyle again. If this had happened back in Penlar, before she’d met Ackley, it wouldn’t have been a big deal since she shared a bed with Lyle nightly and didn’t know any different. However, here in this castle, they had separate rooms. Plus, she’d made up that lie about sleeping with Ledger in order to buy herself time so she wouldn’t have to sleep with Lyle right away.
“Is something wrong?” Lyle asked, his deep voice cutting through the room.
She almost dropped her fork. “No,” she lied, forcing a smile on her face.
His eyes narrowed, sensing the lie.
“I’m sorry,” she said, wanting to punch him. “I was thinking about my brother.” Although she couldn’t physically hurt Lyle right now, she could use her words to inflict pain—just like he did to her.
It was his turn to glance away. Even though Lyle hadn’t been the one to physically kill Hollis, he might as well have because his actions led to her brother’s death.
“We have a kingdom to run,” he said, staring at the wall. “Most of the towns are decimated. I’ve only found a handful untouched.” He turned the full force of his gaze on her. “We are working on getting food to those places. We must do more. We need to make sure our people have what they need to survive. I can’t be bogged down with the past. We must look forward.”
He’d chosen to sayour peoplefor a reason. He wanted her to buy into this idea of helping those less fortunate. That was why he took her to that town. He needed her compliant, sympathetic, and believing that they would be better rulers than the previous ones.
Her family.
He’d killed her family.
He’d allowed thousands to be slaughtered like farm animals to achieve his quest for power.
“Listen, Harley,” Lyle said, setting his fork down. “You must understand that—”
“That what?” That this had all been his father’s idea? Even if it had been Commander Beck’s plan, Lyle had still gone along with it. He was equally responsible.
“Nothing.” He shook his head, then took another drink from his goblet. “I find my appetite seeking something besides food. Let’s retire for the night.”
Her heart pounded, and she froze. This was it. It was time to execute her plan. But doing so meant she had to sleep with Lyle. A man she loathed. She’d gone over it in her head a hundred times, trying to find a way to tolerate his touch. All she’d managed to come up with was that at the end of it all, when he fell asleep, she’d withdraw her sword and plunge it into his neck.
Tonight, Lyle would die.
* * *
After dressing in her nightgown, Harley looked in the mirror. Tonight would be the last time she had to endure Lyle’s touch. Once she killed him, her kingdom would be saved, and she would be truly free.
