Crimson Warrior (Onyx Assassins 3)

I followed Benedict and Hawke, heading for the closest set of stairs that would lead us up to the residence. We took them two at a time, anxiety amping up the tension so thick we could have climbed it like a fucking rope.

What the hell could have gone wrong, now?

16

Olivia

“That’s strange,” Avi said as she, Katya, and I headed back to the chamber.

The Hunters were likely an hour away from awakening and as we’d just discussed, Avi’s blood was the one thing that would help set their awakening at ease. Royal blood would have them submitting calmly enough for us to assess if there were any deficiencies that had appeared during stasis…like going mad with bloodlust.

“I thought the guards would’ve been back by now?” she asked, eying the vacant entrance to the chamber where the Assassins had just been led out. The guards had followed closely on their heels, likely to ensure they left as they were supposed to and didn’t linger anywhere else.

My instincts prickled with awareness as I surveyed the area.

“I’m sure that hulking brute of an assassin is giving them a lesson on how to properly protect you, Princess,” Katya said, waving off both Avi’s and my concerned stare. “He takes his job very, very seriously, if that intense stare of his is any indication.”

I furrowed my brow—Hawke’s lethal loyalty to Avi couldn’t be contested, but the guards not returning instantly set my teeth on edge. “Something isn’t right,” I said, my lungs tightening. I turned toward the entrance, halting at the sight of four looming shadows just outside the doorway.

“Zorin?” I said his name like a question, positioning myself between him, his guards, and the interior chamber.

He glanced behind me, noting Avianna hurrying to my side, and my sister lingering near the Hunters, oblivious to the unexpected company. “You weren’t supposed to be here,” he said, sighing as if he’d just found a fly in his evening cup of blood. “I can’t believe those idiots would leave females behind to watch the ancients.”

“You’re not permitted here,” I said, my voice calm, my mind already calculating the dozen ways I could subdue the aristocrat if he made the wrong move.

“I’m permitted everywhere,” he said, shifting his face to a more formal mask I knew well. “Your mother said—”

“You’re mistaken,” I cut him off. “You and your guards need to leave. Now.”

“Our mistake,” he said, but made no move to leave. I inhaled deeply, trying like hell to cool those fighting instincts raging within me…

His scent. I could smell it on him.

My eyes flared. “You,” I whispered.

He sucked his teeth as he shook his head. “I wondered which of you had detected the poison,” he said. “Impressive, really, since I was told it was too rare to be recognizable.”

I shifted my feet into a defensive stance. “Sorry to disappoint you, Lord Zorin,” I practically hissed.

He wagged a finger at me. “No need for posturing,” he said.

“Why do this? They’re our kind—”

“Our kind have a way of betraying each other at whims, it seems,” he cut me off. Gone was the formal mask he donned in public and in its place?

Hate.

And his eyes were on Avi.

“The king chose a human over my daughter. That was the second I knew our so-called race was doomed. He spit on tradition, as does everyone in this royal family.” He curled his lips at Avianna, showing his fangs.

I stepped toward him, the three guards behind him bristling. I spared half a thought to where my mother’s royal guards had gone, what had happened to them, but with the rage coming off of Zorin and his crew? It certainly wasn’t hard to guess.

“Touch me,” Zorin said. “And I’ll kill her slowly,” he threatened. “I’ve thought of a dozen ways to do it, too,” he said, a vicious smirk on his face. “First, I’ll hit Alek where it hurts with his beloved sister, a far cry from what a princess should be. Then, I’ll delight in ripping his new queen’s immortality from her bones.”

Anger simmered in my blood, threatening to send me in to act-first, think-later mode. I made myself pause, but not because of his threats. I needed him to see the submissive lady-in-waiting my father always saw. I needed those precious moments to formulate a plan.

One breath.

I could shove him through the single open entryway. He and his guards had yet to make it fully inside the chamber…but I couldn’t seal it from the inside, that took four of my bloodline. But sealing it from the outside only took one.

Two breaths.

Zorin had betrayed his own kind. He’d tried to kill the oldest and strongest among us, and had just threatened my princess’s and my queen’s lives. His intentions were clearly premeditated and calculated. If he escaped, he’d wait for the right opportunity to try and strike again.