Royal Assassin

“Both. Everything.” I conceded it all suddenly. “Please, Chade, if one more person I care about becomes angry with me, I don’t think I shall be able to bear it.” I lifted my head and looked at him steadily until he was forced to meet my eyes.

He lifted a hand to scratch at his beard. “It has been a long summer for both of us. Pray El for storms to drive the Red-Ships away forever.”

We sat a time in silence.

“Sometimes,” Chade observed, “it would be much easier to die for one’s King than to give one’s life to him.”

I bowed my head in assent. The rest of the night we spent preparing the poisons I would need in order to begin killing for my King again.

18 Elderlings