Read Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel Online

Authors: Amanda Bonilla

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Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel (7 page)

BOOK: Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel
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I could almost see the flames shooting out of the top of Anya’s head, but I didn’t care. Now that Tyler was safely off the premises, I could talk to Xander however I damn well pleased. “So, what should I call you?” I wondered aloud, pushing her a little further. “Your Highness, King Alexander, or”—I dropped my voice a few decibels—“can I call you
Xander
?”
That did it. She tackled me before I could even crack a grin.
I knew she’d go for the bait. Anya’s reaction didn’t disappoint as she plowed into me and knocked me backward. I dissolved, and her face met the floor, sounding a lot like a melon dropped from a two-story balcony. Without giving her time to react, I reappeared, standing over her dazed and startled form.
I hadn’t been prepared to fight, and I was really pissed that I’d dressed up, because I couldn’t kick anything while I wore the tight white skirt. I braced my legs apart and the seams ripped, giving me movement above the knee. While I still had the upper hand, I brought my high-heeled foot up in the air and stomped down on Anya with lightning speed. She was fast and rolled to the side, but despite her best effort to evade me, my heel made contact with her leather-clad back before she vanished into mist.
Fool, Darian. You should’ve at least brought a dagger
. Moreover, I longed for my saber, because even though I knew it wouldn’t kill her, I would have liked to have sliced through her midsection. She would have been laid up for a couple of days, and the mere thought made me smile.
Anya appeared behind me, and before I could turn to face her, she gave a sharp kick square to the middle of my back. I flung off the damn heels and spun like a top, swinging my fist and making contact with her jaw before she could evade the punch.
I hadn’t fought anyone so fast in a long time, and though I was certainly rusty, it came back to me in surprisingly quick degrees. A good, long exchange of jabs and kicks—on her part—followed. I could only imagine what we must have looked like—two shadows shifting and blowing in a nonexistent breeze, becoming solid only long enough to strike a blow.
Anya drew her dagger and I knew she was finally tired of dicking around. I was unarmed, and though it didn’t make for a fair fight, I would have done the exact same thing if I’d been in her position.
She took a couple of wild swings, missing me by miles. Retaliating, I turned into a wisp of nothingness, reappeared behind her, and swiped the back of my fist against her head. But I wasn’t used to fighting an equal, and she vanished and moved to the side of me before I could react. She swept the dagger in a downward motion and I heard it rip through my blouse, felt the blade slice into my skin. Blood issued from the wound and drew her attention from the fight.
Liquid fire burned from the cut, oozing down my side, and my anger blossomed into full-fledged rage. I used the opportunity to unleash the force of hate-fueled strength on her pretty face. My fist made contact and her nose popped as the cartilage broke. Blood spewed from her nostrils and splattered across my face and the once-pristine white blouse.
In an action too fast to see, I pulled back again, determined to break her jaw with the blow. As I moved to throw the punch, my progress stalled as a hand squeezed mine with such strength that my own seemed like a child’s in comparison.
Screaming, I allowed the fury to scald all the way up my throat. I wanted nothing more than to beat that high-and-mighty bitch to a pulp. I fought against the hold on me, and even though I shifted into my shadow form, the figure held me still.
A strong arm wrapped around my waist, and Xander’s velvet voice spoke in my ear. “You’ve made your point.”
“What in the
hell
is this about?” I screeched through clenched teeth.
I twisted and fought, but he tightened his grip until he had me sandwiched against his body. Heat poured from his skin. His scent swam in my head. Intoxicated by his nearness, my anger abated.
His grip tightened despite the fact that I’d quit struggling. Anya stood, wiping blood from her face, giving me a look that should have killed me without the aid of a magic blade. Her eyes darted to her king, and she went down on a knee.
Oh, how I wanted to kick her while she bowed. But in my pencil skirt it wouldn’t have been very effective, ripped seams or not. I’d have my chance, though, and the next time it would be her turn to taste my steel.
“Anya, you are the most loyal of all my subjects.” The sound of his voice, coupled with his warm breath in my ear, caused a shiver to trace down my spine. “But now you should tend to your wounds and leave me with our guest.”
“But, my liege,” Anya said, her head snapping to attention.
I rolled my eyes.
Ugh
.
“No,” Xander commanded.
Anya bobbed her head, looking a little like a goose. I made sure to give her a superior glower before she vanished into shadow.
“If I let you go, will you behave?” he asked when we were alone.
I relaxed completely, and by slow degrees, his grip loosened. When at last he pulled away, he let his fingers linger against me, pulling back from my stomach, around my waist, to my back. I didn’t appreciate these games, and rather than turn to meet his eyes, I dissolved and reappeared to face him.
He’d done a little vanishing act of his own and was seated in his throne by the time I became my solid self.
“Why am I here?” I asked, my voice echoing in the empty building.
“I need your services,” he said simply, as if he were commenting on the weather.
That was laughable. He looked like he had plenty of help from his red-leather girlfriend.
“I don’t know what you have in mind,” I said, deciding that puckish was the attitude I was going for, “but some of my services aren’t for sale.”
He erupted into a round of robust laughter that only sparked my ire. “Although I’m sure it would be worth every penny,” he crooned, “that is not the service I’m after. You have been called to serve your king. In fact, you’ve been paid in advance, if I’m not mistaken,” he continued in a much more formal tone. “And you must obey.”
Obey.
Another word that didn’t exist in my vocabulary. “You’re not
my
king,” I reminded him.
His eyes took on that thoughtful look again, as if he were contemplating the fate of the world. “You are very ignorant, Darian.”
I raised my chin a notch.
He ignored my show of indignation and continued. “Your maker failed you, left you alone and believing there were no others in this world but you. You know nothing of your people, your true nature and skills. You are lost.”
If I’d raised my chin any higher, I would have been looking at the ceiling. I stared right through him, neither acknowledging nor ignoring his words.
I’d always believed I was alone.
I’d taught myself how to fight, how to survive, how to
be
.
I’d never needed others of my kind to give me a sense of who I was.
And if Xander thought he could march in and change my entire universe with a snap of his royal fingers . . .
“I know you hear my words,” he said like a father to a stubborn child, “and you have much to learn. But know that you
are
summoned to
your
king’s service, and you
will
do the job I have
paid
you to do. You may go, and we will speak again.”
I stood, gaping for a moment at his casual dismissal, before I turned my back with neither a bow nor a word of parting. Throbbing heat pulsed from the gash in my side, and I drew in shallow breaths to control my anger as much as the pain. I refused to show Xander any weakness. With a sweeping motion, I retrieved my soiled shoes, walked with as much dignity as if I were myself a queen, and pulled open the heavy metal door.
“Darian,” Xander, the King of Shaedes, called from across the building.
I paused, halfway out the door.
“I enjoyed watching you tonight.”
I passed into shadow and became one with the night.
Chapter 5
 
T
yler was waiting up for me like a dad on his daughter’s first date. He paced the small space of my living room like a caged animal, one hand raking through his hair, the other clutching a beer. A dark expression clouded his handsome face as he picked up his pace and the amber brew sloshed around in the bottle. His cheeks puffed out as he exhaled a great gust, and he muttered a curse under his breath. When I stepped into view, he stopped dead in his tracks, relief showing in the way his shoulders suddenly sagged.
Dead on my feet and pissed to boot, I wanted nothing more than to discard my bloodied clothes and tend to my wound, which had already begun to heal.
“Hey—” He cut off when he caught sight of my blood-spattered and torn shirt.
Great
. “What the hell happened?” he demanded, rushing toward me with an urgency that didn’t exactly mesh with the moment. “Did they hurt you? I never should have left you there alone. Damn it!” His hands balled up in tight fists at his side, and the muscle at his jaw ticked. The anger rising from his body was so intense I could smell it, and I fought my own reaction to his protective attitude. To think of him worrying about me in that way sent a warm tingle through my body that made itself at home in the traitorous nerves below my waist.
He surged forward in a rush, his face flushed with rage. “Don’t,” I commanded, holding him at arm’s length. “I’m fine; the wound’s already healing. Don’t go all mushy and try to take care of me.”
“What happened?” he asked.
“I sort of picked a fight.”
His expression softened, but only a little. “Wow, that’s really out of character for you. The dominatrix?”
His little attempt at sarcasm put a smile on my face, and I had to admit I was grateful for the levity. “I broke her nose.” Despite his outrage, Tyler knew I was no delicate flower. In fact, once he’d said that I could probably take on an entire company of Navy SEALs and kill them before they knew I was there. He was right, of course.
He wanted details, but I wasn’t saying anything until I’d cleaned up. “I need to shower,” I said. “But answer me one question first. Did you know he wasn’t human when you set up the job?”
“No,” he answered, dead serious. When it came to business, Ty didn’t mess around, and I trusted him.
“Okay. That’s all I needed to know.” I started toward the bathroom, unbuttoning my shirt as I went. Ty’s gaze burned a hole in my back, but I didn’t dare turn around unless I wanted a repeat performance of his earlier ardor. I didn’t know how I felt about what he’d done or how I’d reacted, but I wasn’t ready to think about it.
I took a quick, screaming-hot shower. The gash left by Anya’s knife looked a little worse than I’d expected, but the wound puckered where the skin had begun to fuse. It hadn’t completely closed up yet, but the flesh looked healthy and clean. Soon there wouldn’t even be a scar left to betray the injury.
After toweling off, I stepped into my robe and ventured out to check on Ty. He was asleep on my couch.
Convenient.
I was about to kick him out and send him on his way, but he looked so peaceful. I stood over him for a minute and found my thoughts drifting to how he’d look in the morning, with the sun’s first light on his resting face. I snapped to and realized I was obviously exhausted and delirious. So I left him alone, and, slipping out of the robe, slid between my cool sheets and let the warm air of my apartment lull me into a much-deserved slumber.
 
“Darian.”
Cool breath trickled over my cheek. I didn’t try to make myself wake up.
A hand brushed at my hair, sweeping it away from my forehead. A deep sigh and another wash of cool air. “Darian.”
The whispered voice spoke more clearly, and fingers traced over my bare arm, up and around my shoulder, grazing the skin at my collarbone. Shivering from the skin-on-skin contact, I rolled onto my back to give those fingers a wider canvas to paint on. This was a dream I didn’t want to wake from. Lips brushed my forehead, tracing a line down my temple to my jawline. I arched my back, and my nipples hardened as my breasts strained against the sheet. A sharp intake of breath that wasn’t mine brought me to awareness. I wasn’t dreaming and I wasn’t alone in my bed.
Tyler.
Even if I wanted him close, it couldn’t happen now. My life had taken an unexpected turn down a dangerous road. I couldn’t risk Tyler’s safety. A new world unraveled around me—and he had become a liability by association. I could hope Xander would leave him alone. But I couldn’t be sure. Whether I wanted it or not, distance was what we both were going to get. He needed to be taught a lesson, and I was more than happy to oblige him. I feigned a languid stretch with the arm not anchored by Ty’s fingers and absently slipped my hand beneath the pillow. My fingers found the hilt of the dagger and I paused, waiting for the right moment. I didn’t want to kill him, after all; I just wanted to reaffirm some boundaries.
Bending low, he took a huge whiff of my hair. Seriously—
smelling
my hair. I sensed him shift on the bed, straightening, and I struck.
BOOK: Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel
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