Secrets of the Crown Assassins

11

TRYSHA DAYHOLT

Trysha Dayholt never played by the rules. It always drove her brother insane.

"Assassins should fight in the light," Chance said. "That's what we're taught and trained to do. Fight loud and unabashedly. If we started fighting in the dark like Streeters then what would that make us?"

"Intelligent assassins. Living assassins. Assassins who would do something no other has done—kill the Crowns and upend the entirety of the Concordian government," she told him.

"We wouldn't be the first. Someone's killed a Crown Fortier before."

"But those are just rumors."

"You told me there is truth to every rumor."

"And if the rumor is true, then that someone simply inherited the last name and continued to rule as a Crown would. They didn't destroy the Concorde. They didn't make them pay for their mistakes. We will."

Chance just shook his head. "The Crowns ruled for two hundred years. They will rule for many more."

But still, he followed her. He listened to her every word as she convinced him to kill the assassins, one by one in silence. He killed numerous assassins, working his way up, letting the High Court and the Crowns unravel themselves as they scrambled to keep their legacies safe. He believed her when she said she would attack Indigo Fluor in the dark and pretend to retreat so the Crowns let her and Axe free from their suspicions and punishments. He trusted her. She got him killed.

And she wasn't even there when it happened. Instead of her, the very friends Chance looked to save were the ones that fell trying to protect him. Chance was dead. Axe was dead. Indigo was missing or dead.

Axe was just as much a younger brother to her as Chance was, and Indigo was Chance's real sister. Which meant she was Trysha's little sister. All of them were family and the Crowns killed them all. They wrote Axe off as suicidal. They marked her baby brother a traitor and threw him off Cressida, making sure his body shattered on impact so that they may never have a proper burial. They called her parents traitors for their children's mistakes and tortured them—reveling in their pain and playing their shouts and cries on loudspeakers for the whole city to hear—and only when they begged for death did the Crowns give it.

Every death stung. But Trysha knew she wasn't at fault. Not entirely.

She may have led her brother astray in his path for revenge, but it was the Crowns who shot a bullet through his head. They were the ones who killed an entire family and toddler to mask their infidelity.

Maybe Trysha should've owned up and died fighting by her parents' sides as repentance for her crimes. But she needed to make sure the Crowns paid for theirs. She'll be punished for her sins after death, but right now, she was alive. She intended to make the most of it.

Trysha rounded the corner, hanging her head, her hood drawn over her face. Assassins didn't normally journey to this side of the city, but a Streeter bold enough to claim the reward money could always sell her whereabouts.

Of course, Trysha could destroy anyone who came in her way even though she had to abandon her preferred weapon—a wide-range chained mace—so as to not be recognized. She was a Rank 4 Alpha during her time on the Crowns, and she wasn't even raised an assassin. She would have people dead, on the ground, with only the pocket knife hidden up her sleeve. But, she had a task to complete to achieve her end goal, and causing a massacre would only hinder her progress.

Placing her hands in her pockets, she felt the note she found waiting for her on the kitchen counter.

Meet behind the building of the following address. The Raven Ruler will communicate with you.

Underneath the address was their quickly drawn symbol—a Raven in flight, majestic wings spread wide, red eyes gleaming, a blue-gemmed golden bracelet in its beak referring to the Crowns being in the Ravens' grasp.

Trysha left immediately. She left the Ravens after Chance's death and went into hiding, but they made the effort to seek her out, which meant they found her a valuable part of their plan to overthrow the Crowns.

Without slowing, she followed the instructions scrawled across the note. She passed a wall with their symbol spray-painted into the brick and finally, after one last turn, reached her destination.

The alley was a dead-end and out of the way. It was empty and nearly spotless, save for a few pieces of trash which unknowingly drifted into the alley and were trapped by its walls. Trysha made her way to the center of the alley and waited a few moments, dead silent until she grew impatient.

"Hello?" she called. "I was under the impression that we would be speaking, not just standing around."

There was another moment of silence until there was a breezy sound behind her. She turned to find a wrapped up scroll of paper fall to the ground from a metal pipe. After a moment's hesitation, Trysha picked up the note and unraveled it to reveal the message scripted across the note.

Trysha Dayholt. How nice it is to finally communicate with you directly.

Trysha looked up at where the pipe twisted into the building a few dozen feet above her.

"And here I thought we would be talking face to face," she muttered under her breath.

There was a moment until another paper slid out.

You must earn that privilege.

There was no way they could hear from that high. They must've placed speakers around the alley.

"How?" Trysha asked.

Another note came sliding down.

Your family was murdered by the Crowns. You're a very skilled assassin and have proven your use during your previous time with us. We think we could greatly benefit from your skills. Do you still want revenge?

Trysha didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Another note.

Then you must complete one task. Further information will be provided in the future when it's time. Succeeding will grant you knowledge of my identity. Will you do anything? Anything at all?

Trysha nodded. One last note came sliding down and Trysha sucked in a sharp breath when she read the words.

Kidnap Eveleen Fluor and bring her to us.

Trysha stood for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. "Eveleen Fluor?"

Are you ready to follow through?

Trysha hesitated. Eveleen was technically family, but she tried to kill Indigo as a child. She was a monster, just like the Crowns.

"I am," she proclaimed, her voice carrying strong through the breeze.

Good. Let us begin.

Apologies for the super short chapter. I haven't been feeling well these past few days and my brain just feels a bit foggy and I have like no idea what I'm doing. So, I was planning on writing a different chapter, but I try something I've never done before in that one and I really didn't want to publish it without really good editing which I feel my brain isn't capable of at the moment. This chapter was supposed to be published about a chapter or two later, but it works perfectly fine here, so here it is!

Hope you enjoyed it! Don't worry, you'll get a really... "nice" chapter next ;)