An Assassin's Vow | A Beloved Novel

Chapter 1

Run.

The thought kept repeating itself over and over again, as if it wasn't obvious.

Run. Turn. He veered sharply to the left, cutting through an alley, his pursuer chasing after him. Jump. He launched himself over a fruit stand at the end of the narrow passageway, clutching his prize close.

Something clamped around his leg just above his ankle, pain searing through the limb. No! he cried silently in his mind, eyes widening with panic and despair. I was almost there! He crashed into the stand, wood cutting into his skin and ripping his clothing. The boy, no older than six or seven, clutched his treasure close to his chest, curling in on himself.

"Stupid boy!" a harsh voice growled. The burly man with the thick beard reached down, ripping the loaf of bread from the boy's hands as he tried in vain to reach up and snatch it back. "Steal from me again, and I'll let my dogs rip you apart!"

The man whistled, and the dog holding the boy's leg let go. Pain and heat flooded the wounded area. The man and his three dogs walked away, leaving the boy on the collapsed stand, the vendor shouting at him, the crowded street of people gathering close to see what the issue was.

"Tal!"

A woman's voice broke through the rising volume of the crowd. A delicate hand wrapped around Tal's arm, lifting him from the wreckage. The boy winced, crying out. The woman cursed in a language Tal didn't quite understand as she helped him off to the side. The vendor followed, still shouting and complaining. The woman helped Tal lean against the wall of a building, negotiating with the vendor. Tal watched as the woman shoved a worn brown coin bag into the vendor's hands; he finally walked away, counting the coins inside the bag.

The woman turned to Tal. "You stupid, stupid boy." She grabbed his arms, helping him down the road and behind a building. The street wasn't quite as crowded in this direction, especially as the woman guided him around corners, deeper into the heart of the city. They stopped, and the boy watched as the woman knocked on the back door, a bar of wood sliding open to reveal a set of gray eyes.

"Serena." The bar of wood closed, the door creaking open as the young woman on the other side opened it. "Get in here!"

Serena helped Tal into the building, forcing him to sit in a rickety old chair as she cleaned his wounds. Tal kept his gaze off Serena, focusing instead on the woman who let them in.

Helen pulled a three-legged stool over to Tal's chair, carefully and rapidly plucking the splinters from his skin. "We need to hurry. You know that Vallin doesn't like him out of the room."

Serena shook her head, dabbing at the deep gashes on Tal's leg. "It's not my fault I have such an idiotic son. I never should have kept him."

Tal glanced at Helen, her blonde hair falling out of the braid she had no doubt worked hard on that morning. He saw the tightening of her lips and her eyes narrow slightly. "You don't really mean that," Helen insisted, missing a splinter. The tweezers pinched Tal's skin, making him jump. "Sorry."

Tal said nothing as his mother shot him an irritated look. "I am serious, Helen. I guess motherhood just isn't for me. If I knew who the father was, I would have left Tal with him."

Helen snorted. "So what are you going to do then?"

"I don't know." Serena huffed out a breath, blowing loose dark hair back from her eyes. "I have a friend at the castle... I could leave Tal there."

Tal blinked. He knew he wasn't wanted. He had always known that. And his mother never let him forget. There was an odd mix of excitement and fear in his chest. He had always wanted to see the castle where the knights trained and where he hoped to one day be. But he had never stepped foot outside the village he and his mother had lived in since his birth. He had grown up there in the Red District of that tiny city and had no concept of what life outside his own world was like.

"Friend?" Helen arched an eyebrow. "Or former client?"

There was a hint of derision in her voice. While both Helen and Serena were in the same line of work, Helen made it clear that she never approved of Serena's methods to leave.

Tal knew very little of the story. Only that his mother had hoped to leave her lifestyle now that she had a child. And Vallin wouldn't let her. He had claimed that she had too many debts to pay off and that Tal was now one of them. Now that Vallin had an extra mouth to feed, he intended to make Serena work for it until all the life was sucked out of her. Even now, at thirty-two, Serena didn't look her age.

The woman was always tired and sported dark bags under her eyes. Stress and years of worry had made her age. Her naturally dark hair was streaked gray. She fussed all the time about how she didn't look as young as she should, usually blaming Tal for it, saying he brought her too much stress.

While Helen herself never wanted to have kids—nor would she have one on purpose in the hopes of using them to get her out of a difficult life—she was nicer to Tal than Serena, Vallin, or some of the other night women. She at least made sure that Tal had eaten that day and was clothed. She was more of a mother to him than Serena. But even then, Tal knew that Helen only did it because Tal was so young.

Serena snorted. "Both, I suppose. But he's kind and can look after Tal."

"And then what?" Helen snapped. "You pay off your debts and go get him?"

Serena shook her head, setting her rag aside, now soaked with blood. She grabbed a roll of bandages, wrapping Tal's wounds. "No... I made a mistake. Tal will stay with my friend. Indefinitely."

The women worked in silence while Tal processed the information. His mother was giving him up. It should have surprised him, but it didn't. He half-expected this at some point in his life. He was only seven but he understood more than people gave him credit for.

And knew that he had messed up somewhere down the line to make his mother hate him.

Sure, she had made the decision to get pregnant. But surely there was some love she held for him.

Tal fidgeted in his seat now that his mother and her friend were done. Helen cleaned up the area. "You'd better go before Vallin sees you." Helen grabbed an apple from an old basket on the counter, shoving it into Tal's hands. "Take this with you."

Tal hopped off the chair, wincing. He slipped into the hall, passing by several closed doors. He made it back to the room he shared with his mother, collapsing on the thin straw mat he called a bed.

Staring up at the ceiling, Tal thought about what his mother said. She would take him to the castle. What would happen when he got there? Would he be a knight? A servant? He didn't know.

Tal closed his eyes, wishing and hoping that whatever life he would end up living after tomorrow would be better than where he was now.