Cloud Piercer

Twenty One

I've never killed anybody before.

The past year, I knew that each venture into the forge increased the risk that I might have to, but each near miss I managed to escape unscathed. The closest I got was a few weeks ago, when that man held me at knifepoint, but I would have never been able to over-power him.

I've never had to kill anybody. Maybe that's why Jax's words make me choke.

Your job is to kill Councillor Tetterman's son.

Killian said Trina wanted insurance, blackmail, to hold against me if I ever dared cross her. I should've expected this is what she'd meant. Despite the fear clawing at my throat, the thought that the only real fighting I've ever done is with Casimir in the forest, the memory of Jax snickering at my dagger—a rush of adrenaline pulses through me.

I've wanted the shifters to suffer ever since they killed my father in front of me. I watched the way they tore him to shreds, jaws nagging at his skin as he screamed in agony. I remember the way the three of them leaped over the bloodied floor once they were done, dragging Samu by the back of his T-shirt. And I did nothing because I didn't know how.

But Casimir has taught me exactly how to deliver a fatal blow with a dagger in more ways than one. I'll never be that useless again.

I realise both Jax and Jessenia watching me. Jax looks smug, but Jessenia looks on edge, as if I'll scream and giveaway our position.

"I didn't know the councillor had a son," I say, surprising them both. "And I thought he lived in the mountains."

"Not all shifters live in the Palace," Jax tells me. "The council members don't. They're always around, watching."

A shiver crawls down my spine.

"And Trina wants me to kill his son. Why?"

"You can't kill the councillor, Trina needs him alive for now," Jessenia says. "But we need to send a message. And we need him to pay for taking Coax." She pauses, glancing down at the dagger at my thigh. "Is that going to be a problem, Freya?"

"No. It won't be a problem."

"Good."

I squeeze my fist to hide the way my fingers quiver under her harsh stare, releasing a breath when she looks away, back to the forge. The thick fog surrounds us, a blanket cutting us off from the Veymaw bubble. I never questioned the fog that hung over the forge, but it never ceased to haunt the dangerous town, even during the day.

Beads of sweat gather at the nape of my neck as we wait in the night, watching shadows dance in the streets of the forge, crawling up the walls and stretching towards the forest. I imagine Killian slipping through the streets, as seamlessly as he moves through the forest. Jax said the deserters haven't been to the forge for months, so who did I encounter that night?

I picture their cloaks, how it felt when the man's arm brushed my skin as he pressed the dagger to my neck. They wore all black, but the material was different. So if they weren't deserters, who had I been chasing those nights? And why didn't they kill me?

A shout snaps me from my thoughts. It's louder than the rest, and angry.

"Now." Jessenia rises to her feet, snapping into motion without a word. I barely have time to react before Jax is dragging me from the ground and across the clearing. My heart hammers as we emerge from the forest, Jessenia and Jax blending with the shadows as they skirt the buildings edge. With their hoods pulled over their heads, I can only see the lines of their mouths, pressed firmly together.

I mould myself to the wall the same way they did, moving only when Jax does ahead of me. When we reach the edge of the building that borders the narrow street, the shouts get louder. A brawl has broken out in front of the Grebis pub. Jessenia leaps across the narrow street, ushering us forward. We're at the back of the pub now.