Alicia bobbed her head to acknowledge what he’d said. The mark on her neck pulsed and she watched all the conscious guards look at it at the same time.
A mark of green fire. Once, in a distant kingdom, there might have been some prophecy of this, but prophecies had been forbidden in this age. They brought about false prophets and foolish attention seekers. They were nothing but trouble.
Now, bearing a curse and the mark, she wished they’d been a little more open about prophecies.
“I am”, she signed. “I am Princess Alicia.”
“Then what did you do to our king? I remember seeing you and him playing together when you were younger.”
Alicia pointed to the dead assassin on the ground with Eternity’s sword in his chest.
“I saved the king!” she signed indignantly.
The guard glanced at the dead assassin once more and then folded his arms.
“How long until they reawaken?”
“One hour”, she signed. The guard instructed his men with a series of military signs to bind her and stick her in the corner of the room.
He likely didn’t think she knew those signs.
“Don’t kill each other. Supposed Princess or not, it won’t look good if you kill one of my men.” He walked to the side of the king and kneeled down to check him out himself.
***
The hour passed slowly. Alicia sat in a panic. They would send more assassins, and she may have alienated the only ally that might believe her and have the resources to help her expose the assassin underworld and get revenge for the death of her sister.
Although. Wouldn’t he know of it?
Alicia remained where she’d been set until Corvin stirred. He sat up abruptly and then cracked his head with an audible THUD on the corner of the desk.
“Alicia?! Eternity?”
Eternity sat up a moment later and shook her head. “Here, sire.”
“Good. Are you injured?”
Eternity examined the bandages around her hip and stomach, then sat up.
“I’m fine. I won’t be able to move as fluidly for a while. I’ll live.”
Alicia, of course, could give no verbal answer and so settled for thumping her foot once on the ground.
Corvin straightened and stood, then stalked to the guard at the door.
“I’ve ordered double guard rotations and we have people searching newcomers that have entered the city in the last day. If there’s another assassin, we’ll have at least made things more difficult for them, your majesty.”
“You’ve always done so well at reading my mind, Lucian. This woman,” he pointed to Alicia, “is to be kept under constant guard. I need to speak with her.”
Eternity stood and walked over to Alicia, who looked up at her. Her brown eyes bore into Alicia’s blue with a fierce gaze that promised retribution for the earlier struggle.
Alicia watched Corvin approach and dragged a chair over toward her.
“You have some explaining to do.”
Alicia flexed her hands and signed “silver scroll on my belt”.
Eternity took the silver scroll and unraveled it with her thumb, straightening and standing with her back straight.
YOU ARE READING
The Cursed Silence
FantasyWhat if magic was new? What if everyone lived on a giant ring in space? What if your twin sister was assassinated right in front of you and you were kidnapped to be retrained as an assassin for a shadowy, cultist organization to sow chaos across the...
