Scars of Blades

Four Years later : 1

The air smells foul here, but it's not shocking to me given that I grew up on this side of town.

Jax, on the other hand, has never had the pleasure of being raised in this dump.

"Aces, I wish I didn't have a nose to smell this." He mutters under his breath.

I smirk up at him, "I'd be happy to cut it off for you if you like."

He returns my smirk, "Like I'd give you the honor of getting anywhere near my face, darling."

The tip of my tongue comes out as I make a face at him.

"You're so easy to get a reaction out of." He taunts.

I purse my lips, refusing to react instead, saying, "In case you didn't listen to Conrad's instructions, the two of us are supposed to be engaged. So start acting like it."

Conrad gave the order that we pose as a pair of poor springtime fiance's going into a bar, so it would enable us to get the information we needed from the bartender without suspicion from the other patrons.

But both me and Jax know that Conrad just likes seeing us as a couple.

Jax's eyes glint in the sun, "Oh? Am I not being romantic enough for you?"

I don't bother giving him the eye roll he expects.

His grin only widens as he throws his arm over my shoulder, drawing me closer to his hard chest, "Is this better?"

I offer him my sweetest smile, saying through my teeth. "You have five seconds to get your bleeding hands off me before I kill you."

He boops my nose. "You mean attempt to kill. Let's be honest, how far could you really make it?"

I'm about to make him pay for being such a-

"Oh, look, here we are." He interrupts my thoughts, tightening his arm over my shoulder.

"You are a lucky little boy that I didn't cut off your lips for saying that!" I hiss at him right before we enter the dark bar.

He winks at me as we enter, "Glad to know you're thinking about my lips."

The bar is dark and mildewy on the inside. As soon as I enter, I immediately want to get out as quickly as possible.

I notice several sparingly dressed girls making eyes at Jax as we enter. He notices too, and instead of looking away like anybody with a half decent heart would, he winks at them.

"I pity any girl who falls in love with you." I say, sweetly hanging onto his arm as we make our way to the back of the bar where the bartender stands, "If only your attention span was as large as your ego."

"At least I have confidence." He replies back just as sweetly.

I make a face like he's just said something clever. "At what price."

He laughs and shoves my shoulder.

Finally, we reach the bartender, a youngish man with a mustache. I give him a smile I've perfected over the years of not looking too flirty but not uninterested.

"Hello." I don't so much as blink with disgust as the man's eyes crawl all over my body.

He gives me a rotten toothed grin, "What are you here for, little lady?"

Jax frowns beside me, stepping slightly in front of me before giving his usual open smile to the bartender.

I raise an amused eyebrow at him, which he ignores, instead saying in a gruff voice, "We need to talk with you privately."

The bartender's rotten grin disappears and is replaced with an even more foul expression, "So sorry, but I'm working at the moment."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jax says, giving him his own inpatient grin, "But I too am working at this moment. And you really don't want to get in the way of my boss."

The bartender frowns even more.

I decide it's time for me to take over. Lowering my voice, I step forward. "I'm so sorry for my fiance's rudeness. But we were told that you know the whereabouts of a certain prince."

The bartender's eyes widen as a sly smile forms on his face,"maybe I do." He shrugs, staring at my chest. "Maybe I don't."

"Isha." Jax growls under his breath.

I ignore him, hardening my expression. "I'm so sorry, but my boss really needs to know." The threat behind my voice is easy to read, but this man obviously doesn't think there's any need to be afraid of me. What a poor mistake to make.

His eyes still cling to my curves, tracing up before he says in a coy voice, "Maybe I'll tell you if you give me the right price."

"That's it." Jax leans over the counter, grabbing a fist full of the man's shirt. "Tell me now where the prince is or Conrad of the Swarm is going to let me kill you."

He's making more of a scene than I would like. But the mere suggestion of Conrad's name makes the man freeze.

The bartender shakes himself, scoffing. "You little liar. You expect me to believe that you two little scumbags are working for the Conrad."

Jax lets his easy grin return, releasing the man. "Alright man don't believe me. But I'd sleep with one eye open tonight if I were you."

The bartender looks at us for a long moment, taking our nice yet simple clothing. The daggers at our sides, the confident way we hold ourselves. Finally, he spits on the counter shaking his head. "Fine." He looks at me again, taking me in for a final time. "But if you tell your bloody boss I took this long, you might wanna watch out, Little lady."

I don't say anything.

Jax shrugs his shoulders. "Touch the little lady," He spits, "and I might come back for you myself."

I'm oddly shocked that Jax cares about what happens to me. But maybe that's what happens when you've known someone as long as the two of us have known each other.

After Jax's little show, we get out of the bar quickly with the concordance of where the young prince lives.

It's been nearly a year of us searching to get this address for Conrad.

Conrad has been plotting the death of The King for nearly twelve years now. And now, finally, we're getting close to Conrad's plan coming to fruition.

Conrad realized years ago that the King's children will inherit the King's place if he ever dies.

So before Conrad plans to kill the King himself, he has to make sure that all four of the King's children die as well, so there's nobody left to inherit the throne when their father dies. Leaving room for Conrad to come to power while the country is in chaos trying to find a new leader.

All of the King's children are over the age of eighteen and are currently living in hiding. After we killed the King's first kid three years ago, the rest of his children went into hiding. We've been searching them down to kill ever since.

We've killed three of them, but didn't know where the fourth was hiding. But now we have the address of his house.