The Death of a Tyrant's Concubine

CHAPTER 24 - The Harvest Festival

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【𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐉𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐄】

An intruder had entered my chamber.

The candle's flame faltered, and a breath of cold brushed the back of my neck.

I hadn't even heard the door open...

Was it an assassin? Did one of the Nightshades send someone?

"Aɾҽ ƚԋҽყ ƈʅσʂҽ?" I whispered in Elvish, barely moving my lips.

"He is standing right behind you," Ryn replied.

I didn't hesitate. My fingers closed around Raincatcher, and I twisted, the blade slicing through candlelight as I aimed for the throat of whoever snuck up on me.

But a gloved hand caught my wrist mid-strike.

The force of the clash flung back the intruder's hood, revealing a familiar face — framed in tousled blond hair and lit by narrowed green eyes.

"Ser Cavriel!" I snapped. "You frightened me!"

He didn't let go.

Instead, he twisted my wrist just enough to send Raincatcher clattering to the stone floor, the steel ringing. I grit my teeth and struggled, but his grip was ironclad.

"Your awareness isn't as pitiful as I imagined," he said coolly. "But your skills are pathetic."

I hissed through clenched teeth, trying and failing at prying my hand free.

"How did you get in without a sound?" I demanded.

Cavriel rolled his eyes as he released my wrist. I flexed my fingers, sore and tingling. He bent to retrieve Raincatcher and set it on the table with care that bordered on mockery.

"Please," he muttered, straightening. "I wouldn't have lasted a day as a spy if I didn't at the very least know how to move around undetected. Besides, nobody beats Driftwoode when it comes to stealth. I've been deep-sea walking since I was a boy."

"Deep-sea walking?" I echoed, frowning. "What is that—?"

He cut me off with a sidelong glance.

"Forget that. How did you know I was here? A normal person shouldn't have heard me at all. And what language was that just now?" His gaze narrowed. "Were you casting some kind of curse on me?"

"I was just practicing High Elvish," I said evenly. "And I... Well, you're so big and oafish, of course I could sense you."

Ryn coughed from somewhere I couldn't see.

Cavriel's brow twitched, but he masked it with a scoff and crossed his burly arms.

"Tch. Doesn't matter," he said with a shrug. "Even if you sensed me, you'd still be dead if I were after your life."

My blood pressure spiked at his arrogance.

"You might find I'm not that easy to get rid of," I retorted, narrowing my eyes.

He huffed a laugh that held no mirth.

"You spun like a startled deer. Even your grip on the blade was off. I can tell you've had some combat training, but not from anyone worth a damn. Then again, I don't expect someone from Drakfjord to know anything. You're all cowards hiding on your little island."

I bristled.

He wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean he had to sound so smug about it.

It was true I had always left the bulk of combat to Claude. My elder sister was unmatched with a sword. My younger was our best rider. And foolish me had spent all my efforts on dancing.