The Assassin and the Murderer

Chapter 1

A/N: This is the second book in a series. If you would like to get caught up on what happened before this, please go to my profile and read the first book, The Assassin and the King, first. :)

The King stood on the balcony, overlooking the glimmering lake that spread over a good portion of Erilan. He sighed, and ran his fingers through his dark, curly hair, nearly knocking the crown he wore to the floor. He was so used to being able to do that without any disturbance, but ever since his father died in an assassination attempt turned suicide, he had to run this country. It had been two months since that day, and it was proving difficult to run a country alone. Every decision he made had an effect on Erilan, wether it was good or bad.

His mother made things easier, as the former Queen, but he still felt alone. It was as if no one could break through his shell of isolation, because no one was able to understand his unwanted power.

As a child, he had anticipated the day he would become the King, but the title had proved to be worse than he had imagined. It had caused his life to take an unexpected turn for the worse. He had pushed away everyone he had cared about. His mother, his sister, his lover. Everyone was gone to him, because he was too afraid to let them in.

And then there was his half sister, who managed to make the first month of his reign not so hard, who was on a ship, halfway across the sea by now. She should be the one to rule Erilan. She seemed to know everything that was good for the country. The only problem was that she was the assassin who attempted to kill their father, and now she was on the run to escape the King of Assassins.

But the first month wore on, and her fellow assassin and lover was cleared for travel after surviving the most brutal form of torture he had ever seen, and she had to leave right away.

Up until the day his father died, he didn't even know he had a half sister, or a half brother for that matter. But so many things were revealed that day, and the moment he finally got to know his siblings, they were ripped away from him. He knew his younger sister felt the same way about them leaving, but there was no way he was going to talk about his feelings with a ten year old.

So he just stood on the balcony and lost himself inside his head again.

~

Oletha Newton woke up to the sun shining through the open window of the tavern room she had rented for that night. She looked around the room, comprehending where she was, and then smiled, flopping her head back down on her husband's chest, breathing in his scent.

She heard someone knock on the door, but she just closed her eyes, and hoped that they would go away so she could relive the memory of the previous night.

"Letha! Gabe! Up and at 'em! Honeymoon's over; we've got to get back to the ship!" Laurel Renier's voice floated into the room, but Oletha ignored her.

Laurel paused for an answer, but when none came, she banged on the door again.

"Hey! We have to go! I'm coming in! You better both be dressed, because if I come in there and see anything of my brother's that I'm not supposed to, I'm not going to be happy, and you know you don't want me like that." Laurel called loudly.

Oletha just pulled the sheets up higher, and snuggled closer to Gabriel. She heard the door creak open, and Laurel step into the room.

"Awe, no! You guys suck!" Laurel said, seeing them. Nothing was visible, but she was clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

Oletha opened her eyes to see her sister-in-law shielding her eyes with her arm. She laughed, and decided it was time to get up, so she clung to the sheets at her chest to keep them from falling down, and shook Gabriel to wake him.

"Be careful with the sheets!" Laurel said, not looking pleased. "It's bad enough knowing what went on last night without seeing the aftermath. You do realize that's my brother, right?"

"Go wake up Spencer, if you're so concerned about seeing something!" Oletha said, rolling her eyes.

"For your information, Spence and I have been up for hours!" Laurel informed her.

"Well, I'm sorry that Gabe and I don't respond well to assassin time." Oletha countered, shaking her husband again.

"It's not assassin time! It's 'the ship is leaving, and we are going to miss it if you don't get moving' time!" Laurel said, waving her arms frantically.

Gabriel groaned at being woken up, and rolled out of bed without even opening his eyes.

"Gabriel!" Laurel yelled, turning around, and covering her eyes again.

"Ugh, Laurel, go somewhere else." Gabriel said groggily, waving his hand.

"I'm giving you five minutes. You better be downstairs by then!" Laurel warned, stepping outside.

Oletha rolled her eyes, laughing a little, and got dressed.

~

Laurel sat downstairs in the tavern with Spencer Cortland, sipping some tea and leafing through a book. After what seemed like forever, Gabriel and Oletha finally made it downstairs. Laurel had given them a few minutes longer than the five she had warned them with, but she was just glad they didn't take too long.

"Okay," She said, sipping down the last drop of tea, and stuffing her book into her bag. "Let's go!"

The ship that was taking them from Smaugsburg to Aylasan was quite large, and Oletha and Laurel had to walk a fairly long way to the lower deck to get to the female quarters.

"Don't look at me like that!" Oletha laughed, looking up at Laurel, who was slightly taller than she was.

"I'm sorry, it's just weird. I mean, I just learned I have a brother, and now my only female friend is married to him! And I don't even want to think about what happens after hours." Laurel shivered.

"Oh, please! I know what you and Spencer were doing last night! I mean, come on 'Spence and I have been up for hours!'" Oletha mimicked, laughing. "I mean, you couldn't have made it more obvious!"

Laurel's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Don't tell me you and Spencer haven't been having your own after hours fun." Oletha joked, nudging Laurel.

"No, actually. We haven't." Laurel said seriously.

"Really?" Oletha asked, looking surprised.

"We've gotten close, but... We're just not ready yet." Laurel said, smiling softly and blushing a little.

"This would be the part where I make a joke about size, but since I'm a mature married woman, I'm going to just state my surprise. I mean, wow, Laurel, you're older than me!" Oletha said.

"Shut up!" Laurel laughed, slapping her lightly on the arm. "It's not my fault that I'd prefer to be older than seventeen when I get married."

"Lovely! Then you could get married right now, since you are nearly nineteen!" Oletha joked.

"Definitely not." Laurel giggled.

"Will you ever? Why are you so opposed to marriage? I think Spencer would love to get married. Have kids, you know?" Oletha said, not joking around anymore.

"I... I don't know. I guess I've always been afraid of commitment, especially since I'm an assassin. It's hard enough being in love with him, and knowing I could lose him at any s-second." Laurel said, choking up at the last part.

She had nearly lost Spencer two months ago when he was being tortured nearly to death, and she had to find him mangled and bloody, betrayed by the King of Assassins who raised them together.

"I'm sorry. We'll talk about something else, okay?" Oletha said, rubbing Laurel's arm comfortingly.

"Alright." Laurel said quietly.

But her mind still lingered on that night that had haunted her for the past two months.