The Rogue Guardian

Chapter 69: Symbolism

"What happened?" Joshua asked, barely sparing a glance for my angry expression as he went about preparing his various tools.

"An argument. Don't ask." I was still fuming over everything Evvie had said, but I knew some good old-fashioned stealing would clear my mind. It was the perfect night for daring and trickery, clear and cool and dark as a thief could hope for. I checked my pockets for my lock picks and counted my daggers, then flicked out my knife clips to test their sharpness before folding them back into their harmless clip form.

"You have Parodian clips." Joshua had stood up very suddenly, his attention caught.

"Yeah. Got them from Jaden." I slid them into my hair, pinning my braid into a knot at the nape of my neck. "Your hair's too short for them, don't look so interested."

He scoffed. "Don't act so high any mighty. I already have a set. I just thought the designs on yours were interesting."

I ran my fingers over the smooth curves of metal nestled in my hair, barely feeling the designs etched into them. They were very well crafted, I knew from having handled so much precious metal, but the designs weren't nearly as intricate as the hinges that folded the finger-length clips into small knives as long as my hand. "What about them?"

He shrugged. "The snake symbol— it stands for an assassin, which made it very popular in the ages when Parodar was strong. But the way your snakes are all twisted around each other is also a symbol for succession, or heredity, or something like that. It's the kind of design you'd put on a coming-of-age gift, from father to daughter, or something like that."

It was a moment before I could speak. "I... he didn't say it..." I knew Jaden had been the closest thing I had to a father during my time at the castle, but he'd never called me anything but his student. As if he hadn't wanted to steal that place from my parents.

Not like Wes, who had actually believed Jaden was his father.

Jaden should have given the clips to him.

I cleared my throat. "Why do you know so much about Parodian symbolism? Is it that relevant to your life?"

"It used to be, when I was an assassin."

I held his gaze. "You're still one."

"If Roman accepts me back into the Court." He looked away. I knew he didn't like that he'd shared so much about himself and his fears with me recently. Neither of us were used to being that open. But the fact that he had spilled it all relatively easily meant he must have been straining to tell someone for ages. Say, for five years or so.

"Roman's court in Maenar is built on what he could bring here from Parodar," he said, backpedalling to less personal territory. "Everything about how the court is set up and how it works is tailored to remind people that Roman comes from a lineage of Kings that stretches far beyond Maenar. Knife clips like those are a status symbol, because they're distinctly Parodian. Unless you have a pair that was made there, the best you could find here is a barely functional knockoff that's likely to slice off any hair you try to clip down."

I shrugged. "And here I just thought they were a fashion statement."

He snorted unbelievingly. "We should go."

"I don't take orders from you." I leaned against the wall and lazily took in his room for a few seconds, noting how he hadn't settled in. If all went according to plan, he would be moving back into the Assassin's Court by tomorrow night. The fact that he hadn't unpacked here meant he must have a certain amount of confidence. "Alright, now we can go." Yes, I had to do that just to annoy him. Couldn't let it get too friendly.

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"Lijah doesn't mess around with security," I mused, clinging to the windowsill as I eyed the window. There were grooves cut into the stone of the sill, and the wooden window frame showed signs of wear on the bottom. It was designed to make clacking sounds as you forced the window open, which would wake the occupant inside the room. Climbing the wall up had been tricky enough, with the stone so smooth and inconvenient for scaling. Most people drew the line at latching their windows from the inside. Messing around with the stonework took commitment. I guess I should have expected that from the woman every rebel considered a dangerous pain in the ass.

"You have a tool for hinges?" I whisper-called down to Joshua, who was still climbing up to my level.

"Last resort. They're hard to work with while hanging onto the ledge and being quiet. Let's try the roof."

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"Is there a reason Roman is going to like this more than any other gift?" I asked, crouched on the steeply sloped roof as Joshua peered down the chimney.

"Are you always this chatty while trying to be sneaky?"

"I'm naturally sneaky. I can afford to be chatty too." Our voices were barely louder than the lightest breeze, anyway.

Joshua sighed. "It's just a symbolic thing. I told you Roman thrives on symbolism— he'll love this. If we pull it off."

I could tell he was trying to downplay how much he wanted Roman to love it. "So explain the symbolism. And also what you're doing, looking down one chimney for about ten minutes."

"I'm trying to see if she's got a net down there or something, but I can't, because it's dark." He sounded aggrieved. "You look."

We switched places, then after a pause he continued. "When Roman became the King of Assassins, he wasn't taken seriously outside the Court. He was mocked, for a couple of reasons. Lijah wasn't the worst offender, but she did circulate one of the catchiest lines— 'King Roman is like a fancy sword hilt. Looks impressive, but it's the blade that matters.' She, like others, didn't believe he was going to be as dangerous as the reputation he'd built up— a hilt without a blade. One of the costs of being so concerned with symbolism and the appearance of the Court."

I nodded, understanding why he'd chosen this item to steal. "So he will love this. Symbolically mocking her mocking of his symbolism."

"Uh."

"What I don't get, though, is why so many people would underestimate him. One or two people making the mistaken assumption that he's shallow, I understand. But lots of people writing off the fact that he was chosen to be the next King by the previous Queen?"

"That was unrelated to the idea that he was too concerned with appearances. People didn't accept that he was a king, because they wouldn't accept that he was a man at all. There were several people who challenged him to use what they said was the correct title of Queen, and then they claimed they'd respect him."

"They said that to the King of Assassins?"

Joshua smiled with vicious happiness. "Those people are no longer around."

I shook my head. "I can see why." Anyone who dared suggest to the King of Assassins that he didn't know what gender he was... well, didn't have enough common sense to survive challenging him. "I'm climbing down. If I run into something I'll tap the stone to let you know."