The Broken Crown

~5~ Mila

Mila didn't have to be a mind-reader to know that Asyn was foolish enough to catch feelings for Kai. Foolish as well as the natural response for seeing a guy like him. Mila internally congratulated herself for coming across to him first. As the group kept walking across the north boundary of Jorvik, Mila couldn't help but wander next to Kai and revisit the way they first met.

"Excuse me, do you know  Girsean Saurroot?"  A scared ten year old girl approached the only boy in the tavern who happened to be standing alone.

The boy turned to face her, and the young girl saw the most charming face she had ever seen. "No, sorry." He looked her up and down, and she couldn't help to be intimidated by his stare.

The girl was devastated. She had been to half of Jorvik without finding the bandit she was supposed to catch. Her employer would be furious, and just might put her out of the job. And without an income, the girl would be dead for sure.

"Let's talk outside." The boy suddenly said. The noise in the tavern wasn't enough to block out the conversation that was sure to get them caught.

Once they were in a safe corner of  Moorland, the boy finally opened up. "I know him. What do you want with him?"

The girl was delighted. But she couldn't tell the boy that she was hunting him. Girsean was a known criminal who was wanted for several crimes, the worst of which included killing soldater. This boy could not know she was an assassin.

Mila smiled as she remembered her first mission. Her old employer was a bitch, but she liked to remember the times when Regina barely occupied the throne. Before peaceful soldater became dreadful krigere. How strange that it was only seventeen years ago when all citizens of Jorvik could exist freely. Mila had a faint memory of being rescued by a soldat. But she was born just before Regina killed her sister and took the throne, only memories existing because fae were known to have better memories than humans.

The boy led the girl to Firgrove, where the bandit was last seen. The girl worked for her employer, who worked for Queen Regina in a way. Catching criminals and protecting the kingdom. But the criminals were often nonmortals.

"I'm Mila," the girl said after a long trek through Firgrove Forest.

"I'm Kai." The boy smiled, and maybe Mila could tell him her secret. Maybe she could tell him that she was a fae, or that she worked for Regina. But her mother told her never to tell anyone she was a fae, it was far too dangerous with krigere everywhere.

They reached Kai's telling of Girsean's last known location, and Mila couldn't contain her secret anymore. "I'm here to kill him." She admitted.

Kai smirked. "I know. I am too."

It was in that moment when Mila fell head over heels for him. Back when their love had a chance, a former kriger and a hybrid abomination, but both brought together by the same thing. Not exactly death, but justice. And maybe it was for Regina, but it helped them get by. And now, they didn't work for the throne, but for rebels, which turned out to produce more money that made them ridiculously rich.

Mila caught sight of a large man sitting on a tree stump, counting coins. "This is going to be easy," she thought.

Kai instinctively reached out an arm to block Mila from walking any farther. "Careful, he's a noida."

Mila didn't have time for people telling her to be careful. She had the audacity to do this herself, but she wasn't going to argue with such a confident boy. At that age, it was amazing how well he knew how to do everything. But Mila could do it better.