Loyalty Or Honour (Book 3)

Chapter Twenty Two

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She crouches down, her turquoise eyes focused solely on her target. It flutters slightly in the breeze and she adjusts her aim a mere millimetre. The string strains under her fingers, begging for release. The breeze swirls around her and she takes a long breath in. The breeze settles for only a moment and she lets the arrow soar towards its target. It lands slightly off but it does not bother her. She still would have stopped any enemies in their tracks, at least long enough to grab another arrow and hit where she first intended.

"What are you doing here?" She asks lowly, her eyes flitting to him. Orion crosses his arms and tilts his head a little.

"You are a little off today." He comments blasé. She bites down on her tongue so hard that the bitter taste of blood swirls around her mouth. As far as she is concerned he has no right to be here and acting so calm. She would prefer the temper than the strange coldness emanating from him. Heat she can understand but the cool is confusing. "You are in love." He speaks, noticing the pinch in her cheeks.

"What concern is that for you? As far as I am aware I, nor Ross, work for you any longer. Our lives are our concern." Jacqueline replies as she rises and faces him.

"Your lives were my concern." Orion points out with a scowl. "We are all meant to keep each other safe. All must come before us and you know that. Your actions made Ross more important than keeping all of us safe. I think it is only fair that you answer if you love him."

"Jealous; Orion?" She bites out, eyes flashing blue fire. "Yes I love him. Do you honestly believe I would disobey your rules for a mere fancy? We tried to ignore it; we tried to pretend there was nothing between us. We could not deny it in the end and refusing to acknowledge it was just putting us all in more danger. When we finally accepted it then we could look beyond ourselves. I promise you Orion, it never interfered with our assignments."

"I know." She blinks in surprise at his agreement. "But you should have told me. This only makes me wonder what else you have all been hiding from me. I cannot work with people who lie and hide their actions. That is a dangerous environment in our line of work."

"I will not try and convince you of our innocence in that. What worth does my word hold now?" Jacqui replies. "But for the record, that has been my only secret. You know everything else. I have kept nothing to myself in all the years I have worked with you."

Orion nods, his mouth pulled into a thin line before he speaks. "What did you intend to do?"

"Carry on as we were. Ross wanted to tell you and I convinced him not to. He wants to marry me, I am sure, and start a family somewhere safe. Well, he wants me to be somewhere safe; he was hoping you would allow him to remain with you. I did not want to leave you, nor Jasper nor Zandar. This is my life and I do not believe I would be content without it." Then she laughs the sound hollow to both sets of ears. "Although I guess I shall have to learn now."

"My assignment lies here until the Crown Prince is married. There is a great deal of time for us to build trust again. I have spoken with Jasper and he agrees with me, with one condition." Orion smirks and she tilts her head, suddenly distrusting of his motives. She raises her bow and aims an arrow at him.

"Be careful what you suggest Orion. My loyalties to you are strained at this moment in time." She warns.

"Lower your weapon until you hear what we propose." Her eyes narrow and his smirk grows in smugness. Slowly she places it down so it aims at the ground. With her now free hand she gestures for him to continue. "You and Ross need to..." He does not get to finish as she slips a knife out from a belt hung across her waist and shoots forward to hold it against his neck. Orion grips her wrist stopping her from doing anything she will later regret. He squeezes hard but she refuses to loosen her hold.