In the Shadows

Chapter 8: A Short Reunion

Aaron's POV

I could not believe that somehow she had survived what I saw. Almost all of her body was covered in bandages.

I was not expecting to run into Zachary when I first got into port, and I was there on strictly business, for we had gotten things out of the men that I had captured. One of them killed Cassandra and Elliot made sure that I was the one to end him. We had not use for them anymore anyways, getting every little detail out of them. When we got everything out of them, I headed over here to tell the assassins that were stationed here. That is why I located Zachary. 

When I located him, he was speaking with Alexander and that is how I found out about Alex. Despite his arguing I convinced Zachary to show me where she was and also convinced Alexander to stay in the castle. I had Zachary explain to me what happened on the way to see her.

I was not angry, not at all as she looked at me with sad eyes. I was glad to see and hear everyone in the room leave, leaving the two of us there. I walked over and grabbed a chair and sat down by her head, and rested my own right next to hers.

"I am glad to see that you are alright," I said, she turned her head away from mine. "I know that you are upset to see me."

"That is not it," she replied quietly.

"Then what is it?" I asked. "I cannot read minds Alex."

"I know, I know, I just..." she sighed before continuing. "I failed."

I sighed. "Alex, sometimes treaties cannot be formed, people are too selfish for that."

"Then they all need to perish," she replied, but I could tell she truly did not mean it.

"Maybe, but then again, they are human. We all have our flaws, some worse than others."

"Yours is being too protective."

"Perhaps," I replied before gently grabbing her chin to turn her head back toward me. "But I cannot loose you, not after loosing Cassandra like that."

"I can protect myself," she replied. I was not going to bring up the fact that she was covered with injuries at that moment.

"I am fully aware of that. However, sometimes having someone to help is not a bad choice."

"I thought I could handle this, and the king said not to inform anyone else."

"You most likely could have, however there was a flaw. The king thought to send you with only a single weapon and no help from the assassins that were watching you."

"Still," she replied simply.

I shook my head and brushed a stray hair out of her face. "Alex, the king does not know that we all work together as a group. You have seen first hand how strong we are as a team, we all are a family. We protect each other and help each other, no matter what the situation. You have to trust those around you that are there for you. I understand that you are independent, but asking for help when you know things will not work out will be okay."

"You are the one to talk," she mumbled.

"I know what my limits are Alex. You have a grasp on what yours might be."

"Says the one who trains when he should not."

"Well... Yes I suppose I do that out of habit." She smirked and I shook my head down at her and placed a soft kiss to her forehead. "I will be taking my leave now, please stay here until you are well enough to go back in court," I said as I stood.

She gave a small look of sadness but did not say anything as I left the room. Zachary was outside and I approached him. "Watch her closely," I said to him and he simply nodded as I left. I knew that that was not his mission, but he would do it for me. It made me upset that I could not do anything to help her or take revenge on the people who did that to her, but I had to let it go; I had a mission of my own to focus on. There was plenty of time to beat the hell out of the people responsible for hurting her.

I made it back to the city without any contact with a white cloak, which made me happy. I did not want to fight just yet. I quickly located where I needed to be, which was a building on the east side of the city. I spoke to no one and mostly went there from the rooftops not to draw attention to myself.

Finally making it to my destination, I looked up and checked the perimeter. There was no openings from a distance that would be easy to get to, nor big enough for me to get in. I sighed, all I had to do was get in and see what was happening and report back to Elliot, simple right?

I decided to get closer and see if there was any way to get in. That is when I saw it. There was a small piece of stone that was outside of normal than the rest. I went over to investigate and noticed this was the entrance from the top, it had not been used in months by how hard it was to slide open. I assumed they were over confident that no one would be spying on them.

I slid inside and closed the block behind me. It was simple to move around the top without being detected for there were no lights on the top and my black clothing hid me well.

I explored the inside encountering assassins from below. They did not once look up and I was disgusted with their ignorance. How they matched us evenly was uncomprehensible, we were smarter and stronger and yet they put up a good fight whenever we fought.

I then discovered their dungeon. Checking inside there was no one that was part of my guild but there were Spanish in there. I shook my head. We were all enemies facing another enemies. I did not like this triangle of quarrels that would soon erupt into full out war between the three. Which if Alex could not create at least a treaty would happen.

And a full out war between our three countries would mean all of our destruction. It had to be stopped and as of that moment Alex was our hope.