The King's Assassin

Prologue

The young man looked at her with sheer terror. He was strong, he had been in Morcoast's famously feared military, yet he cowered in her shadow. But, he had done the unthinkable. He had betrayed the king. He sold information to an enemy kingdom, which lost Morcoast a battle and branded him a traitor. The punishment for treason was death.

"Please! Please, Immortal, the kingdom doesn't pay me much to protect it. You have to understand!" he begged her, salty tears streaming down his face. He looked up at her face, her icy eyes contrasted the beauty of her face. In the darkness of the unlit cabin, a flash of lightning intensified his face. A second later, a piercing crack of the thunder followed.

"I think the gods are mad at you too, Solider." she told him, her voice cold as the rain that fell outside. He stifled a cry as she unsheathed a dagger and slit his throat. She cleaned off his the blood with a strip of his cotton tunic. Another flash of lightning illuminated the deep red of the man's blood soaking into the wooden floors. The thunder boomed as she kicked the front door down. She lifted the hood of her cloak on her head, leaving her face in a shadow. She walked straight out in the rain and headed back to the castle on the cliff.