The Spymaster's Assassin (An ACoTaR Fanfic)

Chapter 30

I somehow ended up in these situations a lot. My life was full of strange occurrences, but this took the cake.

When I went to talk to Lucien to dig more information out of him, he simply asked me a question.

"Have you seen your parents? Not your biological ones. The ones that raised you, I mean."

I clenched my jaw and folded my arms over my chest, sending him a glare that could kill. "I heard Ravenna arranged an accident for them." My wings flared slightly. "I almost wish I got the chance to kill them myself. Especially my father."

"Oh. Really? I wish that for you, too." He says and folded his arms, looking uncomfortable. "Listen, Adrianna, I feel like I need to protect you, now that I know you're my sister and all. All I have are brothers. And none of them like me. And now my sister doesn't like me. So I want to make amends in the only way I know how."

I raised an eyebrow. "You'd have to do a lot to get me to trust you."

"Let's just say I have tabs on Ravenna. She's been visiting Spring- and Autumn- a lot lately. Let me go and you'll know everything she's doing. Where she is. When she'll be somewhere. I can also tell you that she hasn't entered Night Court once. Confirm it with Cassian and ask if your not-so-caring caretakers are still alive."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How should I believe you, and how can I know you're even telling me the truth?"

He holds a hand out to me and said, "We'll make a deal. A pact, if you will, to never lie to one another. That way we can trust each other fully." Lucien's face was a mask of seriousness. I looked at his hand, then up at his face. He was much taller than me, almost Azriel's height. But I wasn't intimidated by height, even though I was only a few inches taller than Amren. It wasn't something I was bothered by. I knew my strength.

"A pact you say? What kind? You mean with tattoos or what?"

"A pact that if one of us lies to the other, the person who lied will suffer extreme pain." Lucien says and holds out a hand to me.

I hesitated. "I don't know...I could always just make Rhysand search your brain for the information I want from you. I don't want a pact. I want you to instead prove yourself and that you're telling the truth by the information you bring me. You seem to forget my mate is the spy master. I don't need you to bring secrets to me."

His hand remained where it was before. "But don't you think it would be easier for me to spy on Ravenna? Especially when she believes that Spring Court and Autumn Courts are her allies?"

"When I get down to Autumn, I seriously doubt that Autumn will remain in Hybern's good graces."

"Hm. But the difference here is she knows and trusts me. Not you." Lucien said, hand still out towards me.

I glared at him. "A pact, hm? That you promise to do exactly what you say?"

He nods. "Yes. I swear it."

I clenched my jaw, then took his hand. Our hands grew warm, and then black bands appeared my right bicep. I assumed he had the same when he touched his arm.

I released his hand and said, "Alright, Lucien. I guess you can go. You will report back to me what you find out, yes?"

He nodded once, then I grabbed his arm and shadow travelled into the main hall. I walked over to Cassian and said, "Could you bring him to the boarder of the Night Court so he can winnow the rest of the way to Spring?"

Cassian hesitated. "Is Rhys ok with that?"

"Lucien has served his purpose for me and he and I made a deal." I motioned towards my new tattoo. Amren looked up from the book she was reading and seemed to find this amusing.

"A deal?" Cassian asks with a bit of a grin. He looked over at Lucien and then back to me. "What was the deal?"

"No lies. He's my spy in Spring and Autumn now." I say. "If he breaks the bond, he suffers pain."

Cassian narrowed his eyes. "And if you break the bond?"

"I suffer the same pain. It's a good deterrent, and if I ever find him lying, I'll just kill him."

Cassian looked over at Lucien, who suddenly looked even more uncomfortable than before. He shrugged. "If you say so, Adrianna." He stands and stretches his arms and wings and says, "Alright, Lucien. Time to go home." He grabbed my brother's arm and snarled, "And if you think of coming back here or telling anyone about this place or what you saw, I'll fly down there myself and tear you limb from limb. Understood?"

Lucien looked like he was about to wet himself. He nodded quickly.

"Perfect." Cassian said as he grabbed Lucien and flew off over the balcony. A small grin touched my lips as I heard Lucien scream in terror.

I turned to the table and sat down and picked up a jug of wine and poured myself a glass.

Amren peered at me over her goblet of blood and said, "You are brave, girl, making a deal like that."

"There's more I can get from it than him. He's going back to the Spring Court. Soon, I'll be going. He doesn't know that. I'll be able to have my own intel to weigh against his. I merely humored his request to make a deal."

Amren smirked. "You're smart, Adrianna. Tove learned much."

I smiled and bowed my head. "Thank you, Amren. That means a lot."

Adrianna? Azriel whispered down the bond.

Yes, love? I replied. Dark tendrils of shadow curled around my ankles.

Can you come here? I need to ask you something. It's...kind of important.

Yes. I'm coming. I replied. I looked to Amren and said, "I have to go. It was good to speak with you."

She merely waved her hand, bracelets hitting each other as she did so, taking a long drink from her goblet of blood.

I turned and shadow travelled to our chambers and found Azriel standing at the window, arms crossed, and shoulders tensed. I came up to him and slid my arm around his waist. He moved his other around my shoulders, hand squeezing my shoulder. Some of the tenseness in his back faded.

"I was thinking." He said at last.

"About?" I asked.

"Haven." He says seriously. I frowned. I had honestly forgotten all about him.

"Haven." I echoed, looking out at the landscape of Velaris. "What about him?"

"He's still in prison. I got what intel I could out of him. But I was wondering, and thinking, if he'd be willing to speak to you more freely. Now that you know your true parentage."

"Did he not tell you everything already?" I asked, lifting a hand to hold onto his.

"I don't think so. But I have a feeling you would be able to get more from him than I would." He says seriously.

I looked up at him and asked with a scowl, "Are you implying what I think you are?"

His face went scarlet and he stuttered, "A-Adrianna! No! I meant that you two were engaged once, and that you could pull rank on him now and-"

I began to laugh and I hugged him tightly. "You goof! I was joking."

His arms looped around me, but he muttered a few choice words at me grumpily. "Sure." He said.

I scoffed. "I was! Yes, I'll go talk to Haven. Maybe he can tell me why he thought coming back was a good idea. Perhaps if he behaves and tells me everything we want to hear, I won't have to castrate that son of a bitch."

Azriel smirked down at me, hazel eyes staring into mine as he held my chin and said, "There's that feisty Illyrian I love."