Without a King (Greatest Thief 1, mxm)

Chapter Thirty

Guards pulled me off her almost instantly. I'd been expecting that. Two of them grabbed me, each holding an arm tightly. Kassia, on the other hand, was gently helped to her feet. At least the guard kept a grip on her arm. She dusted off her dress and looked at me, her eyes so full of anger that I almost thought I'd drop dead just from looking at them.

Everyone in the room was standing. Some chairs had even been knocked over in the nobles' haste to get to their feet. The king, at the far end of the table, looked particularly confused. He left his space and walked around the table towards us, the clicking of his boots on the stone floor the only sound in the room. He ignored Kassia, instead coming to a stop in front of me.

It wasn't until one of my guards pushed my head down that I even remembered that one was supposed to bow in the king's presence. I stared down at his shiny boots, and for a moment I wondered just how expensive they were.

"What is the meaning of this?" the king asked. His voice boomed out in the almost perfect silence, and I flinched.

I hesitated, pulling myself away from his expensive boots, from the thought of who he was, and focused on Kassia. I didn't look up as I replied, as steadily as possible, "The girl is an assassin."

"This girl?" he asked. It didn't sound like he believed me, but at the same time he seemed a little wary. He couldn't risk not believing me. He walked away, and only then did I raise my head. He was standing in front of Kassia. The guard beside her let go of her arm and took a step back. "Who are you?" the king asked.

Kassia stared at the ground. Her hands were clasped and she was wringing a bit of her dress between them. She started to murmur out a reply.

"Louder, girl," he ordered.

Kassia gulped and looked close to tears. "M-my name is Kianna. I've been working in the castle as a maid for as long as I can remember." Her voice was still quiet and tiny. She didn't look anywhere but the floor at her feet, and her hands kept fiddling with the bit of dress. I would have believed her if I didn't know her.

"She's lying," I said.

King Edarius spun around and the guard on my left twisted my arm back painfully. I bit my lip and ducked my head again, not wanting to make things worse by looking at the king. He had just begun to approach me when the door behind us was flung open.

Tannix didn't look at me, but I had never been happier to see him. He walked into the room calmly, Tandrin and about a dozen guards behind him. "Your majesty, there's an assassin in the castle." 

The authority in his voice was a sudden reminder of who exactly Tannix was. Lord Tandrix of West Draulin. I knew the real young man behind the title, but the title was always going to part of him. He outranked most of the people in the room.

The king showed no reaction to Tannix's news. "We've already caught him."

"Him?" Tannix glanced at me, emotionless. "We're looking for a young woman."

I couldn't help myself. "She's right..." But then I stopped, because she was gone.

Everyone turned to look at where Kassia had been standing. The guard looked sheepish. "Your majesty, I..."

"Silence," the king ordered. He reached up, rubbing his beard with his hand. "Lord Tandrix, what is going on?"

Motion across the room caught my eye. Behind a pillar, I saw the swish of a white dress. I wrenched myself from the guards' hands, taking them by surprise with the suddenness of my movement. They yelled at me—everyone was yelling—but I ignored them all as I bolted across the room. Kassia had already started climbing up a bookshelf. She was heading for one of the tiny windows up near the ceiling. Guards and nobles tried to grab me. Luckily, I was fast, and they were all shocked enough that no one really got close to me.