To Seduce An Assassin (The Omaja Series Book 2)(5)
“Sire, be wary.”
“Of what?” Yavi watched the bandit’s face.
“One of your own tipped us off about the caravan heading to Ularia.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know, Mahaj. I’d tell you if I did, I swear it. He was Uman’s contact. All I know is, it’s someone in your service at the palace.”
Yavi nodded grimly. “Thank you for telling me. What’s your name?”
“Bindar, Sire.”
“Bindar. Tejeshwar guide you.”
“Also you, Sire.”
Yajna gave Yavi a quick nod and followed him out of the gate to where their horses waited. They mounted, bid the gate guards farewell, and set out for Darpan.
As they rode, Yavi peered up at the moon. They would make it back by dawn, just as he’d told the guard at the palace. Yavi smiled to himself as he rode with his brother by his side through the night. It had been too long since they’d gone on a mission together, and it felt good to get out of the palace and do something useful. Something dangerous. It reminded him of their youth. Yavi had loved swordplay ever since their father had given him and Yajna their first wooden swords as boys. Varyn later made Yajna a bow, and the extra wooden sword became Yavi’s permanent possession. The two brothers played war and practiced their weapon skills constantly, pretending to fight all sorts of vile miscreants in the woods near their farmhouse.
The two of them were accepted into Nandala’s Black Armies at the age of seventeen and began to receive formal weapons and stealth training. They were soon recognized as particularly gifted in the assassin arts, and were sent to train with Tylvani mystics at their monastery for a year. When they returned to Darpan, Thakur had promoted them to the highest ranks in the Assassin Army. At the age of twenty-five they were sent on the mission of a lifetime, to assassinate the Queen of Villeleia, with the promise that upon successful completion, their father’s royal name would be restored and his house once again eligible to inherit the throne of Nandala after Thakur’s death. That mission had taken them to the verdant, prosperous land of Villeleia to the south, where Jiandra and her magical stone had thrown a kink into their plans in more ways than one. Yavi’s brother had fallen head over heels for the green-eyed beauty. And with her stone’s healing powers she had saved both their lives, time and again, as they turned rebel and fought to liberate their people from Thakur’s misguided, selfish rule.
Yavi hugged his knees close to Sikar’s flanks, leaning low over the horse’s neck as he galloped down the road toward the palace he now called home. A beautiful but cold and impersonal dwelling as far as Yavi was concerned, somewhat of a prison made of gleaming white marble and gray granite. He missed his father and mother and their small farm. Six years had not healed the soul-crushing wound left by witnessing his father’s violent death on the battlefield, as Thakur slit Varyn’s throat right before Yavi’s eyes. And while Yajna had Jiandra to love him, hold him, and make his wing of the palace feel more like a home, Yavi was alone. The truth was, he’d loved escaping the palace tonight because he needed to escape his own empty room. His empty bed.
His empty heart.
§
Yajna closed the door and saw Jiandra’s sleeping form under the covers in the darkness. Relieved she hadn’t awakened and tried to follow him, he moved to the washbasin to undress and wash up before joining her under the blankets. His blood was still running hot from the evening’s excitement, and that combined with the thought of snuggling up beside his sexy wife gave him a stiff erection.
As soon as he picked up the edge of the blanket, Jiandra rolled over and sat upright. “Yajna! You brute; you left me here alone half the night! Where have you been?”
“Hush,” he chuckled against her lips as he gathered her into his arms. “It’s a long story, and I’m not in the mood for talking.”
“I’ll have you know I looked everywhere—”
“Shhh.” He covered her lips with his, silencing her with his lips and tongue. Her sensuous lips tasted so sweet under his assault, and he plunged his tongue between them urgently.
When she relaxed and surrendered to his kisses, he moved to trail his lips down the slim column of her neck. She clutched his head and pressed herself against him. “Yajna, you are incorrigible.”
“I know.” He chuckled. “I love you, beautiful wife. Forgive me. It was for a good cause. I’ll explain fully later, I promise.” He kissed her collarbone, reaching up to caress her breast through her nightgown. Her nipple hardened against his palm.
“Stop being so…mmmnh…sweet and contrite.”
“Never.” Yajna grinned, then proceeded to show Jiandra just how contrite he felt, with his hands, lips, and tongue.
§
Yavi removed his cloak and boots, peeled off his leather armor, then stood at his washstand to sponge off the sweat and grime from the evening’s outing. He scrubbed his chest under the emperor’s ruby, which dangled from a thick chain around his neck. Bindar’s warning about a traitor inside the palace haunted him as he mentally filed through the list of palace servants. They couldn’t afford many people, so it wasn’t a long list. They had a washing girl, Kitran, and a housekeeper, Kitran’s mother Shandri. But Bindar had referred to the inside contact as “he,” and Yavi honestly couldn’t imagine either of those women selling palace information. Shandri had been a beggar in the streets of Darpan prior to getting hired as their housekeeper, and her daughter Kitran was so clearly infatuated with Yavi it was hard to imagine her doing anything that would endanger him or go against his wishes.