To Seduce An Assassin (The Omaja Series Book 2)(8)

Usurpers! Terijin said to his visitor. They’ll get what’s coming to them.

Jiandra saw Yavi and Yajna’s faces appear in Terijin’s thoughts, and through his eyes, they appeared to be grinning cockily, gloating over their newfound power in Nandala.

Terijin finished cutting the bread, placed it on a plate, then held up the knife. “Butter, Your Highness?”

Jiandra shook herself, realizing she was staring at his face too long. “Ah—yes, that would be lovely.”

His gaze dropped to her neckline, where the Omaja stone should have been hanging. His eyes widened, then he darted a glance to the side, as if looking for an escape route.

“Thank you for the bread,” Jiandra faked a warm, innocent smile and reached for the plate of bread with both hands, leaving the Omaja stone hidden in her skirt pocket.

He glanced at her hands, seeing they were empty. “Yes. I’ll—ah—fetch the butter right away, Your Highness.” He disappeared into the larder again, returning with a small container of butter. He set that down in front of her and hurried out of the kitchen toward his quarters.

Jiandra jumped up, replaced the chain of the Omaja around her neck, and ran out of the kitchen. She darted into the Great Hall and hurried to the back of the large chamber, and then followed the rear hallways out into the courtyard.

Yavi was vigorously driving his sparring partner back toward the portico, swinging his scimitars in well-synchronized slices back and forth.

Jiandra’s voice came out in an out-of-breath shout. “Yavi! Stop! It’s Terijin, and I think he’s planning to escape!”

Yavi turned to his sparring partner. “Farrin, alert the southern gate guard. Go!”

Jiandra followed Yavi into the palace, struggling to keep up with his long-legged sprint. He rushed through the Great Hall, through the kitchen, and into the cook’s quarters and found them empty. The back door to the outside was left open, and Yavi headed through it with Jiandra at his heels.

They rushed across the barren side yard, around the gardener’s hut, and headed for the southern gate. Two gate guards had caught Terijin there, the red-faced cook spitting curses angrily as he struggled to free himself from their grasp.

Guard Captain Harshad bowed to Yavi and Jiandra as they approached. “Emperor Yavi, Your Highness.” He nodded to his guards, and they shoved Terijin forward, then tossed a heavy money bag at the cook’s feet. The bag bore the royal ruby symbol of the emperor embroidered into the black velvet fabric. “We caught him trying to leave the palace grounds with this.”

Terijin again turned to flee, and Yavi leapt forward to catch him by the front of his vest.

“Easy there,” Yavi warned, raising him up on tiptoe. “Not so fast.”

Yajna appeared, out of breath from running to join them. “You betrayed us, Terijin?”

“You two are the traitors. Usurpers!”

“The House of Zulfikar ruled Nandala for centuries before Thakur’s grandfather took the throne,” Yajna retorted. “Thakur’s family were the usurpers.”

Yavi tightened his grip on the cook’s vest. “We trusted you, Terijin. Supplies were wasted, lives lost because of your treason. You will pay for this crime.”

“Do what you want with me. Uman will protect me.”

“Uman is dead,” Yavi grated.

“I doubt it,” Terijin laughed stiffly.

Yajna folded his arms across his chest. “The arrow I lodged in his throat last night would suggest otherwise.”

Yavi shoved the smirking cook back toward the guards. “Take this prisoner down to the dungeon until we decide what to do with him.”

Once the guards were out of earshot, Jiandra addressed the twins. “Why would Terijin think this Uman could protect him from the two of you?”

“The ravings of a lunatic.” Yavi scooped up the money bag and turned back toward the palace.

Jiandra and Yajna followed him inside. When they made their way to the lower levels and opened the palace’s vault to replace the money, they found two other large bags of coin missing as well. Jiandra’s heart sank. That money represented everything they had earned with last summer’s crops. Now they were starting from scratch again in rebuilding the palace savings.

“We’ll get that fool talking, find out where our coin went,” Yavi swore.

Yajna examined the lock on the door. “And how he was able to break in here.”

§

Jiandra, Kitran, and Shandri managed to put together a meal for the palace’s inhabitants that evening, but it was almost midnight before they were finished serving the meal, storing the leftovers in the larder, and cleaning up. Yavi and Yajna helped gather up the dishes and haul water in for washing them.

Jiandra pushed a stray strand of hair out of her flushed face as Yajna came in from dumping the last of the used dishwater over the palace’s vegetable garden outside. She placed her hands at the small of her back and leaned back in a stretch. “Whew. We have to get more organized in here tomorrow. That was a lot of work.”

He grinned and kissed her cheek. “You’re beautiful when you sweat, Lahdli,” he whispered near her ear.

Jiandra grimaced, then gave him a half-smile. “Thank you, but no, I’m not.”

“You are to me,” he insisted, grasping her waist and pulling her against his firm body.