The Queen's Assassin (The Queen's Secret #1)(32)

He pulls out the paper and opens it with one hand. “This is fake. A decent one, but fake all the same.”

The fact that he knows that instantly makes my stomach turn. The only reason I wasn’t caught straightaway is because the guard in the wagon was too dull-witted to notice. “We don’t have time to argue. Because there is someone in this prison who was sent here to kill you and it’s not me.”

He looks me up and down. That revelation didn’t get the reaction I wanted. “No, she wouldn’t send you. Who are you really?” He pulls on my wrist and twists it. “A spy?” he demands, scrutinizing my face.

“No!” I pull away from him. He lets me go this time. He does believe me, then. I snatch the paper out of his hand and put it back in my pocket. “I told you! You’re wasting time. The queen sent me to you for training. Getting you out was my first assignment.”

“You’re to be my apprentice?” He looks confused. “She knows I work alone.”

“Look, there’s nothing else I can do to prove it, but if you want to get out of here—”

“Well, first of all, how about giving me your name?” he says. “Since you already know mine.”

“Caledon,” I say, stalling for time.

“Name’s Cal,” he corrects. “No one calls me Caledon but my father and the queen.”

Reluctantly, I answer him. “My name is Shadow of the Honey Glade. My aunts Moriah and Mesha are part of the Guild.” He may not know me, but his father knew my aunts well. I wait for some kind of recognition, but none arrives.

“Shadow. Awfully unusual name for a boy, isn’t it?”

That’s all he has to say? He clearly doesn’t remember me or my aunts. My face burns red. “Maybe because I’m not a boy.”

Then I see it—his face lights up for the first time. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a dirty scrap of fabric, holds it up for me to see. A bit worse for wear, but it’s the handkerchief I gave him in Serrone. “Do you know anything about this?”

“Of course I do. I gave it to you,” I say, and his face changes.

“Why?”

“You saved my life once. And now it’s my turn to save yours.”





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Caledon

“THAT WAS YOU?” HE SAYS. “At the abbey?”

She nods. Cal’s mind is reeling. He can’t reconcile the memory of the strange girl from Baer Abbey with the one in Serrone and the person standing before him now. They were all so different. One a mysterious black-clad combatant, one a demure merchant girl, and now . . . This is who the queen chose as her messenger? Why not send a man from the Guild? The girl’s absurd disguise would barely pass the Guild’s standards . . . It doesn’t make sense to him, any of it, but Queen Lilianna must have her reasons. She always does. And the girl did give him the handkerchief: You’re not alone, she said.

He can see out of the corner of his eye that she’s still shaking. She’s terrified, Cal thinks. And he doesn’t fault her for it. That all could have ended much differently. She’s clearly a novice, but if she’s from a Guild family, she knows exactly who and what he is. He feels sorry for threatening her, but he couldn’t have known. She’ll get over it. She’ll have to if they’re going to get out of here. “Explain the forgery, then.”

“I told you, I had to convince the queen I was worthy, so I had to do everything myself. Now we need to go,” she says. “Listen—I hitched a ride here on a prisoner transport carrying a spy from Montrice. I overheard him talking to the guard, about you and the Aphrasians and Alast. He’s somewhere in this fortress. I think he’s here to kill you.”

A Montrician spy. Of course their enemies have made their move after hearing of the grand prince’s murder. Cal thinks quickly, weighing whether he should stay to take care of this new threat before leaving.

“I know where we can get horses,” she says. “I’ve been working in the stables.”

“You mentioned that.” This is not what he expected when Queen Lilianna said she would send someone for him. But Shadow knows about Montrice. She managed to infiltrate the prison and find him, so he supposes it has to be her. But he can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right, though he can’t be sure if he’s not thinking clearly because of his confinement. “We should deal with the Montrician agent first,” he finally says.

She walks in front of Cal without addressing what he’s said. He follows her into the hall. “Where is he?” Cal asks.

“I haven’t seen him since we got here. But he’s already imprisoned. It’s a waste of time, don’t you think? Why pick a fight we don’t need?”

He’s about to argue, but she’s not wrong, and they need to make their escape soon if they mean to leave undetected. He decides to agree for now.

They descend the tower stairs. “There are two guards stationed at the front,” she says. “But they seem to get bored and wander off a lot. And there’s that card game in the dining hall tonight . . .”

He nods; he’s been keeping tabs as well, and he memorized the map of the castle he’d made when he first arrived. “This way,” he says as he leads them out toward the back.