Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(102)

The Chancellor doesn’t look at her, though. His eyes are on me, wide with shock as his mouth hangs open.

“This isn’t what we planned,” he says, more to himself than to either of us.

“Plans change, Marzen,” she snaps. “You never complained about the way I handled things in the past; I don’t see why you should start now. The pain will end in a moment and then she’ll be out. I’ll stay with her; you go make sure everyone in our entourage is ready to leave immediately. If anyone realizes she’s missing while we’re still here, there will be no escaping.”

For a moment, Marzen doesn’t move. He stays rooted in place, his eyes stuck on me. Another wave of pain washes over me, sending spasms through my body. I scream again, less out of hope that someone will hear and more in order to elicit some amount of sympathy from him.

Whatever sympathy he has, though, it isn’t enough. Tearing his gaze away from me, he looks at his sister and nods.

“Hurry,” he says. “If anyone finds out about this, they won’t let us leave this city alive.”

And then he squares his shoulders and hurries away without a backward glance.

My mind blurs around the edges. The dark spots grow larger. The pain gets worse. I can’t hold on much longer, but I must. I will not be made into someone else’s prisoner again, I will not be played like someone else’s pawn. The next time the pain hits, I hunch forward and scream again, reaching into my dressing gown for the hilt of my dagger. I find it, but my grip is weak. I can barely hold it, light as it is. I don’t know how I’m going to summon the strength to wield it.

I have to, though. There is no other choice. I hold the dagger as tightly as I can before sitting up. I roll my eyes back in my head and let my body go limp, sagging against the bush.

“Finally,” Coltania mutters. I hear her footsteps grow closer and feel her crouch down next to me. I tighten my grip on the dagger, hidden in the fold of my dressing gown. My heart thunders in my chest, all that is keeping me awake and alert now. One chance is all I’ll get.

I remember Artemisia’s lessons, how to hold the blade, where to aim. I remember her stoking my anger, but I don’t need her petty taunts now. Coltania killed Hoa. I see her body in my mind as I last did, the image of her that will never leave me. Coltania killed her, and that knowledge is all the fire I need.

When Coltania reaches under my arms to hoist me up, I take my chance and thrust the dagger into her stomach.

It is not the best place to strike. It is not the heart or the throat or the thigh, any of which Artemisia told me would cause a quick death. Those places are difficult to reach at this angle, difficult to accurately pierce in my current state. The stomach is easy, even if it will be slower. The blade slides in, slicing through skin and muscle like they’re nothing but air.

Coltania gasps in my ear, pulling away from me. Her eyes go wide and panicked as they search my face, struggling to make sense of what I’ve done. I stare right back at her as she slumps to the ground and I fall beside her.

It takes a long time for the life to leave her eyes, but I don’t look away until it has.





I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH TIME passes. I am paralyzed, sitting beside Coltania’s body. Her poison lingers in my veins, blurring my sight and making me dizzy, but the pain at least has stopped. I thank the gods that I didn’t drink more than a couple of sips. I imagine waking up in Oriana, or en route there, alone. Would my Shadows have figured out where I was? I like to think so, but I can’t say for sure. I’m glad I won’t have to find out.

A stick crunches behind me and I whirl my head around, making myself dizzy in the process. There’s no one there, though, only flowers and trees and—I see it now, a telltale shimmer in the air.

“Heron,” I say, bringing my hand up to my heart to slow its frantic beat.

Heron comes into focus, his eyes wide as he takes me in, my bloodstained dressing gown and Coltania dead at my feet, my knife’s hilt still protruding from her belly. I see him piece together what must have happened, though he can’t possibly understand why.

“She was the assassin,” I tell him. “Not working for the Kaiser, though, only for herself and her brother. To make sure I chose him. They grew tired of waiting, so they were going to kidnap me and make me marry him. I…” I trail off. “I did what I had to.”

Heron’s eyes are still wide as the moon overhead, but he nods.

“Come on,” he says, reaching a hand out to me, which I take. His hand envelops mine, an anchor I desperately need right now. “This changes things.”

It’s such an understatement that I nearly laugh out loud. I’d spent days looking over my shoulder, thinking that the Kaiser had found me. That I would never be safe from him. That might still be true, but it isn’t right now. It was never the Kaiser—just a brilliant woman with more ambition than sense. Just a dead woman. A woman I killed. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet—when I think about what I did, I go numb. So I won’t think about it now.

“King Etristo will have to let S?ren out, at least,” I say. “And then we’ll leave, just as we planned.”

Heron leads me back inside and to the riser, where the same attendant is waiting. He takes in my bloodstained clothes and what I’m sure must be my half-wild expression without a word, though someone will be alerted any moment. Then they’ll find Coltania’s body and…