As promised, dinner was brought up to my room by the couple of maids that were promised to me. Even though I was told ahead of time of their presence, the mere sight of them still caught me off-guard. I did not know their names, for they never told them to me, nor did I ask for them. They just quietly set my meal down on the table below the TV before curtseying to me and asking if there was anything else I needed. I told them that I was fine for the moment and that I would call them if I needed anything else.

As they left the room, another thought struck me. They were Caetanian, and though that might not seem significant, to a Xaenovian who was used to their king harboring only foreign maids, seeing that was a refreshing and slightly unnerving sight. Who were these people that I had been hired to kill? I found myself almost wishing there was something sinister about the Caetanian royal family because that would also make my job easier. Could I bring myself to kill an entire royal family who had no shred of malice in their bodies?

Perhaps I have killed honorable civilians before without realizing it. If a client wants someone dead, I am not allowed to ask questions and then pick and choose whom I kill and whom I spare. The occupation of an assassin does not work like that.

After shaking the disturbing thought of my maids from my mind, I made my way to my meal: a slab of greasy, boarish-looking meat, a substance that resembled mashed potatoes in appearance except for the fact the coloring was slightly off, and some sort of stringy, green vegetable. Beside the plate rested a glass of water as well as a fork and a knife.

I tasted the vegetable first and was soon assaulted by a potent, peppery flavor. Such a flavor was so strong I nearly gagged on the vegetable, but I quickly forced it down and then took a sip of my water. It was unlike anything I have ever tasted before, and I found myself wondering if I would be able to hold any of the Caetanian food given to me down.

As it turned out, the first bite was the worst, since I now knew what to expect.

What looked like mashed potatoes turned out to taste as far from mashed potatoes as possible. A coil of sweetness wrapped around my tongue, the taste closely resembling a Xaenovian cookie. The taste itself also shocked me, but I was able to hold it down a lot better than the vegetable.

The last thing I tasted was, of course, the meat, and the taste did remind me a lot of the wild boar back home, though the flavor was grittier. Even the water, much to my surprise, had a different taste to it, purer, as if each sip was individually filtered before it reached my palate.

Once my meal was done, my maids came in once again and cleared away my dishes, and I had a few hours to kill before nightfall came.

Picking up the remote, I leaped onto my bed and turned the TV on. Immediately, sound filled my entire room as the screen flickered on, and right away I saw the reporter front and center who seemed to be standing in front of a forest of some sort. Below the reporter was the headline: KLEKARAK PACK ATTACKS VILLIAGE; ONLY THREE SURVIVORS REMAIN.

I blinked. I had no idea what a klekarak was, but judging by what the reporter was saying, I guessed they were a very dangerous species of animal.

The cameraman soon cut away from the reporter in order to do a sweep of the village. On screen, mangled bodies were scattered throughout the village, some with their limbs missing, and others with half-eaten intestines strewn about. Other bodies were no more than unrecognizable, bloody pulp, and I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest. Not only did Xaenov have nothing like this on its surface, but Xaenovian news teams would never show any graphic images onscreen. The fact that Caetania seemed to do so as casually as they did shocked me.

I turned the TV off before the cameraman panned back towards the reporter and sat bolt-upright. The images on the screen were definitely not the first graphic ones I have seen in my lifetime, but they were the first that I had seen uncensored on national television. Being an assassin, the images themselves were not what unnerved me. What unnerved me was how easily that stuff could be shown to the public eye, and it made me wonder how much more of Caetania would give me a sense of culture shock.

I flopped back down onto my bed and rolled onto my side, choosing to forget about what I had just witnessed. Then, I closed my eyes as I opted to take a nap before I dedicated a good portion of the night to exploring the castle.

***

When I woke, I expected to see the wooden walls of the assassin’s hangout. What I got instead was a mud hut that I did not recognize. I stared up at the ceiling, the little light the room provided causing the shadows to dance.

And that was when I remembered.

I was not on Xaenov. I was on Caetania.

I was supposed to assassinate the Caetanian royal family.

I have never assassinated someone of royalty before.

And if I failed, King Gabrian would have my head.

The clock on my nightstand read that it was just past midnight, and the castle itself—if you could even call this a castle—was eerily quiet. If I wasn’t burdened by the contract I had to fulfill, I would have considered the sudden silence to be somewhat peaceful. But I was still on enemy territory. The Xaenovians and the Caetanians have never truly gotten along, even though we are technically allies, partly because we are the most alike out of all the other inhabited planets.

The Caetanians were under the impression that I was here to make amends on Xaenovian behalf.

How naïve and mistrustful they have proven to be.

I leapt out of bed and padded towards the door. If I am to be sneaking around the castle at night, I need to make as little noise as possible. My bare feet, though cold and numb from the floor, are the least likely to make any sort of noise. I wrenched the door open in front of me as silently as possible and stepped out into the dimly lit hallway.

And nearly ran straight into the back of a guard.

With shock plastered on his face, the guard quickly spun around, pointing the barrel of his gun at me. I stared at him with feigned shock as I went over my options. Of course, I could always disarm him and then kill him, but that would be the messiest of my options and would also blow my cover. My second option, to disarm and then knock him out, though not as messy, would also blow my cover.

Then came my third option. I could try to reason with him, give him a believable excuse that would cover why I was out of bed and wandering the castle at night.

“Ms. Ferring,” the guard said in a voice made of stone, “you are not permitted to be outside your chambers after curfew.”

I did my best to feign confusion. Of course, the idea of curfew was not a foreign concept to me. Xaenov itself even had its own universal curfew, but of course the guard didn’t need to know that.

“You do know what a curfew is, right?” the guard then asked in a mocking tone.

Yes. “Kinda. Xaenov doesn’t really have them,” I said, hoping the guard was all brute force and no brains.

The guard scrutinized me, and for a moment I was afraid he was going to catch my bluff. Within a moment, however, the guard’s demeanor softened as he said, “Yeah, well, we have them here, and it would do you some good to remember where you are.” The last part of his sentence was biting, cold, and somewhat mocking. As if I would ever forget where I was.

“I thought I’d take a walk,” I said then, hoping my mask of innocence still held. “Taking midnight walks helps me unwind.”

The guard stiffened once again. “Curfew is in place for a reason, Ms. Ferring. The only ones permitted to be out after curfew are guards.”

“But it’s important I take my midnight walks,” I persisted, batting my eyelashes at the guard. If I had to play the role of a poor, effeminate female, I would. “I can’t possibly sleep without them.”

The guard would never fully trust me. This I knew simply from the fact he was Caetanian and I was Xaenovian. However, something in him still shifted, and as I looked upon him once more, I could tell he didn’t perceive me as a threat. Me, a lone, weak-bodied female that knew no better than what I grew up with on Xaenov.

It wasn’t that Caetania was a patriarchal society that stirred something within him. In fact, Caetania tended to be more matriarchal than patriarchal, in direct contrast to Xaenov. Still, Caetania hammered into its citizens the idea of male physical strength and female emotional strength. This way of thinking made it very easy to get him to underestimate me and allow me to explore the castle on my own, since it was evident he wasn’t very smart. Also, very few even knew the true gender of the Knife of Kentaurus; most, by default, assumed I was male, and it was probably because of that fact that garnered a bigger reputation for myself than my mere skills as an assassin. Everyone who came across Lynda knew she was female, and therefore many overlooked her killing.

“I didn’t want to be stuck guarding your door all night anyway,” the guard grumbled before turning away from me and sauntering down the hallway, perhaps the rudest dismissal I have ever encountered. Not that I was complaining. Now, I was able to explore the castle freely without a guard breathing down my neck every which way.

I took off in the opposite direction from the guard, scanning the walls for an opening into another hallway. From what I had seen of the castle thus far when being led to my quarters, I knew it was a maze of twists and turns that I could easily get lost in. I needed to calculate my movements carefully and take note of everything so I could retrace my steps. Up ahead, there was one of those openings that led to another hallway, and I banked right as quickly and silently as I could when I reached the turn.

And smacked right in the middle of something heavy.

Surprised, I dug my feet into the ground as much as I could to avoid toppling over when hands reached out to steady me. A looming, black silhouette appeared in front of me.

“Going somewhere?” the silhouette said, clearly unamused.

My breath stilled. I recognized that voice.

The silhouette then took a step back into the dim light of one of the wall lamps, revealing a very serious—and notably very angry—Tyberius. Just my luck.

I schooled my features into a look of nonchalance as I said, “I thought I would take a stroll before bed.”

“At midnight?” Something in the way Tyberius questioned me told me he wouldn’t be as easy to fool as my guard had been. He raised a suspicious eyebrow as if contemplating whether or not he should lock me up for disobedience.

“It helps me unwind,” I explained, plastering what I hoped was a nonthreatening smile. “I always loved the night and looking up at the stars and the moon.” Not a total lie.

“Moons,” Tyberius corrected. “Caetania has three moons.”

I deflated a little. Of course Caetania had more than one moon, and of course Tyberius would be prudish enough to point out such a fact.

“Moons. Right. Really?” I questioned. “That must be such a sight.” Shut up, Astrid!

“Very rarely do we see all of them at once,” said Tyberius. “Even more rarely do we go outside at night, since we would evidently freeze to death, even if we layered our clothing. Which makes me wonder whether you are very stupid for having not researched our planet ahead of time, or you’re hiding something. And unfortunately given your planet’s history, I bet it’s the latter.”

I stiffened at Tyberius’s words before narrowing my eyes. “Careful, captain,” I chastised, removing any semblance of warmth from my tone.

Tyberius regarded me with that same cold stare and scoffed. “Entitled Xaenovian. Remember where you are.”

“And you do well to remember why I’m here,” I fired back, unsure of when we started firing threats at each other. And there was no doubt in my mind we both would have no trouble carrying them out.

Tyberius studied me carefully as if scanning for anything particular. “I will admit, I was expecting someone a little more,” he paused as he searched for the right word, “mousy.”

The word was like a blow to my ego, but I schooled my features in nonchalance. “Then, it seems you know as much about Xaenov that I know of Caetania.”

And then, Tyberius did something I wasn’t expecting. He actually laughed, though admittedly the laugh seemed more mocking than anything else.

At once, he stopped as another thought came to him. “How did you even get out?” he inquired, genuinely curious, not in an accusing tone. “King Lucian specifically ordered for a guard to be stationed at your door at all times.”

“Maybe you should hire better guards,” I said with a mischievous smile.

Tyberius, however, didn’t look amused as his eyes narrowed at me, and for a moment, I feared I had inadvertently blown my cover. Yet, he soon sighed as his posture slackened. “Follow me,” he said as he began to move down the hall.

I stayed rooted to my spot as I watched him. After all, he could have decided to lead me to their dungeon for all I knew. Yet, something about his demeanor didn’t suggest I was under arrest. In fact, he looked…tired.

Tyberius stole a glance at me from over his shoulder once he realized I wasn’t following him. “Are you coming?”

“Where are you taking me?” I blurted without entirely thinking. I hated that I sounded so unsure of myself, like a little kid  caught doing something wrong.

If it wasn’t for the poor lighting, I would have been sure a small smile briefly appeared on Tyberius’s lips. “Back to your room,” he said, “where I will be guarding you the rest of the night.”

Instantly, I felt myself deflate as I forced my legs to move. If Tyberius was now guarding my door, there would be no chance of me getting out again to explore more. “I think I liked my other guard better,” I said, and this time, there was no mistaking it. The smile returned.

“Because he let you wander around with no supervision?” Typerius said. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Because I’m an entitled Xaenovian?” I said, throwing his words back in his face.

Tyberius barked out a laugh, which seemed so uncharacteristic for him that I came to a standstill. Within a moment, he schooled his features into a look of indifference as he said, “Still, he abandoned his post, which he’ll be punished for and, if he’s still with the guard after his punishment has been dished out, he’ll be reassigned.”

“Of course,” I said once I broke out of my stupor. “Well, lead the way, o’ mighty protector!”

Tyberius just shook his head as he started moving down the hallway once again. For the rest of the walk, neither of us spoke, but the silence felt far from uncomfortable. Periodically, I stole glances at him as we moved silently through the castle, noting how much he confused me. The Tyberius from tonight was in direct contrast to the Tyberius I first came into contact with when I landed in Caetania, and it made me wonder if, given another life without the circumstances that brought us here in the first place, we could have actually been friends.

Tyberius soon stopped right outside my door, and I took a hesitant step forward as I reached for the handle. However, before I could return to safety, Tyberius’s hand snaked out and clutched my wrist, and his eyes bore into mine. Despite the fact he was above average height for a Caetanian male and I was below average height for a Xaenovian female, I still felt like he towered over me, even though he only had a couple inches on me.

I soon was overly aware of the nearness of our bodies, of the heat pulsating between us as he held my wrist mere centimeters from the doorknob. For a moment, neither of us spoke as we were lost in an unsuspecting trance. Soon, however, Tyberius broke that trance when he unclutched my wrist and drew his hand away.

“Promise me you won’t go wandering around at night again,” he said, all business mode once again. “If you’re that curious about the castle, I’ll take you on a tour myself.”

I blinked, sure I had misheard him. After all, why would a mistrustful Caetanian guard offer to give a Xaenovian woman a tour of his castle? Instantly, I searched his eyes for any form of deceit, finding none.

He was…genuine in his offer.

Which meant even though he doesn’t trust me, he doesn’t suspect who I really am or what I’m really here to do.

And as he stepped aside to let me enter my chambers, I realized he may actually have taken a liking to me during our brief interaction tonight.

And that realization was dangerous, for it made what I actually came here to do that much harder.

Next Chapter: CHAPTER FIVE