Night Study (3 page)

2

VALEK

A
s he prepared for the trip, Valek’s mind whirled with the implications of becoming a father, even though he knew Yelena might not be pregnant. Just the thought of a baby sent a giddy, wild happiness mixed with fear pulsing through his veins. No surprise his immediate instinct was the intense desire to protect both his heart mate and the baby. He imagined locking them both in a tower so no one could harm them. Pure fantasy at best.

His second reaction was to plan the logistics. Yelena would stay with him, of course, and they’d raise the baby together. Where would they live? In the Commander’s castle? No. In their cabin in the Featherstone Clan lands? No. That location was too well-known. And what if he was on assignment for the Commander?

Valek banished all his crazy thoughts with effort. Yelena needed to be a part of this discussion. And he needed to confirm a suspicion.

When he’d finished gathering supplies, he searched for Onora. She had offered to get the horses ready. Leaning on the side of the stable, Valek studied Onora as she groomed Onyx. The black horse allowed her to inspect the underside of his hooves, lifting each in turn. Kiki and The Madam grazed nearby in the farm’s pasture. Their coats gleamed. In order for each member of their traveling party to have a mount, Onora had picked a chestnut-colored Thoroughbred from those Owen had left behind. The gelding displayed a gentle manner and appeared to be strong and healthy. Valek approved of her choice.

Just about everything was ready for their trip east. They would leave at dawn and set a fast pace to catch up to his operatives already in the field. The Commander wouldn’t be happy about the delay. Valek straightened as anger rolled through him. If the Commander had confided in him, this entire fiasco would never have happened, and Yelena wouldn’t have been in danger. Instead the Commander chose to reveal his plans only to Onora, the twenty-year-old assassin whose sole desire was to take Valek’s place.

At this point in time, Valek would be happy to give it to her. The Commander has been using her to test Valek’s loyalty for the past month. First by attacking Yelena, to determine if Valek would disobey a direct order, and then with a fake assassination attempt on the Commander. Tiresome, to say the least. Then the Commander assigned him the task of shutting down a new smuggling route into Ixia without informing him of crucial details...

Valek drew in a deep breath to calm the rising fury. No need to waste the energy now. He planned to confront the Commander on his return. In the meantime, he needed to clarify one vital detail with, as Janco liked to call her, Little Miss Assassin.

Onora glanced up as he approached. She continued to comb Onyx’s tail, but a wariness crept into her gray eyes despite her attempts to neutralize her expression. Barefoot even in the cold air, Onora had pulled her long brown hair away from her narrow face. A pretty girl and almost unflappable, it was difficult to discern Onora’s thoughts.

“The horses are almost ready.” She pointed to Kiki. “She won’t let me put shoes on her.”

Her horse knowledge must be considerable if Onora felt comfortable enough to shoe a horse. “Kiki’s a Sandseed horse—they dislike shoes,” Valek said.

“Yeah, she made that quite clear.” Onora pushed up the sleeve on her right arm, revealing a bright red, horse-teeth-shaped bruise.

Valek suppressed a smile. “That’s not for the shoes. Sandseed horses also have a keen sense of smell. That bite is for shooting Yelena with an arrow. Be glad she didn’t decide to kick the side of your head in, as well.”

Kiki snorted as if in agreement. Onora shifted away from Onyx’s hindquarters. She tensed, probably sensing from Valek’s tone that he wasn’t there to talk about horses. The young assassin had helped rescue Yelena and Janco from Owen, which weighed in her favor, and she had been acting on the Commander’s orders when she shot his heart mate. Valek, more than anyone else, understood the advantages and disadvantages of being loyal to the Commander. However, he suspected Onora had lied to him about a few details.

Valek strode right up to her. “The Commander didn’t give you that arrow, did he?”

Dropping the comb, she reached for her knives, but Valek already had his pressed to her throat. She froze. Smart girl.

“
You
filled the arrow with starlight, hoping Yelena would become pregnant, hoping I’d be happy to retire from my position to raise a family.”

Onora didn’t deny it.

“Are you that hungry for my job?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Show me.”

She hesitated.

“Show me or I’ll slice your tunic open.”

Giving him a nasty glare, she yanked down the collar of her shirt. A purple C-shaped scar marked her chest. From his own experience with scars, he calculated that it’d been done approximately six months ago. Probably when she first started working for the Commander. Emotions boiled in his stomach. Betrayal and relief dominated. Betrayal over the Commander marking another without discussing it with Valek or even informing him. Relief that he no longer needed to fear for the Commander’s safety whenever Onora was near him, because she had given her life and loyalty to the Commander.

Onora braced for his reaction.

“That scar won’t protect you from
me
. Don’t lie to me again. Understand?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He pressed harder. Blood welled under the sharp blade.

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Leif asked.

In one quick motion, Valek sheathed his knife and stepped away from Onora. Leif, Devlen and Yelena hurried to join them. Color had returned to Yelena’s cheeks. It was much better than the deathly paleness that had clung to her skin over the past few days. Of course, it would be even better if she wasn’t staring daggers at him. Probably not a good time to inform her that the Commander and Onora had plotted against her.

“Haven’t you assassinated enough people today?” Leif glared at him, then yanked out a handkerchief to dab at the blood on Onora’s throat. “It looks shallow, but I should put a poultice on it just in case.”

Onora shooed him off. “I’m fine.”

Uncertain about what had caused all this hostility, Valek mulled over Leif’s question. “Who died?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t play the innocent, Mr.
Assassin
,” Leif said. “I get that you’re all protective of my sister and think anyone who hurts her should die. But they had vital information that could have led us to Owen, you idiot!”

Ah. “All three?”

Leif opened his mouth, but Yelena stopped him. “Yes, Ben, Loris and Cilly.”

While not in the least bit upset over their deaths, Valek did regret not having more time to “talk” with them. He’d used goo-goo juice on Ben to learn the location of the escape tunnel’s exit point, but by the time he’d returned from his failed attempt to track Owen, the Sitian authorities had arrived.

Valek suppressed the urge to glance at Onora. Was she responsible? And, if so, was she acting on her own or following the Commander’s orders? Now was not the time to ask. “How were they killed?” he asked Leif instead.

Leif huffed in annoyance, but Devlen said, “Puncture wound to the jugular. They died of rapid blood loss.”

Yelena touched her neck—a gesture her mother often used when feeling anxious or vulnerable.

None of the assassins he knew killed that way. “Sound familiar?” he asked Yelena.

“When The Mosquito attacked me, he aimed an ice pick at my neck. If he’d succeeded, I probably would have died the same way,” she said.

Valek vowed to find the assassin and squash him. But first... “Didn’t Bruns Jewelrose hire him to target you?” Another whom Valek needed to have a little chat with—he planned to let the sharp point of his knife do all the talking in that conversation.

Her hand remained around her throat. “Yes. Do you think Bruns sent him after the magicians? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t. And an assassin rarely works for one client. Owen has the most to lose if they talked to the Council. Plus, he has the money to hire The Mosquito,” Valek speculated.

“He wouldn’t kill his own
brother
,” Leif said. “He rescued Ben from Wirral Prison.”

“Which alerted the authorities,” Valek said.

“Who would have lost him if Ben had not gone after Yelena,” Devlen added.

“Brothers,” Yelena said, gazing at Leif pointedly, “can be troublesome and have the tendency to jump to conclusions. You need to apologize to Valek.”

Leif crossed his arms as two red splotches spread on his cheeks. “It wasn’t a jump. It was a perfectly reasonable assumption. One you made, too.”

“I suspected Valek, as well,” Devlen said. He towered about six inches over Leif, and his blue-eyed gaze held contrition.

“No need for apologies.” Valek considered. “I don’t suppose they would let me examine the crime scene?”

“That would be...unwise at this time,” Devlen said. “They would not even let me near it or the bodies.”

Which meant Captain Fleming suspected Valek and would probably report his suspicions to the Council. “Should we leave tonight?”

“No,” Yelena said. “By the time they make a decision, we’ll be in Ixia.” Her matter-of-fact tone belied her heated gaze. She hadn’t forgotten his promise.

Warmth spread throughout his chest. He’d risk being arrested for a night alone with Yelena. Hell, he’d risk his life. Once they left in the morning, there would be no privacy on the road.

Yet there was no sense in taking an
unnecessary
risk. Setting a watch tonight would provide Valek with ample time to escape should the captain decide to arrest him. “All right, we’ll proceed as planned. Onora, where’s Janco? I thought he was helping you with the horses.”

She gestured to a two-story barn to the left. “He’s pouting.”

Should he even bother to ask?

Yelena did. “About what?” She fed an apple to Kiki, who cleaved the fruit in half with one bite.

Onora rubbed her right arm as she watched Kiki chew. “He wanted to name the horse we’re taking with us ‘Beach Bunny,’ after some stuffed rabbit he had growing up, and I said it was a stupid name for a horse. Then he claimed, if it was his horse, he could name it anything he wanted, and I said he should ride The Madam because she’s the easiest to handle, and—”

“You offended his pride and he stalked away in a huff,” Yelena finished.

“Yup.”

As Yelena scratched Kiki in all her favorite spots, Valek gestured for Onora to follow him to the barn. He stopped outside the oversize doors that had been painted green with white trim.

“Tell Janco to set up a watch schedule for tonight. I’ll take the last shift,” he said.

“Should he include Yelena?”

“No. She needs her rest.”

Onora bit her lip, clamping down on the question dancing behind her eyes—was Yelena with child? Valek walked away without answering. It was too soon to tell, and, as far as he was concerned, Onora would be the last to know. Though a part of him was impressed by the twenty-year-old’s ambition and cunning, he also wished to throttle her. But the Commander had chosen her as Valek’s successor. And now it was up to Valek to decide if he agreed.

* * *

Valek rattled the doorknob so he wouldn’t scare Yelena. She lay in bed reading, but she glanced up from her book when he entered. He recognized it as the plant guide her father had given her.

“What took you so long?” she asked, setting the book on the night table with a thump. The low flame in the lantern jumped.

He’d been checking the perimeter, confirming the gates had all been locked and the buildings secured while Janco did a sweep of the surrounding forest. “Ensuring Captain Fleming isn’t at the gate with an arrest warrant.”

“Good.” She peeled back the covers, exposing her naked body. “Join me.”

His heart thudded so hard he feared his sternum would crack in two. Breathing became difficult, and the desire to rip the rest of the blanket off and press her to him trembled through his body. Yet he remained rooted in place. She needed to know about the starlight and Onora.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to tell you—”

“Is it important?”

“Yes.”

Yelena pulled the blanket up, covering herself. “All right, tell me.”

He kicked off his boots and lay down next to her. She scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. Valek informed her of Onora’s nasty little trick.

“I’m going to wring her neck,” Yelena muttered after he’d finished.

“You can try. I doubt you’d get close to her.”

“Is that why you had the knife at Onora’s throat?”

“Yes. She needed to understand that will be the last time she lies to me. And I needed to remind her who is in charge.”

“Until the Commander says otherwise.”

“True.”

“And will you take orders from her?”

“No. By that time, I suspect I’ll be taking orders from another woman.”

Yelena lifted her head from his chest and met his gaze. “Is that so? What type of orders?”

“You have a dirty mind, love. I’m thinking of orders to change a diaper or rock a baby to sleep. Things like that.”

“Not near as exciting as assassinating a criminal.”

“Not as dangerous, either. Besides, I think the teen years could be quite exciting. No one is going to mess with my son or daughter.”

She laughed. “You can’t assassinate bullies or boys who kiss your daughter.”

“Pity.”

A brief smile flashed, then she grew contemplative. “Since I was hit with starlight, that increases the possibility I’m pregnant. What will we do?”

“I expect we’ll do what most people do in that situation—become a family.”

“Easier said than done.”

“We’ll figure this out—I promise.” He pulled her tight against him.

She snuggled in and fell asleep. Valek took comfort in the steady rise and fall of her chest, but far too soon, it was his turn on watch. He slipped from her embrace, pulled his boots on and searched for Janco.

A half-moon cast enough light to avoid tripping and walking into tree trunks. Valek found Janco near the glass house. Condensation misted the outside panels of the structure. Inside, coals burned to keep it warm, and the pans of water added moisture to the air. Leif had been maintaining the equipment in order to keep the plants alive until his father arrived. The whole idea of the house and growing Curare far from the jungle was genius. He wondered if Owen had the original notion, or if the Commander had speculated about the possibility and sent Owen to put it all together.