CHAPTER 70
1537 Words
The chamber was colder than usual, though no window stood open. The councilors sat in restless silence, the echo of yesterday’s riot still hanging between them.
Elise entered without ceremony, cloak sliding from her shoulders. She did not bow. She did not need to.
“Lady Becky,” she said, her voice carrying in the still air, “you lit a fire in the market. It burned only your hands.”
Becky rose slowly, every movement deliberate, her smile brittle but shining.
“You mistake me for someone who fears smoke. The council saw chaos, Elise. That is enough. Chaos always demands control.”
“Control,” Elise repeated, tilting her head. “Or chains?”
A ripple passed through the councilors. Luka’s eyes narrowed from his post at Becky’s side, but he said nothing.
“You speak boldly,” Becky countered. “But words do not save reputations. Proof does. And what proof do you offer, Elise? A broken man’s cry in a marketplace?”
Elise stepped closer, parchment in hand. “Not one man. Six. All in custody. All naming you.”
She dropped the parchment onto the council table. The seal cracked like a whip in the silence.
For the first time, Becky’s smile wavered. Just slightly.
Antechamber – Later
Luka closed the door behind them, his voice low, sharp.
“She’s dismantling you piece by piece.”
Becky’s eyes blazed. “She’s forcing us into the open. Good. Let her.”
Her hands trembled once, then stilled as she gripped the chair before her. “If she wants a war of proof, I’ll give her one that bleeds.”
“Meaning?” Luka pressed.
She turned to him, expression like glass about to break.
“Meaning Elise doesn’t walk into tomorrow’s council alive.”
Outer Wall – Nightfall
The sky was bruised with clouds, lanterns flickering against the rising wind. Elise stood as she always did, her gaze on the city below.
Kai approached, tension in his stride.
“They’re cornered. That makes them dangerous.”
“That makes them predictable,” Elise corrected.
“You think Becky will strike openly?”
“No,” Elise said softly. “Not openly. She’ll send blades in the dark. That’s the language she trusts.”
Kai’s jaw tightened. “Then we guard you twice over.”
Elise’s gaze did not shift from the city. “No. We guard the council. If they fall, her lies will root again. I’ll take my chances with shadows.
The storm wind whipped Becky’s hair across her face, but she did not move. Luka lingered behind her, restless.
“You’re certain?” he asked.
She turned, eyes like shards of obsidian.
“Tomorrow, Elise breathes her last. And if I must drown this city in whispers and blood to see it done—so be it.”
The next day,
Elise walked between Kai and Mira as the council’s doors opened. Councilors filtered in with guarded faces, their whispers like dry leaves.
Nothing seemed amiss. Until it did.
A servant carrying a tray stumbled near the dais. The silver cover slid halfway off, clattering against stone.
Kai’s hand shot out—too fast for chance. He pulled Elise back just as a knife, thin and black as ink, flicked free from under the tray.
The servant was no servant. His strike was clean, professional. The blade missed Elise’s throat by a whisper.
“Guards!” Mira’s voice cracked like lightning.
The man didn’t wait. He spun, throwing another dagger toward the benches. It whistled past a councilor’s ear, embedding itself into wood with a violent thud.
Chaos erupted.
Inside the Council Hall,
Kai forced Elise behind him, sword drawn, every muscle wound like steel.
The assassin ducked under a guard’s halberd, fluid as water, cutting the man down at the leg without killing him—just enough to clear a path.
Elise’s eyes followed his movements, mind racing. He wasn’t aiming to s*******r indiscriminately. He had one purpose. One target.
“Me,” she murmured.
The assassin lunged again. This time Elise met him halfway. She sidestepped, grabbing the corner of the heavy parchment table, and slammed it forward. The wood struck his ribs with a c***k, driving him back a pace.
Still, he didn’t break. He came at her again, fast, too fast—
Until Kai intercepted, blade sparking against the dagger in a shower of light.
“Move!” Kai barked.
The assassin twisted away, agile as smoke, slipping toward the shadows.
But Elise was already moving. She tore the lantern from the wall, smashing it to the floor. Flame bloomed in a sudden roar, blocking his exit.
The assassin froze, calculating.
Councilors shouted, some scrambling for the doors. Becky sat perfectly still in her chair, her expression schooled to neutrality, though her eyes gleamed with something darker.
The assassin hesitated, knife raised but path cut.
“Unmask him,” Elise commanded.
The guards pressed closer, hemming him in against the wall. For the first time, his composure faltered. His gaze flicked toward Becky—just for a heartbeat.
But Elise saw it.
Kai lunged, pinning the man’s arm with brutal precision. The dagger clattered to the floor. Mira seized his mask, ripping it free.
A scarred face glared back at them, teeth bared like an animal.
“Who sent you?” Elise demanded.
He spat blood onto the floor, eyes wild but defiant. “The one who’ll bury you.”
Kai’s blade pressed to his throat. “Name.”
The man only laughed—a low, broken sound—as guards dragged him away.
From across the chamber, Becky exhaled slowly, relief hidden behind her mask of calm. Her assassin had failed, but not completely. Doubt had been sown. Fear had taken root.
And in her mind, only one thought pulsed like a drumbeat:
Next time, Elise won’t be so lucky.
The city hadn’t calmed since the attack. Rumors spread like wildfire, feeding on fear. Elise could feel it in the stares that followed her carriage, the way shutters closed as she passed.
Kai sat across from her, jaw clenched, one hand never straying far from his sword. Mira rode outside on horseback, scanning rooftops.
“They’ll try again,” Kai muttered. “Assassins never fail just once. If he didn’t finish the job, someone else will.”
Elise tightened her grip on the leather seat. She didn’t argue—because she felt it too.
The carriage turned into a narrow street lined with market stalls. Night was falling, and the air smelled of smoke and fried bread. For a heartbeat, it felt almost normal.
Then the world exploded.
The first arrow punched through the carriage wall inches from Elise’s head. The second shattered the driver’s spine. He toppled with a scream, reins slipping from his hands.
The horses reared, the carriage jolting violently as it slammed into a stall. Crates burst open, spilling fruit across the cobblestones.
“Down!” Kai roared, throwing himself over Elise as more arrows ripped through the wood.
Mira’s voice shouted above the chaos, steel ringing as she fought unseen figures darting between rooftops.
The attackers weren’t lone assassins. They were a unit—four, maybe five, all masked, moving with soldier-like precision. Two with bows, two with curved blades closing in through the smoke.
Elise pushed Kai off her and rolled, ducking as a sword hacked into the carriage where her head had been. Splinters flew.
Her training screamed at her: move or die.
She seized a fallen spear from a guard’s body, pivoted, and thrust upward. The assassin hissed as the point sliced across his shoulder.
Kai was already a whirlwind, blade flashing silver in the firelight, cutting down one attacker with brutal efficiency. Blood sprayed the cobbles.
But the others didn’t falter.
From above, a clay jar sailed down. It shattered against the wrecked carriage. Flames roared up, turning the entire street into a wall of fire.
The assassins wanted to box them in—burn them alive if the blades didn’t finish the job.
“Elise, with me!” Kai shouted, cutting a path through the flames.
But Elise’s eyes locked on Mira. She was outnumbered, pressed back toward a collapsing stall, blades slashing at her from both sides.
If I run, she dies.
Without thinking, Elise sprinted toward Mira.
A dagger grazed her arm, hot pain streaking across skin, but she didn’t slow. She swung her stolen spear like a staff, slamming one attacker off-balance long enough for Mira to drive her sword through his gut.
The others cursed, retreating into the smoke as the fire climbed higher.
By the time the city guard arrived, the assassins were gone—vanished into alleys and rooftops. Only the dead remained.
Elise stood in the center of the wreckage, blood running down her arm, chest heaving.
“They didn’t just want me dead,” she whispered. “They wanted to make a spectacle of it.”
Kai sheathed his sword with shaking hands. “Then someone powerful ordered this.”
From the shadows at the far end of the street, a figure watched silently. Becky. Her lips curled ever so slightly before she slipped away into the night.
- Writer
