Queen of Secrets

2

I nodded as I began pacing the room while making a plan of action. “I’ll conduct my own investigation as well. Find out who the spy is working for. Post extra guards on my door, along with the royal quarters. If they want me dead, they might want Balsam or Fellina dead too.”

Garon stared at me the entire time, as if entranced. “Sun and Moon, how I’ve missed you.”

I stopped pacing, my eyes narrowing. “Is that so? Because I clearly remember you were the one who ended things between us three years ago and then disappeared from my life without a trace.”

“Dahlia…” His voice grew rough. “I’ve regretted that decision every day of my life.”

“Then why did you do it?” I asked, my chest tightening.

“Because we both knew it had to end.”

“It didn’t,” I protested feebly, as all the emotions I’d smothered for the last three years came flaring back to life.

“You’re a princess. I’m the son of a servant.”

“I never cared about any of that.”

He moved closer and took my hands in his gloved ones. “You’re betrothed to a prince. I’m an assassin.”

I swallowed. “But—”

“I ended it because I realized no matter how much we loved each other we could never be together. Not in a way that was fair to either of us.” He drew in a ragged breath as he squeezed my hands. “How could I watch you marry another man? I couldn’t. And neither of us would forgive ourselves for having a secret affair. I decided it was better to cut things off completely rather than torture us both for the rest of our lives. Even if I knew I would never stop loving you.”

He still loves me, a hopeful voice whispered in my head. “I would have called off the engagement. We could have found a way to be together.”

“How?” He shook his head. “Your duty is to your kingdom. And my duty…my duty is making sure you’re safe and happy.”

I looked up into his dark eyes. “The only time I’ve ever been truly happy is with you.”

Our history together beckoned me toward him and I moved close, unable to stop the magnetic pull between us. I’d spent my entire life in love with Garon. I couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t owned a piece of my heart. And even though I understood why he’d broken things off between us, I’d never gotten over him. I feared I never would.

He drew closer too, like he couldn’t help himself either, and he took my shoulders in his hands. His head lowered and my eyes fixed on his mouth, that mouth that had once taught me the meaning of pleasure, as it moved toward my own. Three years of trapped longing, anger, and sadness welled up inside me, ready to burst free at the touch of his lips.

But then he stepped back and released me with the shake of his head. “Nothing has changed. I will always love you, Dahlia. But once I find out who hired me to kill you, we can never see each other again.”

Without another word, he moved to my window and slipped through it like a ghost, before vanishing into the night—and breaking my heart all over again.

Two

Garon

I

dashed through the dark streets of Ralston, my head reeling, my heart aching, and my body tensed to fight. The Ravens had sent me to kill Dahlia, my childhood best friend and my first and only love. The girl I would have married if our lives had been different. The princess who should have been off-limits for the Ravens.

Kabel—the leader of the Ravens and my stepfather—must have given me this assignment to test my loyalty because he knew I would fail. I grew angry again just thinking about it. Who could possibly want to kill Dahlia—and why? And how could Kabel agree to it?

I wove down back alleys, leaped onto roofs, and moved like a shadow through the night, taking care that not a single soul noticed me. Only then did I approach the plain door hidden in a forgotten corner of the city. I rapped my fingers on the door in a series of different knocks and waited for the response. After a few moments I heard the scrape of a lock, before an older blond woman with arms as muscular as mine opened the door. I gave her a nod as she stepped back, letting me inside. Traya had been a member of the Ravens for as long as I’d been alive and wasn’t one for small talk, though we’d always gotten along well.

“They’re waiting for you,” Traya said.

“I imagine they are,” I muttered, before striding down the dark stone hallway illuminated by a single brazier. And they’re going to give me some answers.

The Ravens was a secret guild composed of thieves, spies, and assassins, all working as mercenaries for the highest bidder. I’d been a member since I was fourteen, after my mother died of pneumonia. She’d married Kabel a year earlier, while my father had passed away when I was young. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever loved Kabel, though he could have a charming way about him when he tried. If nothing else, she’d thought a life with Kabel would be better than one she could provide for me as a servant in the castle. How wrong she was.

Of course, I’d enjoyed growing up in the castle, even as servants. Dahlia and I were born only a few months apart and Queen Lily was kind enough to let me join the young princess in her studies and playtime. We became fast friends and were inseparable for most of our lives, but when we became teenagers our feelings evolved into more. While I was training to be an assassin and she was learning her role as a princess, we met up at midnight outside the city and stole kisses in hidden crevices of the castle. At first we got swept up in our forbidden romance, but deep down we both knew it could never last.