Excerpt

Note for Readers: Adelei is a 19 year old Amaskan—a sort of holy assassin who serves Justice rather than Vengeance. Amaskans are marked with a tattoo on their jaw at their initiation and as they see their job as a calling, this mark has deep significance for them. Adelei's being sent on a job she doesn't want to do by her adoptive father. Bredych is the Grand Master of the Order of Amaska, & is trying to help his daughter understand the importance of her mission.

Adelei followed Bredych as he led his horse to one of the gentler courses. His hand rubbed his right knee, but when he caught her watching him, he turned his attention to the horse's reins. She hadn't thought that crossbow bolt to the joint bothered him anymore. He got it trying to escape Alexandrian guards, damned fool. Amaskans don't cross that border. The corners of her lips slipped down into a grimace.

"There are things you must know about this job, Adelei. I know you have questions, and I will tell you what I can."

"Yes, Master."

Bredych turned sharp flint eyes on her and squinted. "Come now, daughter. Surely we can speak candidly." He kicked his horse into a healthy trot.

Her response was to stand up in the stirrups and release the reins. The move was a risk with sore muscles and her body lacking sleep, but she held a twisted enjoyment in showing off. When he uttered a single word, her horse shifted into a canter, and she wobbled. Youth and experience held her in place until they passed a clearing, and Adelei returned to the saddle. Her thighs ached, heavy with sleep toxins, but the feeling meant she was alive.

At least for now. If she was sent to Alexander—

He interrupted her thoughts with a whisper. "I regret sending you to Alexander. I don't do this by choice, Adelei, but necessity makes fools of us all. How much do you remember from your childhood?"

"You mean my time before the Order?" He nodded, and she closed her eyes a moment. Brief snatches of memories: a forest, being cold, her mother's voice, a doll. Adelei shook her head. "Not a lot. Just brief bits and pieces really."

His hands played with the black threads weaving circles in the reins. "I've never kept it a secret from you, how you got here."

"You mean how that man—my birth father—" The word was poison on her lips. "—sold me into slavery to keep his kingdom from war?" Bredych shifted his weight in the saddle, and she sucked in a swift intake of air. "Is he why I'm going back?"

Her father didn't answer, but she'd wait him out. They passed several Amaskans on the trail as they rounded a corner. "Your father has ordered you home."

"What right does he have—he's not even my father—"

"Adelei, he knows our location, the Order—" She caught her breath. "— If I don't send you home, he'll disclose it to the Boahim Senate. The entire Order would be at risk."

"King or not, he's a client, nothing more. He can't possibly know our location. Why entertain his desires?"

Master Bredych shook his bald head. "He sent...someone directly into the Order. Someone I'd not seen in a long time. When he says he knows our location, he knows."

When her mount danced, she found her fingers wrapped in a death grip around the reins. She relaxed and stretched them until they regained a healthier pink color.

"There's another reason why I'm agreeing to this charade," said her master. "There are rumors. People believe that your fa—" she scowled, and he corrected himself, "—King Leon is adjusting his borders. It's not something the Order would normally get involved in, but there are some who believe he may be gearing up for another war with the Shadians. True or not, if his military is accumulating land by way of dead farmers, that would be something worth knowing. Go ahead. I can see the question on the tip of your tongue."

"Father, I-I understand the need to investigate this, but sending me into Alexander is a death sentence. Even if the King ordered me there, I'd never make it across the border. One look at my jaw and the people of Alexander would kill me before I was allowed to reach their capital city. I can't go back there, certainly not to a man who sold me. I want nothing to do with this."

"The Order requires you to complete this job."

"Is there even a job to take? Is the Princess really under attack, or is that a guise to force your hand? Did you even think of that, Father?"

His sigh was one of reflex, an action so engrained in her memories she could picture it without trying: the slump of his shoulders, one of which bore a spider-webbed scar from an arrow; the way he closed his eyes right before the exhale; and the slight tick near his mouth as he prepared his argument. His fingers held too tight to his reins until she apologized. "As far as we know," he answered, "There have been attempts on the Princess's life. And yes, we investigated them. At high cost, too."

The rolling hills gave way to rockier terrain as they approached the coastline. The Harren Sea stretched out before them, a hazy blue-gray with white tipped peaks scattered here and there. Instead of turning with the trail, Adelei pulled the mare to a stop to watch the smaller waves break across the rocks up ahead. How could she leave this? The spray filled the air with the smell of salt and seaweed.

"Every time I look across this ocean, I think of you, Father. When I first came here, I was so young. My mind was confused, like the waves. I thought the ocean was ugly. Grey and gloomy. Depressing." Adelei dismounted and gave the mare lead enough to munch on the tall grass nearby. When he stepped up beside her, she lifted a hand to his face and stared into his blue-grey eyes. "I've grown to love the grey."

Tears welled up and threatened to spill over his wrinkled lids. "I have no choice, Adelei. If I could undo this, I would."

"This is my home. My family. I'd be leaving this forever." She'd be leaving him forever. A lump rose in her throat then, and she inhaled deeply of the sea air to cover it.

"You're the best Amaskan I've ever trained, daughter, and I need you to be the best. Return to your birth father. Protect the Princess from these assassination attempts. Find out what beast swims within the murk."

Adelei tossed a stone into the ocean where it sank beneath the waves. "How did King Leon find out our location?"

Bredych lowered his frame to the ground, his knees popping as he crossed his legs. "I don't know."

His fingers traced patterns in the dirt. He was lying. He always doodled when he was hiding something. "Father, the Boahim Senate has come after the us before. What's changed? Let them come."

"I'm too old to start a war against the Senate, Adelei. We kill because Anur says we must, for Justice—not even the Senate can change that—but if we compromise the location of the Order, we put at risk not just Amaskans, but anyone who has ever hired us, anyone who has ever cried out for our help. Even the Gods themselves may not be safe."

The air cast a chill about Adelei, and she pulled her black cloak tighter around her shoulders. How can Gods not be safe? Something about the way his jaw pulsed kept her from asking, though she itched to do so. She gazed at the ocean and waited. Maybe time would loosen his tongue.

The tide rolled in while their horses grazed until the sun's passage and their growling stomachs reminded them that life continued. As they gathered up their mounts, her father finally spoke. "You wanted to know how you're going to get into the Kingdom of Alexander."

"Yes."

She saw the knife too late, its metal glinting in the setting sun. By then his hand had already moved between the distance, and the blade peeled across her jaw. Adelei didn't shout, didn't scream though she ground her teeth and clenched her fingers into fists. Grand Master Bredych held the knife before him, a thin slice of her skin dangling from it. Blood ran down her jaw to land, hidden on her cloak.

Her tattoo was gone.