Better safe than sorry…
He followed the wide ornate hallway that was lined with state portraits of ancestors he couldn’t keep track of, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The white walls and floors glistened to such an extent, he could see his black clothes outlined like a mirror. The scent of the myriad of fresh flowers draping from elaborate bronze vases hung in his nostrils.
You’re being stupid. There’s nothing here. Just an overactive imagination fueled by gross paranoia.
He was outside his father’s bedroom and about to go find his maid after all when he heard something fall.
A second later, his father called out for help.
5
Caillen tried the door. It was locked. He could hear them fighting on the other side as his father called for security. Grinding his teeth, he kicked the door open. His foot stung from the impact as the door slammed back against the wall with a resounding crash. The force of his strike caused the door to leave its hinges and clatter against the checkered black-and-white marble floor.
Inside, a masked assassin had his father against the wall as they fought.
Without hesitation, Caillen shot across the distance and grabbed the assassin from behind. The assassin turned on him with a curse and slashed out at him with a dagger.
Caillen jumped back and caught his wrist as the assassin tried to stab him. With a quick glance down at their entwined hands, he curled his lip. He knew the black-bladed dagger well. A League weapon, the blade was coated with a toxin so potent one scratch would kill him. Head butting the assassin, he made sure to keep his hand locked on the man’s wrist and the blade away from his skin.
The assassin stomped his foot.
“Pansy puss. What kind of girl move is that?” Caillen threw his arm up and punched him in the throat.
The assassin wheezed.
Caillen snapped his wrist so hard, he felt the bone break in his grip. The knife hit the marble with a thud as the assassin cried out in pain. Kicking it toward his father, he flipped the assassin onto his back and pinned him to the floor. The assassin tried to squirm or punch out of his hold, but it was one Caillen had used many times on Kasen.
No one could break out of it.
Well, maybe Nykyrian. But thankfully this asshole wasn’t as lethal.
His father called for security over the intercom.
Caillen grimaced at his father’s compassion. “Be easier if you let me kill him.”
The assassin continued to struggle against him like a dying fish trying to get back into water. Caillen held him fast.
Coughing to clear his bruised throat, his father shook his head. “I want the pleasure of seeing him executed.”
And he’d rather have the pleasure of gutting the bastard on the ground like a pig. “You know if he has a League contract on you, you can’t do that. But if I kill him before we find out about it, it’s legal. You sure you don’t want me to slip and accidentally plunge my knife into him a few dozen times?”
“While I admire your planned accident, son, I’d rather interrogate him.”
Caillen heard a muffled pop two seconds before the assassin started convulsing. “Shit!” He shot to his feet and grabbed his father, then pulled him out of the room.
“What’s going on?”
Holding his breath, Caillen didn’t answer until they were outside and the door was shut tight. “Suicide cap. I don’t know if it’s airborne or strictly ingested. Either way, he’s dead and we don’t need to inhale it until someone not us does a hazmat analysis.”
Security guards came running down the hall, but Caillen stopped them from entering. “You need a hazmat expert to go in there. The perp just offed himself with a cap.”
The captain nodded before he pulled his people back and notified his superior. Then the captain met his father’s gaze. “Do I need to call for a medic for you, Your Majesty?”
“I’m fine.” His father clapped Caillen on the back. “Thanks to my son. How did you know I was being attacked?”
He didn’t answer what to him was a rhetoricuestion. “My question to you is why didn’t your security know about it?”
His father straightened his robes with an imperial tug. “For an obvious reason, I don’t have cameras in my bedroom. It’s the only dark area of the palace.”
Flaky excuse in his book. Better a porn video for the guards than a dark area that left his father open to assassination. But what did he know? “Shouldn’t they have seen him in the hallway?”
His father offered him an indulgent smile. “Of all people, I think you know how easy things like this happen. Those who want in will find a way.”
Caillen ground his teeth at his father’s lackadaisical tone. “You’re awfully ambivalent over it.”
“Hazard of my business. Since the moment I took the throne, I’ve had attempt after attempt on my life. You get used to it after a while.”