Free Shattered Assassin by Wendy Knight Page A

of lightning lit up the room. But the roar of the storm was too loud; no one heard her. Kazia left the shadows, floating between the light and darkness, until she reached the doorway to the bedroom’s inner chambers. Kristina sat on her canopied bed, the quilt pulled up tight around her neck. “Who’s there?” she demanded, but her voice shook as much as the candle in her hand.
    “It’s time for you to pay for your sins, Kristina.” Kazia left the shadows and stepped fully into the flickering light. Kristina opened her mouth in a silent scream, scrambling backward. She tumbled from the bed as Kazia reached up, pulling the blade free from her hair.
    “You — no, no, you’re dead! Kazia saw it with her own eyes!”
    You always said I was my mother’s exact image, Aunt. But I’m not her.
    “At the hand of your son. At your order.” Kazia dipped her head in acknowledgement. “And he will pay.” She stepped closer.
    “He isn’t here! He’s in Abeta, under the protection of Prince Randolf!” Kristina wailed, scrabbling backward on her hands and feet like a giant crab. “He’s the one who killed them! He should pay, not me!”
    “You pay for your own freedom with your son’s blood?” Kazia’s blade caught the candle light, glinting dangerously.
    Kristina screamed as the thunder rattled the windows. “No, no please!”
    Kazia took another step, and Kristina stumbled to her feet, pressing herself against the floor length window. Lightning lit up the sky and Kristina screamed again as Kazia darted forward, blending with the shadows and the light until she stood just before Kristina, the blade against her throat. “One swift movement…” she whispered.
    Kristina’s hand scrabbled like a rat at the lock at the window. As the assassin flicked her wrist, drawing blood, Kristina freed the lock. “No!” Kazia shrieked. But too late. She was robbed of her target as Kristina threw herself backward into the storm. Her screams were drowned by the thunder; Kazia could do nothing but watch in silent frustration as Kristina fell three stories, hitting the ground as lightning flashed around her. She didn’t move again.
    The assassin tucked her blade away in her thick blond hair, melting into the shadows as she made her escape.
     

     
    The storm didn’t let up. Kazia slid easily through the darkness and up through her pine tree, Nakomi scaling the branches like she was part cat. They snuck through the window where Crystali waited with yet another bath and clean pajamas. Kazia cleaned herself quickly while Crystali burned the stained clothing. Not a word was spoken. As she slid into her soft cotton nightgown, Kazia fought to switch gears from her father’s most trusted assassin to the future queen of her country. And the storm raged. Through the night and on into the afternoon of the next day. The troops in the barracks stayed there and the four men watching Kazia stayed inside, accompanying her to the door where they resorted to letting Nakomi run while they all watched from the doorway.
    Kazia snuck from her room sometime before dawn and prowled through the manor, but someone was always watching her. She fell into an exhausted sleep sometime after breakfast should have been served, but wasn’t. It was nearly dinner time when she finally did get up, realizing she felt better than she had in months, maybe longer. Letting her body exist on the schedule it wanted seemed to work well for her. She stretched and pulled the covers up to her chin, eying the window. The drapes were pulled and she couldn’t see the storm, but the wind still howled and she could feel the draft between the bricks. She debated staying in bed for the rest of the day, but curiosity got the better of her and she finally threw the covers off and padded across the room to get ready.
    “It’s very quiet today,” she said as she swung the heavy door open.
    “I think everyone is weathering the storm in their quarters where it’s warmer,”