Free A Kiss of Venom (An Araneae Nation Novella) by Hailey Edwards

didn’t haul me off for what I’d done.
    I should be safe enough unless the male I’d stabbed raised the alarm, but then he would have difficult questions to answer too. A blade to the balls was about as intimate an injury as they came. The guards would know there was a story there, some connection between us, and that should keep me protected a while longer.
    A round of applause clued me in to the arrival of the ruling family. Heading for higher ground, I stood on the base of a monument to get a better look. Maisy held Lourdes’s hand, her eyes shining , while the paladin’s dark gaze skimmed the crowd. He pulled a guard aside by his collar, and fear painted the male’s face white. Whatever Paladin Rhys saw, he clearly wasn’t happy about it.
    Hope flickered before I dampened the spark.
    Perhaps he had spotted a male standing too close, one looking too hard toward his wife, where I last saw Maisy. If he caught the assassin before I did… No. That was wishful thinking. In this, I was on my own. I had to find him, somehow, and put him down. With that done, I could sort out the rest.
    Striding into the crowd, I worked my way closer to Maisy. When she ascended to the balcony, I gritted my teeth. From where she sat, she was too exposed. The guards to either side of her wouldn’t do any good against a well-aimed arrow or dart. Following the milling crowd, I shuffled beneath the balcony, wasting precious time for one last futile glance. As my gaze passed over dozens of faces, I spotted him. Tall, handsome as his friend, he wore dark colors and a grim smile. He saw me too. He winked.
    My mouth went dry. This was it. I was going to catch that bastard and wring his neck for threatening my girl. I had lost everyone I had ever loved. I would not lose her too.
    Shoving people out of my way, I ran for him, heedless of the spectacle I made.
    His expression lit with amusement. He jerked his chin as if to say come on .
    I accepted his challenge, legs pumping until my calves ached and my lungs were on fire.
    Each time I came within tagging distance, he slid through my fingers. And he laughed.
    That’s what did it. That’s what cut through the terror shrouding my mind.
    He was toying with me. From what I’d seen he was unarmed. That meant he had an accomplice.
    Merciful gods, h ad there been three of them all along? I had focused on the male he showed me, the most obvious threat, the decoy. I never suspected there might be a third male working in tandem.
    I skidded to a halt just as the first firework lit up the sky. The explosion rumbled under my feet.
    The assassin had stopped too. Either he sensed he was no longer being pursued or…
    A wicked grin split his face.
    I spun toward the balcony, yards away from where I’d started. Red light bathed Maisy’s face. Wonder rounded her mouth as she pointed to the constellations made by the whirling fireworks.
    I absorbed all that in the same instant I spotted a tall figure glide into the royal box.
    “ No .” I screamed until I tasted blood.
    A few concerned looks were cast my way, but the air was thick with noise and muffled me. I set off at a run, shouldering onlookers aside, drawing the notice of guards scattered in among the crowd. I was a breath away from climbing the stairs to the box when a brilliant burst of color illuminated the face of the male striding up behind Lourdes. Armand . He bent to his sister’s ear, and what he told her had Rhys grasping her arm, jerking her to her feet. He shoved her behind him, his body acting as her shield. In a huddle, the guards formed a circle around Lourdes and vanished. There must have been a second staircase or other means of escape. The box sat empty now, except for Maisy…and Armand.
    He knelt before her, talking . Her lips compressed flatter with his every word.
    Armand reached for her, but she spun aside and ran toward the stairs , and that’s when he saw me.
    His fingers cinched around Maisy’s arm, dragging her screaming the way