KINGSLAYER

♕ 5 | 4 ♕

Act 3 Chapter 54
JAYLAH

It was in the middle of the day and we were halfway through a small farming town called Montrault when something tacked to the town hall's door caught my eye. Was that...?

Forgoing all the other hundreds of flyers and posters nailed to the door around it, I reached for the one in particular to examine it more closely. It only took a half second's glance before my face cracked into a smile and I held it up to Alexander. "Certainly this looks familiar."

His wanted poster.

"No," he said, the sun burnishing his hair as he shook his head wildly. "Nope."

"How odd, because it is of you." I glanced down at the youthful sketch. "Well, a younger you. When was this sketch made? It appears you have grown into your front teeth." Over the frayed top of the paper, I gave him a meaningful once-over. "For the most part."

"Shut up. My teeth are nice."

"Nice and overgrown," I said, waving the poster at him in proof.

He snatched it from me. "Like you're one to speak. The survivors of the second attack on Navrika's coast compared stories of the hideousness of Oceana's Princess. If I ever meet them again, I suppose I can add in my reputable word now too."

"Your hair too," I continued on as if he said nothing at all, pointing to the balled paper in his hand. "Your first arrest was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence and you chose to style your hair as if a cyclone swept over your head?"

"Shut up," he said, face screwed. "I apologize for not being narcissistic enough to spend twenty minutes every morning fixing my hair like someone I could mention." Tossing the paper into the gutter, he watched as the water ruined it.

I could barely hold back a true smile. "I am hearing that you see the time and effort I put into my appearance and you fancy it." Waving a hand to dismiss him, I felt bold today. "Another admirer to add to the horde."

"Sadly, no. The only admirer you wish to add to your supposed horde wants nothing to do with you."

"It was but a joke, Khan. Undoubtedly not true. I only take the most intelligent, captivating, fetching people to be in my company. If we were in the court, you would not make the Queen's list."

"If we were in the court, I would actively be trying to kill you," he pointed out. Then frowned. "I'm intelligent."

"I was vulnerable and asleep, and yet you still managed to botch my assassination. I disagree."

"You are still a dreadful thief, even after I gave you all the aid in the world. We'll call it even."

"Even then, that still makes two criteria you do not meet."

"Anyone that spends longer than thirty seconds in my presence can see that I'm captivating."

"Really." It was not a question. "What exactly do you do well?"

"Aside from the obvious answers, I am a master of card tricks. All of your insipid courtiers would be astonished."

"A trained monkey could perform card tricks."

He gave me a rude gesture I pretended not to see. "It seems we have a sufferer of jealousy on our hands. What a shame your father's blood money could not buy you true talent like mine."

"Please. Any more talent, and I might burst at the seams."

"Being self-centered and shallow is not a talent, Imperatrix."

"Neither is making empty death threats, Khan."

He made a hum of rumination. "They are not empty. After all, it does bring me great joy to know that for all your false grandeur and superiority, you will still end up in the ground like everyone else."

"Perhaps. But you need not worry of your own mortality."

"Why?"

"Because stupidity is eternal."

Instead of being annoyed as I expected, he broke into loud laughter. It made my face drop from its scowl. He laughed often, but it solely occurred when he was mocking me. This...was a change.

"You know, you really are the ice queen they say you are." His bright smile remained.

I looked away. "I would hate to not live up to their expectations. How disappointing that would be for the both of us."

Giving a one-shoulder shrug, Alexander said, "I wouldn't lose sleep over it if I were you. You've always disappointed me just fine."

Just then, I laughed for a split second before I could cut it off, then immediately felt shameful for it. Alexander's sense of humor was for an audience with low standards for amusement. How dare I be a partaker? "You are a plague to my existence," I said instead.

"Would you have me any other way?"

I gave a demonstrative sigh. If things happened exactly as I pleased, I would not have him any way at all. He snorted at my expression.

Just then, it occurred to me how accustomed I had become to his mannerisms, his jokes, his presence. I inadvertently knew too much about him. Like the fact that he claimed the stories I told were pretentious and too moral, but always listened in rapt attention. I knew his favorite dish from Navrika was called blini, a kind of flat cake that could apparently be either eaten with sweet or savory garnishes. I knew he was exhaustingly fidgety, always throwing things in the air and catching them, or bouncing his leg. And my personal favorite—I knew that he had a hidden dislike of birds that bordered on fright.

It was an unsettling realization. He was a lowly peasant from a rival nation, a mercenary more than equipped to stab me in the back. And yet the hate I originally felt for him was not as seething. I wished more than anything we could go back to being solely enemies.

It will turn out alright, I consoled myself. We would be rid of each other after this journey was over. Soon, he would be nothing to me again.