Murderess by Moonlight: The Torvan Trilogy Book II (Sample Chapters)

Chapter 1: To Kill a King

Selene spent the rest of the night in the base, revising her plan to kill the King.

She reread the ink-smudged note the messenger had handed her a few hours earlier:

The King sent out a missive to the country of Cade, hiring several highly trained bounty hunters and elite soldiers for his New Year's trip to Taijeng. I'm not certain what positions they'll be assigned to in the Taijese palace or if they'll remain as the King's and Queen's personal bodyguards.

I've discovered little else; it seems they're keeping the details of their visit under wraps. These particular bounty hunters all adhere to some sort of honor code, and if we offer to bribe them, I think it unlikely they'll be turned against their initial employer.

No doubt, the Queen's coming had instigated this. Up until the last two weeks, it had been announced that only the King was to travel from the Octavian palace to the Empress' New Year's ball in Taijeng. Selene had heard how protective he was of his half-blood bride.

With the added protection, killing the King would be that much harder. Selene's stomach twisted at the thought of failure. Her motivation to kill the King stemmed as much from the reward as it did her thirst for revenge. She needed the 80,000 aurum in order to escape the Scorpio and flee to Arwa—a feat many before her had died trying. Onden, a highly skilled bounty hunter, was the only man who'd managed to successfully smuggle former Scorpio assassins to Arwa. Hiring him would be expensive but worth it.

Even without the reward, killing King Alaric would be a noble goal. After all, he was the reason her mother had died. It was his fault that Draven, a former Scorpio assassin, had gotten away and murdered her mother.

To return and kill a fellow assassin was unthinkable, but to inject her with Evanescence poison meant Selene hadn't even been able to give her mother a proper burial. Of course, Selene had taken lives too, but she was different. Her targets had been people worthy of death—and she'd ended their lives quickly. While her mother might have been cold at times, she hadn't deserved such a cruel end.

"Master?" a quiet voice asked from behind her.

Selene suppressed a startle. Lyra's stealth continued to impress her. If only her other skills were as well-developed. The girl was fifty-two and had yet to make her first kill. What would that be in human years? Fourteen? Torvans lived almost three times as long.

Sometimes Selene envied Lyra's innocence and naivete. The girl could sleep at night without seeing the dying light in her victims' eyes as they thrashed in a pool of their own blood. At least Selene had only assassinated those worthy of death, those who had cheated their servants or abused their wives or neglected their people. Like the King, who had chosen to ally himself with a monster like Draven.

"I'm not your master yet," Selene said to Lyra.

"But you're going to be." Even without looking, Selene could hear the grin in Lyra's voice. "Arzil said that you'll be promoted to master as soon as you kill the King. And I'll be your apprentice."

"Well, the King's not dead yet." And at this rate, he wasn't going to be unless she figured out how to sneak past these new guards. "What did you come to tell me?"

"Master Arzil says you're late for your sparring lesson."

A wave of cold washed over her. Tuteno. Arzil did not like tardiness. And there were severe consequences for making the first-in-command of the Scorpio wait.

She pocketed the note and rolled up the blueprint of the Taijese palace before tucking it back among the other scrolls on the library's stone shelves. The whole place emanated a cold aura, but that was to be expected from an underground location chiseled from stone. Wrought iron chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, the Lux stones embedded in them casting the library in a stale light.