The Scarlet Assassin

The King's Lieutenant Sneak Peak

I really had planned on killing the Scarlet Assassin. She just made it... complicated. And then I made the rookie mistake and fell in love with her, making my mission not only complicated. It made it flat out impossible.

It took me all of a week in the rolling hills of Gantrick to realize I couldn't live without her. I knew she hated me, and I knew she had played me; but I still didn't believe in all the time we had spent together she felt nothing. Call me a blind idiot, but I knew there was something more to her story. Something felt... off.

So, I left my family in the little three room flat we got in a small town on the Southeastern coast of Gantrick, sending only a note to Sophie and Rafe who I knew would talk me out of it. I didn't have much money, so I offered to help work on a cargo ship in exchange for free passage. It took a month to sail back to Ravaryn, back to my first home.

I didn't dock at Ravaryn though as I couldn't convince the captain to travel there. So, after docking on the western part of Ravaryn, at the Kelas harbor, I caught a ride with a merchant caravan in exchange for some of the Ruda I'd gotten gambling money I didn't have with the other cargo workers.

Two days went by, and my nerves were shot. I didn't remember the last time I was this fucking nervous and excited and hopeful all in one. I didn't think I even had.

I rode into Ravaryn, two and a half months after leaving, and immediately found myself in front of the Viper's Den. I knew I probably smelled like shit, and I was exhausted, too exhausted to fight with Vera; but I couldn't wait any longer to see her. So, with my hood pulled tightly around my head, I made my way in.

Immediately, I started to climb to her office, not even giving a second glance to the poker tables or the bar, but two men on either side of the staircase stopped me.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" One asked, hand on my shoulder.

"I'm here to see your boss."

The other cocked a brow at me. Thankfully, neither seemed to recognize me. "She's not taking visitors." My heart skipped in my chest. So she's here.

"She'll see me," I told them, attempting to push them off of me and get past them. Obviously, now I see how that might've been a stupid fucking idea, because in the next moment, I was staring down two daggers.

"Get out of here," one sneered at me. "Before we throw you out." I put my hands up in surrender and backed up a step.

"Okay, okay. There's no need for that, gentlemen. I'll show myself out." I turned around, but after taking one step toward the door, I pivoted back around and punched one of the men on the side of his face, knocking him out cold. The other swung his knife at me. I caught his wrist and swung up, catching the underside of his chin. He collapsed too.

"I apologize for the future headache, gentlemen," I said as I stepped over their bodies and walked up the stairs.

Vera's office door was shockingly unlocked, and when I barged in, I asked aloud, "Vera?" But who I found sitting at the oak desk, behind a mound of paperwork, was a girl with brown skin and black, braided hair. I recognized her, I realized. Her name was Fallon. But why the fuck was she at Vera's desk?

Fallon shot up upon hearing me enter, but she recognized me after a moment and her expression turned from surprise to confusion.

"Where's Vera?" I asked, hand still on her doorknob. I looked to my right, to the inside of Vera's room, except all of her stuff was gone. And when I looked back, Fallon's face looked saddened, somber. My heart dropped to the fucking floor, and my stomach was churning violently. "Where is she, Fallon? What happened?"

Fallon's frown deepened. She heaved a heavy sigh. "Sit down, Mr. Stryker. Please."

"She's not..." My exhale was shaky. "She can't be."

"Sit," Fallon said firmly. "And shut the door behind you."