The Assassin's Crown

•Chapter two- part 2•

EDITED[✓]

Lord Hemmington and I are not particularly friendly and so the fact that he keeps smiling at me in a creepy way really creeps me out.

Lord Hemmington reaches out to embrace me and I move back a little. But that isn't enough to get away from him. With his arms still around me he says, “What a pleasure it is to have you here.” He releases me, “I heard you've been doing quite well in your sword training? Am I correct?”

I smile a little. I mean, I always do when someone mentions sword fighting. The adrenaline coursing through your veins, the vibrations that snake up your entire body when you wield a sword.

“Yes, I have.” I say, “Though it's all thanks to lord Brown.”

“Wonderful.”

Speaking of the devil, Liam emerges from one of the rooms. “Marisol,” He nods in greeting.

“Lord Brown,” I nod back.

“Marisol, dear.” Lord Hemmington gets my attention. “Please, do be a darling and fetch a couple of documents in the room behind you for me. The documents are on a black table. I would like to discuss some important matters with Lord Brown.”

I turn around and there's a room behind me albeit a smaller one than the rest of the rooms here. I enter the room and start looking for said documents. No sooner had I entered the room than the door closed and a click was heard. With the documents forgotten, I turn and try the handle. It doesn't budge. It was locked.

I was locked in.

I bite the insides of my cheek, this can't be right. People don't just lock you in a room with no explanation whatsoever. “Lord Hemmington? Lord Brown?” I call them a few more times but nobody answers. I'm completely and utterly confused. This is not normal and hasn't happened to me before. I knock on the door. Perhaps, they're in another room. I begin to bang on it with all my might. I call on them a few more times but to no avail. I even attempt the rude maid but I'm sure even if she heard me she wouldn't come. Why would they do this? I wasn't a threat to anyone.

I don't know when I fell asleep but when I woke up, the sun was setting. Looking at the sunset reminded me of how I came to live here.

I was told I was eight when I was brought here. I  remember being a servant. I used to do all kinds of work– cleaning, serving and at some point I was a personal maid to one of the nobles who came to visit the palace. They were all so mean. Every last one of them. My life hasn't been easy. It was when I was fourteen that I was chosen along with three other girls–Alexa, Jane and Dolly– to be part of the assassin's team. Let me tell you, training to kill people is no fun. 

My hair dances in a breeze and I look up, my eyes landing on a small opened window. The sad part being the fact that it's not big enough for a human being to fit through. At least, an eighteen– year– old.

I get up and move to inspect the window when something catches my eye. I pick it up and inspect it. An envelope. I look at the envelope a little more closely and in the right corner I see a glossy symbol in black. It looks like a backwards “R” in the English alphabet except that it has a kind of black circle making it looks like an eye. There's also a line above the eye making it look like an eyebrow, completing the eye–like look.



Thud

Thud

Thud

I press my ear to the door and I hear it.

Footsteps.

I quickly shove the envelope in the pocket in my dress.
The door opens and I nearly sprint out like a man dying of thirst with an oasis in sight. Immediately I get out, I come face to face with the rude maid with a surprised look on her face.

“I'm very sure lord Hemmington will not appreciate your presence in that room,” She says with a somewhat haughty look. Almost like she wasn't sure if she could get away with doing it.

Oh yeah, like I wanted to be here. And what about her? What was she coming to do here?

I hold my head high and look down on her. “And what were you coming to do here?” I ask.

I don't give her a chance to answer and shove past her, heading towards the door.

I move down the set of stairs and I appear into a very familiar hallway. I open the door and two worried faces invade my line of sight.

“What did he want?” Jane demands, concern visible on her features. She was the mother figure of our little clique.

To put it simply, I was– and still am– pissed at what Lord Hemmington did and the confusing part is, I don't know why he did it in the first place.

Looking at Jane's face, I had a mental battle with myself on whether to tell her not. I knew Liam had been giving her a hard time to spite me. In case you didn't remember, the three of us are assassins training under Liam. And he, like Hemmington, isn't particularly fond of me. Or any other females trying to take the place that men rightly deserve as he put it. And apart from that, I just don't want to tell them.

And so I did what I had to– lie. “Just some errands, nothing big.”

Her eyes soften and she gives me a brief hug and says, “I'm glad you're okay.” A guilty weight settles on my chest.

Alexa comes to me next and she hugs me tight, moisture gathering in the corner of her eyes. Of all the girls, Alexa and I were extremely close. She was the first friend I ever had since we were brought here at the age  of eight. “Never scare me like that again. Do you know what time it is? It's almost been four hours. I thought...” She let her sentence trail off but I knew exactly what she meant. The last time I was with Hemmington for a long period of time, I ended up in the palace dungeon for a week. That is something no twelve– year– old should go through.

“Don't worry. I'm a big girl now. Lord Hemmington needs to try a lot harder than that to get rid of me.” I assure her, hugging her just as tightly.

I look at all of them,studying their concerned faces, even Dolly was worried. “Don't worry, guys. I'm ok.”

Their expressions of worry fade and they're back to their usual cheer. Though Alexa's still suspiciously concerned. Should've expected that. I'm sure she'll talk about it later.

They resume whatever it was they were doing.

I walk into a door on the right and flop onto the bed closest to the wall. There was a window which allowed moonlight into the room, enveloping it in a silver glow. How long was I there?

I try to ignore everything that happened and find solace in the comforting breeze that swept over the room knowing I'd have to face the world again tomorrow.

And so I slept, hoping tomorrow wouldn't come too quickly.

Hey it's me again. Don't forget to vote and leave a comment on what you think.
See ya😘

~Beryl.