2 Chapter Two

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Cahir. She was to kill the famous prince of Kastia.

Those words kept her from killing all the assassins who asked her what Xander had wanted. And who that new guy was. After shoving away those pesky beings, Thana rushed to her room and forced herself to sleep, eager for what awaited her the next morning.

At last, as the sun began to rise, she leapt out of her hard, springy bed, not bothering to make it, threw on a white tunic and simple pants, braided her hair, and left the Dragon House, a man everyone called Croc trailing her. She was immediately greeted by the whispers of the wind rustling the leaves on the trees around her. It was still a bit too dark outside to see clearly, but they easily strode up to the barn and mounted one of the horses. The cream colored mare she chose gave her no trouble as they rode through the forest, a few short miles away from civilization. In less than twenty minutes, after much hard riding, she and her partner arrived at Dallum, the closest city to the secret location of the Dragon House.

The place was full of people wasting their money on unnecessary items sold by greedy vendor owners. Thana dismounted, tied her horse next to a few others and pushed through the large crowd until she came upon a bar. After giving him orders to gather information on Cahir's whereabouts, she marched inside and took a seat next to an older woman who appeared to be a sailor. The woman was so absorbed in gulping down her drink that she did not notice the raven haired assassin next to her before it was too late.

"Hello, Margaret," Thana purred to the sailor. "Fancy seeing you here."

The sailor choked on her drink in surprise before glancing at the assassin. "I'm always here," she muttered. "What do you want?"

Thana grinned at her. They had become acquaintances after she saved that sorry sailor's ass from some crazy drunkard with a gun. She wouldn't call her a friend; she had no friends. But she treated her in a more civil manner than how she treated others. So, she called her an acquaintance. "Why, I've come to catch up on my daily gossip. Tell me about Prince Cahir. Is he still at the palace wasting away?" Sailors always knew the latest news and most of the important information she needed that most did not know.

Margaret gaped at her. She knew exactly who Thana was, and the young girl often came to her seeking information on her to-be victim. "You're going to kill the prince?" she whispered furiously.

Thana merely smiled innocently. "It's not like he's someone important like the crown prince. No one will miss him." That was a lie; Cahir was very important to his father. Accordingly to the rumors, he had the ability to tell if someone was lying. Apparently, he was a bastard, not born from the queen, and the woman who bore him had that ability and passed it onto him. In the court, when you're among treacherous liars and deceivers, being able to tell the truth from a lie is a valuable asset. That was probably why Lord Roland wanted him dead; with that bastard prince around, he couldn't lie to the king without being caught.

The old sailor knew of Cahir's value, as did the whole country, and rolled her eyes at the lie. "Fine," she conceded. "You got lucky, for the prince is actually not far from here. My first mate heard that he was staying at a grand hotel in Petia. The Royal Suite, I believe he said. The prince wanted to get away from the court and decided to secretly travel here without the public knowing. Well, I guess he didn't do that great of a job at keeping it a secret, eh?"

Margaret took another swig from her drink. Across from me, the bartender was giving the assassin dirty looks, irritated that she had not bought a drink. Thana gave him a cold look, and he immediately turned away.

"I have to go," she said, patting Margaret hard on the back.

Thana abruptly stood and left the depressing bar, but not before the sailor hollered, "Happy hunting!"

The girl shook her head, amused at the sailor's words. Sighing to herself, she found her horse and rode on to Petia, thanking the gods for this opportunity to kill Cahir. All of her other kills had been useless people who never put up a fight when she came for them, mostly because the lazy bums were sleeping. And even when they weren't, it only took a few seconds to put them down. Thana supposed that the only reason she was excited about this kill was not because of Cahir's title, but of his extraordinary swordsmanship that he was known for. Yes, finally, someone would try to fight for his life instead of cowering or begging for mercy in the few seconds she gave them before going in for the kill.

Thana chuckled darkly. She sounded like a sadist. And maybe she was, but that was the way she was raised, and there was nothing she could do about it.

One week. She always only allowed herself a maximum of one week to learn her prey's schedule, to learn the guards' shifts, before she struck. And now that one week of spying was up.

Acting like a drunk noble woman, Thana swayed past the guards surrounding the beautiful hotel, clumsily pushing one away when he offered to help her, and entered right through the front door. These guys were fools if she was able to come in using the main entrance. Although she was dressed in relatively rich attire, they still should have at least questioned her.

She had ordered Croc to let her have this kill, and he smartly agreed. If she were to stare hard enough into the darkness behind her, she was sure she would see Croc's beady black eyes staring at her.

Despite the late hour, the lobby was full of lounging nobles drinking wine and chatting amongst themselves. Keeping up her drunk charade, she stumbled past a young gentleman only to slam into another. Thana did not have to feign a wince. The man was like a living boulder, with broad shoulders and a muscled chest.

"Owww," she moaned, moving back and touching her throbbing nose.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lady, um." He paused, waiting for her to give him her name. She did no such thing.

Instead, Thana peered up at him and had to bite back a gasp. It was the wretched prince she was to kill. That was a surprise, for he never left his room this late. Well, she could change her plan. Fine.

She let herself slump against him. "I don't feel to well," she said into his chest.

"I'll take you back to your room. Just tell me the number of the room you are in," he said softly, gently moving her to his side and wrapping an arm around her waist to stable her.

The assassin forced herself not to grin. Men could be so gullible. No one thought that a woman could be an assssin, so no one saw her as a threat. Ever.

"I wanna have some fun," she whispered in his ear, having to stand on her tiptoes and tug his head down before she could reach his ear. The prince licked his lips and steered them towards the rooms.

"I thought you weren't feeling well." When I didn't respond he says ghee and asked, "Which one is yours?" while leaning down to nibble her ear. Thana fought the urge to punch him. She was only fourteen, a few days away from her  fifteenth birthday, and even though she put paints on her face to make herself look older, she was still too young for him. With the paints, she looked to be about sixteen while he appeared to be around twenty three. Men were pigs.

"I don't remember," she forced herself to respond, giving him a lazy smile. "Let's go to your room." Thana bit back a heavy sighed. If  she wanted to, she could just kill this child molester in front of everyone. She would be gone before any guards could capture or kill her. Unfortunately, there were witnesses all around her, and she had no intention of showing the world that there were female assassins too. It would be a hindrance in the future if people became wary of young girls. 

"Fine with me," he murmured softly, tugging me toward his room. Cahir pulled out his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door to his room, stepping aside to let Thana go in first. She slowly made her way inside, keeping a hand on the wall as if she couldn't stand by herself.

It was huge. She never knew that a hotel room could be this big. Again, she had to resist the urge to slam her fist into his face. The place was full of riches and expensive furniture. Not too far away from here, children were living on the streets in rags for clothing, wondering when their next meal would be. This fool didn't even have to work for his money; his father did everything.

Turning around, she waited until he closed the door and came close to her before wrapping her arms around his neck. He eyed her lips ravenously and leaned down, crashing his lips against hers. She smiled wickedly against him and responded to his kiss with enthusiasm, allowing him to deepen it. Thana almost regretted the thought of having to kill such a good kisser, but she quickly pushed away that thought and got down to business. While he pushed her further into the bedroom, she started to run her hands down his body until she came to his waist. Pressing herself up against him, she discreetly snuck her dagger that was hidden in the sash at her waist at pressed it against his abdomen, not wanting to kill him just yet. No, she wanted to see for herself how good of a fighter he was.

She felt his body stiffen slightly, but he gave her one last kiss, nibbling at her lip, before he withdrew an inch, staring down at her. Not at the dagger, which surprised Thana. She frowned, a bit confused. He was a really strange person. First of all, kissing had never felt that good, and she had kissed plenty of people before. Second, he didn't seem too concerned about the fact that there was a dagger about to spill his guts on the floor.

"Child, aren't you a bit too young to be seducing and killing men?" he asked, amusement lacing his words.

What was wrong with him? Did he want to die? "Defend yourself," she merely said, stepping back a fraction to lean down and hand him a dagger, the twin to hers, strapped against her thigh . "For once, I want my prey to fight back. It's sickening how weak the nobles in your court are. Let's hope you're not like them, or I will make sure to give you a slow death."

He laughed softly and accepted the dagger. "Do you really think so highly of yourself?" he questioned. "I have a lot more experience than you. I have been training since I was thirteen."

Smirking, she responded, "Well then, you are a fool. I have been training  since I was old enough to walk." It wasn't an exaggeration; Xander had really started her training that early. She had become an expert with a knife at six.

Something flashed across his face. Was it horror, or pity? She honestly didn't care. Thana just wanted a good fight that would result in one less corrupt royal. "Defend yourself," she repeated before jabbing at him. He jerked back and help up his dagger.

"Why a dagger?" he inquired, giving her a sincerely curious look. "Why not a sword?"

"When you fight with a weapon as short as this, you have to get close to your opponent to kill them. Unless of course you are far away enough to throw the dagger or something, which is not the case right now." Thana started to move in a circle, forcing him to do the same in order to keep a safe distance. She continued. "I believe that using a knife or dagger shows more skill than using a long sword, for you have to truly get past your opponent's defenses before you can strike a killing blow. Besides, it's easier to hide in a dress than some big weapon."

Cahir gave her an unreadable look. Then he attacked.