1 Chapter 0: Prologue

Evelyn traced the ceiling's wallpaper with her fingers as she grinned like an idiot for the tenth time that night. She squeezed her pillow: her first trip out of the royal palace, and although it was only for the Academy's entrance exam, she was excited to experience a world only told through maids thus far. Of course, there was a slight danger of assassinations outside the palace which was why she was currently in a small inn sharing a room, something her royal self had never done before, but it was more thrilling this way. After all, if she received the royal treatment outside the palace too, it would be impossible to experience the wonders her maids had described.

Just as she was about to fall asleep from dreaming about a wonderful school life, muffled yells from the hallways and banging sounds broke her fantasy. She sat up grudgingly and turned towards the sound only to see Ash already standing right next to her. She flinched, biting down a scream.

"Would it kill you to stand a little farther?" Evelyn whispered.

"Sorry." Ash leaned in, breathing lightly into her ear. "Hide in the closet just in case." Ash pulled out a bracelet and clasped it onto Evelyn's thin wrist. "Make sure you don't come out until I tell you to - no matter what."

Evelyn gripped her flushed ear; it was hot. "Wait, what's happening?"

"It seems that your guard is fending off an assassin." Ash pulled out a cape from her luggage.

"What about Alexis? What if the assassin beats the guard?"

"Sephil's with your brother, he will be fine. Plus, it seems that there is only one so your brother won't be hurt unless we die first." Ash threw a pillow at Evelyn.

"How reassuring." Evelyn glared at her before ducking into the closet, hugging an extra pillow to her chest. Although she still did not trust Ash, there was no other choice.

Evelyn pressed her ear to the door, listening to the sounds from outside the door. With each pause in the battle outside, her heartbeat pounded louder as she buried her head in her hands. If the guard was unable to defeat the assassin, she would probably be dead by the end of tonight. Finally after thinking through what seemed like hundreds of activities she would have liked to do before her death, the sounds stopped.

She heard footsteps near the door before they stopped outside the door. Her breath became faster as she turned her head to look through the keyhole. Outside the closet, Ash was leaning against the bedpost, toying with her dagger. Evelyn could see flashes here and there when the spinning blade caught the light. That light and the vivid red stitching on her cloak were the only signs that she was even there, her black clothes enveloping the rest of her in shadow. The thick and muffled silence was broken as the door creaked open. Strange to think that even with all the meticulous upkeep on the inn's part, the hinges still squeaked. The dark figure at the doorway froze when glow from the hallway's firestones fell onto Ash, who hadn't even flinched at the sudden light.

"So you're awake." The figure stepped forward, and Evelyn was able to make out the eyes of a young man, a mask covering half his face. "That makes this more fun."

"Who sent you?" Ash jumped to the left as the spot she was just standing in in an explosion of icicles. Evelyn stifled a gasp.

The question was met with silence. Ash twisted around another barrage of icicles, cape flowing around her like ink as she closed more of the distance between them.

The man tilted his head as he continued destroying the room in an attempt to pin down Ash. "If it weren't for that damn guard, I would have liked to play with you a little more." He grinned revealing his pearly white teeth. He paused for a second, seeming to consider something, before suddenly thrusting out a hand.

Ash, who had already crouched in preparation to dodge more ice spears, frowned in surprise as she was met with an unforgiving barrier of water instead.

Evelyn could see her blurry outline as she pressed a hand against the rippling surface, could see as she cocked her head when the man smiled in triumph. Evelyn followed her gaze to the dark blood staining the cloth at the man's waist. The little splatters elsewhere on his body looked nowhere near as big as that one.

The man, seemingly unaware of Ash's scrutiny, lifted his hands once again.

"Can't dodge now, huh."

Ash dragged her gaze skeptically across the icicles that formed around her, tips gleaming with killing intent. "Shouldn't you have called for help with that?" She tipped her chin in the direction of his injury. "You must have also used quite a bit of mana in the battle outside."

He furrowed his brows, frowning. "It's four little children. Four children against me, an assassin who has been training for this moment for his entire life, who has been chosen by The Boss. Need I say more?" He smirked. "In any case, you aren't quite in the position to be worrying about me."

Evelyn could barely hold back a scream as the spears rushed at Ash in an icy barrage, hand already reaching to fumble with the lock that was keeping her in. To open the door of the closet and-

What? Do what? She was a kid. She had always been praised by her tutors that she was a genius for her age; she practiced hard, put in hard work; she was so confident that she was powerful - so arrogant. Yet at this moment, she realized just how small her world had been. In front of this assassin, it was as though she had no training, no strength, no anything. The trembling in her arms and legs attested to that. She couldn't fight. All she could do was hide in this closet as someone else, no matter that she hated them, risked their life for her.

The hand retracted to seal itself over her mouth, and she whimpered into it, breaths coming fast and shallow. There was no sound coming from outside her closet. The silence had returned, as stifling and heavy as it had been before. Evelyn peeled her eyes open, hand still jammed against her mouth, and forced herself to look through the keyhole again.

She's dead isn't she oh gods she's dead and it's all my fault and I'm going to be next oh gods-

She froze.

Ash stood, looking down at the crumpled figure at her feet, a dripping dagger clenched in her hand. There was no sign of movement in either of them, and Evelyn could only think of them like two statues; an avenging angel towering above its defeated foe. She allowed herself a sigh of relief before slowly opening the door of the closet and stepping out.

"A-Ash?"

No answer.

Then Evelyn noticed something strange. The floor around Ash was perfectly clean. Even the smallest specks of dust were gone, blown outwards in a perfect circle by what looked like an extremely strong blast, but there was no fire or smoke. Evelyn could see a few piles of dirt in the corner of the room, formed when the blast had pushed any bits in the room to the same place. The rest of the room was completely destroyed. The walls were shredded, splintered and with deep holes in some places. Ice shards stuck into the bed, the mattress cut into ribbons and pillows exploded with feathers. The heavy oak desk was knocked onto its side, drawers open and spilling paper. Shattered fire stones littered the floor from the exploded lights above them. Evelyn looked back in horror to see two chunks of ice embedded into the closet door as well.

Her attention was returned to Ash by her sudden movement. She crouched down and began rummaging through the fallen man's cloak. Evelyn was close enough to both see and hear when the other girl pulled something out, examining it before beginning to mutter to herself.

"The Night Guild? No, it can't be. What could they possibly gain that would be worth-"

She cut off, eyes narrowing.

"Father. Of course." She pushed her hair back and smirked, "Ruthless as always."