Queen of Secrets

  Queen of Secrets

  A Royal Hearts Story

  Elizabeth Briggs

  Contents

  1. Dahlia

  2. Garon

  3. Dahlia

  4. Garon

  5. Dahlia

  6. Garon

  7. Dahlia

  8. Garon

  9. Dahlia

  10. Garon

  11. Dahlia

  12. Garon

  Stroke The Flame - Excerpt

  Also by Elizabeth Briggs

  About the Author

  One

  Dahlia

  I awoke with a jolt, my fingers already reaching for the dagger underneath my pillow. The sound I’d heard was probably just the wind rattling the windows of this old, high-up room, but one could never be too careful, especially when your brother was the king of a nation at war. I held very still, listening intently, and there—the soft scrape of a boot against the rough stone floor.

  I threw off my blankets and jumped to my feet, gripping the dagger tight in my hand. With practiced ease I moved into a fighter’s pose, likely stunning my cloaked assailant, who probably didn’t expect a princess to be ready to defend herself. A hooded figure in all black stood before me, barely visible on this cloudy night, except for the silver flash of his blade as it lunged toward me.

  I met the blow with my own dagger and the sound of metal clashing rang throughout the room. With quick moves he stabbed at me again, and I narrowly avoided being struck down by his sword. He was strong and fast, a trained assassin I had little chance of defeating in close combat, no matter how skilled I was. With my heart pounding in my chest, I spun on my heel and made for the door to call the guards.

  But as soon as I opened my mouth to yell his fingers clamped over my lips. I sank my teeth into his gloved hand and stomped back on his booted foot, refusing to surrender. He released me with a soft grunt and I took advantage of his surprise to spin toward him and knock the blade out of his hand. I swiped my own dagger at him, but he dodged it easily. With movements nearly too fast to see he stole the knife from my very hand.

  At least my death would be swift, if nothing else.

  With foolish hope I darted toward the door, but as soon as I reached it, the man’s strong hand clamped onto my shoulder. He spun me around and pressed my back against the door, caging me in as he raised my own dagger over me. Moonlight from the nearby window passed over my face as I gazed defiantly back at him, awaiting my fate.

  But then he paused.

  “Dahlia?” he asked, with a hint of surprise.

  That low, masculine voice was as familiar as my own. The hood covered most of his face, except for the strong jaw I’d once trailed my lips across. Could it truly be him after all these years? Had he come to finish the damage he’d done to my heart, this time with a blade?

  While shock rendered me immobile, the assassin lowered the dagger and his grip on me changed so that his fingers no longer dug into my skin but simply held me close. “Dahlia, it’s me. Garon.”

  I held my breath as I reached up and pushed his hood back so that the moonlight could illuminate his entire face. A roguishly handsome man stared back at me with dark, mysterious eyes and a sensual slash of a mouth. A mouth I still dreamed about far more often than I should, remembering all the things it had once done to me.

  “Garon?” I asked, struggling to find my voice. “What are you doing here?” I shoved him back. “And why are you trying to kill me?”

  He started to reach for me again, but then stopped himself. “I apologize. I didn’t know it was you.”

  I crossed my arms and leveled a stormy look at him. “I find that hard to believe.”

  He flipped my dagger and offered me the hilt as a peace offering. “I was hired to assassinate the person sleeping in this room. I never imagined it to be you, or I would have turned the contract down. No, I would have warned you, and stopped whoever they’d hired instead. You must believe me.”

  I sighed and took the dagger from him. No matter how much Garon had scarred me emotionally, he would never physically harm me. I knew this in my soul. “I believe you.”

  His large hand gently cupped my face, stroking my cheek. “I could never hurt you, Dahlia.”

  All I wanted to do was close my eyes and lean into his touch, but instead I spun away from him. Being in his presence again was awakening feelings I’d long tried to forget. Like the way he made my pulse quicken just by being near me. “Who hired you to kill me?”

  He retrieved his sword from the floor and sheathed it. “I don’t know. I was given the contract by the leader of the Ravens, but wasn’t told who ordered your death.”

  I idly rubbed the spot on my cheek where Garon had touched me as I ran through a list of possible culprits. My brother was king of Talador and had many enemies from the other five kingdoms, which made them my enemies as well. “Whoever it was, they must have known I would be in this tower. Someone must have a spy in the castle.”

  Garon’s brow furrowed. “Why are you sleeping outside of the castle? Did something happen with your old quarters?”

  The tower I was staying in was just outside the castle grounds near Ralston, the capital of Talador, and had once belonged to an eccentric wizard. Though it was crumbling and had a musty scent, I’d come to appreciate having my own place away from castle life. “The new queen wished to use my room as a nursery for the soon-to-be-born prince or princess. I could hardly refuse, and besides, it was nice to get away from my brother and his beloved for a while. You have no idea how those castle walls echo.”

  Garon’s lips quirked up. “Oh, I do. I remember running down the halls together when we were kids and Queen Lily telling us to be quiet or she’d throw us out in the snow.”

  A faint smile touched my lips at the memory, but then I shook my head. “Is there anything else you can tell me about this contract?”

  “No, but I’ll do everything in my power to find out who ordered your death. I swear it.”

  I nodded as I began pacing the room while making a plan of action. “I’ll conduct my own investigation as well. Find out who the spy is working for. Post extra guards on my door, along with the royal quarters. If they want me dead, they might want Balsam or Fellina dead too.”

  Garon stared at me the entire time, as if entranced. “Sun and Moon, how I’ve missed you.”

  I stopped pacing, my eyes narrowing. “Is that so? Because I clearly remember you were the one who ended things between us three years ago and then disappeared from my life without a trace.”

  “Dahlia…” His voice grew rough. “I’ve regretted that decision every day of my life.”

  “Then why did you do it?” I asked, my chest tightening.

  “Because we both knew it had to end.”

  “It didn’t,” I protested feebly, as all the emotions I’d smothered for the last three years came flaring back to life.

  “You’re a princess. I’m the son of a servant.”

  “I never cared about any of that.”

  He moved closer and took my hands in his gloved ones. “You’re betrothed to a prince. I’m an assassin.”

  I swallowed. “But—”

  “I ended it because I realized no matter how much we loved each other we could never be together. Not in a way that was fair to either of us.” He drew in a ragged breath as he squeezed my hands. “How could I watch you marry another man? I couldn’t. And neither of us would forgive ourselves for having a secret affair. I decided it was better to cut things off completely rather than torture us both for the rest of our lives. Even if I knew I would never stop loving you.”

  He still loves me, a hopeful voice whispered in my head. “I would have called off the engagement. We could have found a way to be tog
ether.”

  “How?” He shook his head. “Your duty is to your kingdom. And my duty…my duty is making sure you’re safe and happy.”

  I looked up into his dark eyes. “The only time I’ve ever been truly happy is with you.”

  Our history together beckoned me toward him and I moved close, unable to stop the magnetic pull between us. I’d spent my entire life in love with Garon. I couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t owned a piece of my heart. And even though I understood why he’d broken things off between us, I’d never gotten over him. I feared I never would.

  He drew closer too, like he couldn’t help himself either, and he took my shoulders in his hands. His head lowered and my eyes fixed on his mouth, that mouth that had once taught me the meaning of pleasure, as it moved toward my own. Three years of trapped longing, anger, and sadness welled up inside me, ready to burst free at the touch of his lips.

  But then he stepped back and released me with the shake of his head. “Nothing has changed. I will always love you, Dahlia. But once I find out who hired me to kill you, we can never see each other again.”

  Without another word, he moved to my window and slipped through it like a ghost, before vanishing into the night—and breaking my heart all over again.

  Two

  Garon

  I dashed through the dark streets of Ralston, my head reeling, my heart aching, and my body tensed to fight. The Ravens had sent me to kill Dahlia, my childhood best friend and my first and only love. The girl I would have married if our lives had been different. The princess who should have been off-limits for the Ravens.

  Kabel—the leader of the Ravens and my stepfather—must have given me this assignment to test my loyalty because he knew I would fail. I grew angry again just thinking about it. Who could possibly want to kill Dahlia—and why? And how could Kabel agree to it?

  I wove down back alleys, leaped onto roofs, and moved like a shadow through the night, taking care that not a single soul noticed me. Only then did I approach the plain door hidden in a forgotten corner of the city.

  I rapped my fingers on the door in a series of different knocks and waited for the response. After a few moments I heard the scrape of a lock, before an older blond woman with arms as muscular as mine opened the door. I gave her a nod as she stepped back, letting me inside. Traya had been a member of the Ravens for as long as I’d been alive and wasn’t one for small talk, though we’d always gotten along well.

  “They’re waiting for you,” Traya said.

  “I imagine they are,” I muttered, before striding down the dark stone hallway illuminated by a single brazier. And they’re going to give me some answers.

  The Ravens was a secret guild composed of thieves, spies, and assassins, all working as mercenaries for the highest bidder. I’d been a member since I was fourteen, after my mother died of pneumonia. She’d married Kabel a year earlier, while my father had passed away when I was young. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever loved Kabel, though he could have a charming way about him when he tried. If nothing else, she’d thought a life with Kabel would be better than one she could provide for me as a servant in the castle.

  How wrong she was.

  Of course, I’d enjoyed growing up in the castle, even as servants. Dahlia and I were born only a few months apart and Queen Lily was kind enough to let me join the young princess in her studies and playtime. We became fast friends and were inseparable for most of our lives, but when we became teenagers our feelings evolved into more. While I was training to be an assassin and she was learning her role as a princess, we met up at midnight outside the city and stole kisses in hidden crevices of the castle. At first we got swept up in our forbidden romance, but deep down we both knew it could never last.

  When Dahlia’s parents were killed and her brother Balsam became king, her fate was sealed in an arranged marriage to another kingdom’s prince. I planned to talk her out of it and asking her to marry me instead, but Balsam convinced me it would never work out. He pleaded for me to end things with his sister immediately instead of continuing our secret romance, which would make us both miserable and threaten the alliance with Andaria. Not a day went by that I didn’t regret listening to him, even if I still believed I’d made the right choice. Dahlia was meant to be with a prince.

  I was meant to be alone.

  I rushed up a tall flight of stairs and made my way to the Raven Master’s chambers to face Kabel and whatever fate he intended for me. The cold, dank walls of the building seemed to crowd around me, and I could swear the hallway grew longer as I approached. Though I’d spent the last six years in this place, it would never feel like home.

  My stepbrother Vermot, a lanky man with a cruel smile and inky hair, stood in front of the Raven Master’s door. He had a rigid way about him that made him look like a statue, as if he might crack if he moved a limb. His head slowly swiveled toward me with a disdainful look, but then he led me inside the room.

  My other stepbrother Corgin was already in there, lounging on a recliner with his beefy body draped all over it. His nose had been smashed at least a half dozen times and no one would ever call him a handsome man, nor a particularly smart one either. Not that he cared. He preferred brawn over brains to get things done.

  Their father Kabel stood in front of a window looking out over Ralston, his hands clasped behind him. His ‘domain,’ he called it. In his mind he truly ruled the city, and maybe he did, though I doubted the King would agree. Then again, King Balsam used Kabel’s services from time to time and let the Ravens do whatever we wished as long as it didn’t interfere with his rule. I had a feeling taking a contract on his sister’s life would fall outside that agreement.

  Kabel turned toward me slowly, leveling his formidable gaze at me. He was the tallest man in the room—or any room, usually—and had steely gray eyes and a shaved head, which only made him even more imposing. “Is it done?”

  My fingers curled into fists at my side, but I met his eyes without flinching. “No.”

  “What do you mean, no?”

  “The target was the King’s sister. There must have been an error.”

  “There was no error. The contract was for Princess Dahlia.”

  Damn. I’d suspected as much, but I’d hoped he would tell me it was a mistake. “What about your arrangement with the King?”

  “That is none of your concern.” Kabel strode toward me with slow, menacing steps. “This was a test for you. We knew who she was. We knew your history with her. Your mission tonight was to prove your loyalty to the Ravens above all else.” I was a tall man myself, but his stern face towered over mine. “And you failed.”

  “You knew I wouldn’t be able to do it.” I’d suspected as much, but it was a harsh blow hearing it out loud. I’d spent the last few years of my life doing everything in my power to impress this man and earn his respect—and now he’d set me up to fail on purpose.

  My stepfather looked at me with such loathing it made my skin crawl. “I took you in when you were fourteen and had nowhere else to go. I raised you as one of my own sons. I agreed to train you as a Raven. But once again you’ve proven you don’t have the stomach for this role.” He gestured toward the door. “Perhaps I should put you out on the streets finally.”

  My stepbrothers snickered and I glared back at Kabel, my blood boiling. “You and I both know I’m one of the best assassins in the Ravens. I’ve never failed an assignment before, and I would have completed this one as well, but I have no desire to cause a political upheaval or to have the Ravens gain the King’s ire.”

  “You didn’t want to kill the pretty girl you once cared for.” He shook his head with a sneer. “It matters not. Vermot and Corgin will finish the job for you.”

  “What? No? You can’t!” I took a step forward, my hand on the hilt of my sword. “Who hired us for this job? Why do they want her dead?”

  “That’s enough of your questions.” Kabel gestured to his sons, who approached me from either side. “Now it’s tim
e our prison was cleaned again. You’ll be let out once I’m satisfied the floors and walls are spotless enough to eat off of.” He tilted his head with a harsh smile. “But first, you must be punished for your failure.”

  The brothers grabbed one of my arms each, while I stared Kabel down with hatred swirling inside me like poison. I didn’t bother fighting back as he approached me. I’d been through this before and I’d done it all—pleaded, cried, and fought—and none of it worked. If anything, it only made my punishment last longer. Instead, I faced him down while swearing to myself that I would end his life for threatening the woman I loved.

  Kabel slammed his fist into my gut, the blow strong enough to force the air out of my lungs. Sharp pain shot through me and I would have hunched over if not for the rough hands holding me up, but still I met his eyes with defiance.

  He watched my reaction, then punched me again. And again. A dozen times, making it hard for me to breathe and likely bruising a rib or two in the process. I never once looked away.

  In the beginning Kabel had treated me like one of his own sons, but after my mother died his true colors were revealed. I became a servant again, except here I was beaten regularly for nonexistent failures, which never happened in the castle. Kabel kept his word to my mother and allowed me to join the Ravens, though I had to fight my way through the ranks to earn my place. I proved myself by being better than my stepbrothers, even if I had to work three times as hard. Which only made them hate me even more.

  When Kabel was finished, I could barely stand and warm pain pulsed throughout my body. Kabel’s knuckles were bloody and he wiped his sweaty forehead with them, smearing red across his skin. “Take him away.”