Page 29 of Warrior Princess Assassin (Braided Fate #1)

Fuck. I should’ve tied his boots together.

“Go!” Jory cries, and there’s a note of victory in her voice. “Asher, run .”

He doesn’t need the encouragement. He’s already gone.

I don’t pursue him. I could bring my own light and search him out, but I don’t want to leave the princess—and I definitely don’t want to walk into an ambush. He already got me once, and I’m not giving him another opportunity. I touch a hand to my lip, and it comes away with blood.

Any trace of regret has vanished. Aggravation is back.

Jory is staring at me, her chest rising and falling swiftly. I’m sure she expects me to burn him to cinders with nothing more than the power of thought. Right now, I wish I could.

I swipe the blood off my mouth. “Is that what you two were whispering about?”

She sets her jaw—but that’s answer enough.

A muffled shout erupts from outside, and I brace myself, but then I hear a voice I recognize.

A moment later, Asher is roughly shoved through the door.

His hands are still bound, and his chest is heaving.

Two of my men are behind him. Garrett has a tight grip on Asher’s bicep, and Roman is right beside him, weapons drawn.

The relief that flares in my chest is so profound. The day has been too long, and I didn’t realize how worried I was that someone else would find us first.

I look from my soldiers to the door, hoping the rest of my men will be right behind them—but they aren’t. “Where are the others?”

Roman’s analytical eyes take stock of me quickly, and then the bound princess. After assessing the surroundings, he sheathes his weapons and runs a hand through his snow-dusted hair. “Nik and Cal were searching west of the palace, but if they saw your signal, they won’t be far behind.”

Nik . My breath almost catches. “Nikko is unharmed?”

Garrett nods. “Yeah. He said the princess attacked you with an accomplice.” He glances at Jory, who’s warily staring up at them both, and then at Asher, who’s scowling at the floor. My soldier’s expression is not friendly. “Dane refuses to believe it, but I suppose we found the truth.”

“That is not what happened,” Jory says fiercely.

My jaw is already aching from where Asher kicked me, and the side of my face is still stinging from her hairpin—and that’s nothing compared to everything else they did. “It’s exactly what happened.”

Asher jerks against Garrett’s grip on his arm. “She was trying to save your life, asshole.”

Garrett smacks him on the back of the head with a gauntleted hand. “Watch your mouth.”

Asher half turns. “Fuck you.”

This time Garrett punches him between the shoulder blades. Asher stumbles forward and goes to his knees.

“Stop!” the princess cries. “Stop it!”

This has the potential to spiral out of control, especially since Garrett won’t stop unless I order him to. “Enough,” I say. “I need him to be able to talk.”

Asher sits back on his heels, breathing through his teeth. His toes are pressed into the floor, his jaw tight, his muscles tense. He’s ready to spring onto his feet like he did before.

But Garrett waits behind him, and of all my soldiers, he’s the most unforgiving. If Asher comes at me again, Garrett will probably break his jaw.

My lip feels like it’s still bleeding, and I swipe a streak of blood away. “My men have a limit, Asher. So do I. Stay put, or I’ll let them do whatever they want.”

“You think that’s a threat?” he says coldly.

“Your soldiers doing whatever they want ?” He looks up at me through that spill of white-blond hair.

His blue eyes have gone ice-cold, every emotion locked away.

I’ve seen that look before—in captured soldiers.

“Just what do you think Dane’s men are going to do? ”

There’s a note in his voice that tugs at the regret in my heart, but this time it’s joined by a flicker of guilt.

I have to force my gaze back to Roman and Garrett. “What about Sev?”

Roman frowns. “Dane is holding him at the palace.” He and Garrett exchange a glance. “He wanted to hold us, too, but we slipped out when he was arguing with Sev.”

A spike of alarm lodges in my chest. Holding . I knew our disappearance would look bad from Astranza’s side. We need to return to the palace.

A man calls from outside the hut, and I recognize Callum’s voice. “There!” he says. “I see their horses.”

“I knew they wouldn’t be long,” Roman says, just as Callum pushes through the doorway—followed by Nikko.

Relief floods my chest again. Even though I knew he survived, seeing him alive and well settles something in my heart.

It also confirms that Asher was telling the truth.

That flicker of guilt pricks at me again, but just like the regret, I have to shove it away. I can’t let him go. I can’t offer leniency to a man who attacked me. Who was literally ordered to kill me.

If this alliance is at risk, I can’t afford one moment of weakness.

But when I look back at those cold eyes that are shuttered with resignation, I want to cut him free.

My soldiers don’t. Their expressions haven’t shifted away from stony vigilance, but I watch them all exchange a glance, and it’s clear they want to tear Asher to pieces, just like I did.

I don’t know how to explain everything right here, and we don’t have time anyway.

I have no idea what Prince Dane could be doing or saying, and if Sev is arguing with him about anything at all, it needs to end.

I need to put away my guilt and regret and focus on the things that matter most. My sister. My people. My kingdom .

“Give me a cloak,” I say. “We’ll ride back to the palace. I’ll take the princess.” I look to Roman, then nod down at Asher. “Bring him. Make him walk.”

Callum exchanges a dark glance with Garrett. “Oh, we’ll bring him.”

“No,” I say. “You two ride with me.” I step toward the princess, take hold of her arm, and draw her up from the floor.

For a moment, I think she’s going to fight me, and I’m ready to physically pick her up again. But she just looks from Asher to me.

“I’ll do anything you want,” she says. Her eyes are piercing, her voice so desperate. “But please don’t let them hurt him.”

Those flickers of guilt and regret turn into a blaze.

It would be so much easier to ignore if she were yelling and making demands, instead of these desperate pleas that feel so genuine. But she tricked me— more than once! And I keep falling for it. Asher may have forced me out of the palace with violence, but violence is something I understand.

“How can I trust you?” I say to her. “Since the moment we met, all you’ve given me are lies.”

“ Please , Ky,” she whispers. “ This wasn’t a lie. You said you would offer him mercy .”

Too much is at stake. I force the emotion away and turn her toward the door. “I am offering him mercy,” I say. “I could have told them to drag him.”

Then I take a cloak from Roman, and I pull her into the cold.