Day 56, 1:15 AM

“My teeth and ambitions are bared. Be prepared!”

— Scar

A sharp sting in Manny’s left temple awakens me. My mind goes from zero to sixty before my eyelids snap open. One moment I’m hugging my woman’s back, the next I kick and push her off the bed.

A dagger plunges into the mattress a foot away from me, just above my extended arms. Manny screams, and I grab the offending forearm. I squeeze with all the rage and shock I’m feeling, and bones snap like twigs. The assassin screams as I pull him into me. Initial Grappling, grogginess, and sheer fucking fury translate into a series of pops, cracks, and screams as I relieve the man of any method of attacking or fleeing.

I hear Manny trying to stand.

“Don’t move and stay down,” I growl, and she obeys.

“How many of you are there?” I ask and get no response.

I don’t have time to fuck around. I grab his clenched pinky and turn it into a patty.

“I’m alone,” he screams.

Four fingers later, I believe him. Reinforced soles bang against the wood outside, and a moment later the guards are knocking on our door.

“I have caught the assassin. Our Noble Lady is fine,” I say and grab the dagger and the back of the assassin’s clothes. I carry him like a sack, and open the door.

I squint in the torchlight, and I can see the guards staring at me with wide eyes as I hand them a balled up human and the weapon. I recognize one of them, it’s Garny the vet.

“Take him to the dungeon,” I say, disregarding them glancing at my crotch. “Find out everything.”

I spin on my heel and slam the door shut.

“Yes, Sir!” the men shout behind my back, while I’m striding towards Manny.

“You all right? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

The moonlight shining through the open window is faint, but enough to see in. I stand to block the window in case there’s an archer aiming at us from outside. The shot is almost impossible, given the visibility, but I’m not taking any chances. Vazzen the Wise suggested always sending three assassins.

“I am fine,” Manny says, her voice completely collected. You would never guess she escaped death by a thread, nor that her lover kicked her naked out of the bed. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry I was so rough. There was no time, and I was sleeping,” I blather, but she gets up and kisses me silent.

“You saved my life. Thank you,” she says after taking half a step away.

“Shall we sleep?” she asks, cool as a cucumber.

“You feel like sleeping?” I’m confused. Shouldn’t we run around and gather clues about the assassin, how he got in, whether they killed any of the guards. There are a thousand questions that need answering, and Manny says we should sleep.

“I have a busy day tomorrow, and someone insists on hugging and squeezing me too tightly, so I take some time to fall asleep.”

“You want me to stop?” I ask, slightly disappointed.

“Absolutely not. After tonight, I want you to pull me even closer, so you can throw me off the bed more easily.”

I’m stumped. I think she’s joking, but her voice is even and serious, not a whit of humor in it.

“Are you making fun of me? Are you angry?”

“No, of course not. No woman ever gets angry after literally getting kicked out of her bed naked, mid sleep,” she says in the same, steady voice, and I’m no less confused.

“But I did get banged up, and I need you to kiss it better.”

She’s all better in the morning, albeit a bit more banged up.

“Should we say anything about us?” I ask, washing myself from a basin.

“They know we are having sex, they are not children,” Manny says, her voice patronizing. “These past three weeks, you shared my room whenever there was a room to share, you always slept next to me during our marches. It is easy to infer what is happening.”

“Does it bother you?” I ask, fearing her answer.

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She gives me the idiot look.

“Why would it bother me? I am taking my tea, I will not stay pregnant for now, and we plan to marry after all this is over. Some will gossip that I am sleeping with you to keep you on my side, but they would gossip like that even if I lived like a healing honored mother, sworn to celibacy. Either way, their words cannot touch me. I have grown too numb to most verbal provocations.”

I know the last one is a lie. I still recall our first escape and how she reacted when I said I could fuck forty minutes straight.

“I’m sorry,” I say and smile. I head over to her, and kiss her on the sternum, ignoring her confusion.

“What for?” She drops her washing cloth back into the basin, tilts her head, and looks at me with infinite patience.

I hate that deal about being honest.

I sigh.

“I know you’re not numb to verbal provocations. I learned that the first time we met. I teased you about something, and you snapped.”

She raises her eyebrow and looks at me with an ‘oh, this is gonna be good’ look. Some mix of intrigue, expectation, and bend over young man, you’re in for a spanking.

“Can I be spared from sharing the details? Please? I was stupid and said stupid things. You loved me despite that, so it’s not all that important.”

Her interest intensifies, and she remains silent.

“Please?” I beg, and she nods. Slowly. Like a judge saying, ‘I’ll allow it.’

“I will visit the assassin after breakfast,” she says slowly. “I shall do so without you, accompanied by four guards and a torturer.”

“Why?”

She gives me a cold, ‘you dare ask’ look. Finally, she shakes her head and focuses on cleaning her armpits with the washcloth.

“Because I say so, and because I have aspects I do not want you to see. In the future, if I go anywhere with armed guards and a torturer, you will not follow me. You will refrain from asking questions. You want basic privacy, as do I. You think me a saint, and you want me to be a saint for the general public. I respect your wish, and I agree it is for the best that I be the merciful one, while you are a demon, as you said.”

She pauses.

“I can be much crueler than you. You are brutal and can act savage, but deep down, you are a big cuddly moorag.”

I furrow my brows. “What’s a moorag?”

“They live far away, basically big wooly cows, about ten feet tall, with two pairs of hanging horns, which look like tusks. They are extremely docile, and they let you do anything to them, unless you hurt them. If you hurt them, they stomp you dead.”

I nod.

“Your character reminds me of theirs, but there is something more important you should know. Assassins always come in threes. We captured one. The other two will leave him to his fate, but they will make more attempts on our lives.”

My heart stops beating and my legs grow weak. I’m not afraid for myself, I’m afraid for her.

“I should be around you all the time,” I blurt out, and she stops cleaning herself.

“That is sweet,” she flashes me a smile, “but you have your duties, and we have enough guards. Their proficiency is lacking for now, but they are training every day, and they are competent enough to walk around and scream should they see an assassin.”

“But I can sense when you are in danger. That’s how I woke up and pushed you out of the harm’s way.”

She nods. “We are already spending as much time together as possible. You are away from me only during your morning routine with the soldiers, and when we are in the toilet.”

She looks at the wet cloth in her hands, then at the one I’m holding. “We are even washing ourselves together. There is little room to increase the time we spend together.”

“I could skip training with the soldiers,” I say immediately, but she shakes her head.

“No.” The word is not loud, but it’s as firm as a rock. “You will lead those men to battle. They need to see you, to know you. Besides, after you beat the drillmaster yesterday, he mentioned he would bring someone special to train with you today, and trust me that special person is really special. Just keep doing what you are already doing, and soon you might impress even the veterans who are hesitating to join us now.”

I regain my composure and realize there’s a more important question to ask.

“When did the king dispatch his assassins?”

“Probably as soon as he got the news of my escape. But it could have been any of the insightful nobles greedy for the reward, currying the king’s favor. We were in advantage when we operated in the dark while the enemy was in the open. Roles have reversed. Now we have to peer into the shadows and wonder who may stab us from the behind.”

We finish washing ourselves and getting dressed in a heavy atmosphere. I head outside to check what happened last night. When Manny said she needed sleep, I thought she was crazy, but after thinking about it, there was no immediate concern.

I captured the assassin, the others ran, fleeing from the guards, whom I have heard start a frantic search around the keep. Chasing potential assassins, who might not even be there, in the moonlit night seems like shooting myself in the foot with a fresh morning perspective.

“Good morning, Galliat,” I say to the head guard, who’s waiting for us at the base of the stairs on the ground floor. “Could you tell me what you have found out?”

“Sir, my Noble Lady,” the stocky man, good five inches taller than me, salutes, “we got nothing important from the assassin. He told us he scaled the walls and entered your room through the window. He wouldn’t reveal who sent him, nor where he’s from. The dagger was poisoned, rot’s heart, he admitted when we asked. Unfortunately, it’s a widely used poison. It’s thick and sticky, good for blades, but it spreads slowly, rotting away flesh. I plan to station a pair of guards beneath your window and—”

“Don’t,” I interrupt the man. “Assassins will just kill them. I am aware that the keep is huge and that you are already spread thin. Thank you for your effort. Our Noble Lady will go down to speak with the assassin when she has the time.”

I discuss some other minor details with Galliat, but I can’t think of a good booby trap that would stop an assassin without accidentally killing a maid cleaning the room. I originally wanted to place a bunch of caltrops on the floor, but a maid cleans the room every morning, then I considered some pendulum by the window, but again, the maid.

We’re about to part, when I decide to ask for a sack of caltrops.

“One more thing Galliat,” I say after the man turned away from me.

Assassins know about caltrops. They will plan for them, and they know how to avoid them. They aren’t stupid.

“Good work, Galliat. Thank you.”

The man salutes and takes his leave, beaming with pride.

How do I surprise the assassins if they attack us in the bedroom again? I bite my lip and follow Manny to the dining hall, despite losing my appetite.