Reign of Darkness (The Prince's Assassin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,86

house. Somewhere close. He hadn’t explored all of the house but had heard of more rooms hewn into solid rock. There’d be tunnels too. But how to find them without being seen?

Voices rumbled from the closed door. Niko pressed himself against the wall beside the door. Roksana’s drawl was instantly recognizable. The other voice was a stranger’s.

The door swung open and Roksana strode in. Niko slammed the door behind his aunt, making her whirl. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said quickly. “Where is he?”

The shock on her face honed into fury. “Don’t be a fool. Even if I told you, you won’t leave here alive.”

He stalked forward. “Where the fuck is he?”

“You can’t save him, Niko.” She backed up, hands out, trying to calm him.

“Whatever he is, whatever he’s done, you don’t fucking restrain him and bleed him like an animal! Even the Cavilles don’t go that far.”

“They don’t have to!” she snapped, the same Yazdan rage burning in her eyes. “They have all the power, Niko. It’s in his blood to free that power. It’s in ours—in yours—to contain it! It’s the Yazdan legacy.”

Niko was tired of being told who or what he should be. He knew what was right, and this wasn’t it. “Fuck legacy.”

“You are a Yazdan. That ring proves it.”

He pulled off the ring and threw it at her. It bounced off her chest and rolled across the floor. “Where’s Vasili?”

Her hand casually slipped behind her back. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

She swung a pistol up, but Niko had already launched off his back foot. He grabbed her wrist, twisted her arm hard behind her back, and drove her to her knees. She barked a sharp cry. The pistol clattered to the floor.

“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” he pushed the words through his teeth and against her cheek. “Tell me where the fuck you’re keeping Vasili, or by the three, I’ll break every bone in your body. Don’t think I fucking won’t, aunt.”

“I don’t know—”

He leaned in, twisting her arm higher up her back, making her gasp. “Wrong answer.”

“I don’t know! It’s the truth. I readied a cell, but Alissand didn’t use it. I don’t know, Niko. I swear. Alissand took him.”

Dammit.

She blinked dark, glistening eyes. “Niko… You could be greater than this. You could be a true Yazdan.”

He’d heard enough. After he briefly released her, she mumbled her thanks, adding, “You’re a good man, Niko.”

He scooped up the pistol. “I’m really not,” he said and struck her under the jaw. She flew backward and hit the floor hard. And there she lay. A small shard of guilt tried to wiggle into his resolve, but his snarl soon denied it purchase.

He made it to the docks as the sun began to bathe the city in early morning heat. Walla’s Heart had her gangplank down, but Niko only needed to climb a few steps to realize the ship had been gutted. Its hold doors lay open, the expensive silks strewn about the deck, rippling in the salty wind. He checked the cabin and below deck, but the ship had been abandoned.

The docks had always been his refuge, and he lingered there now, drifting along the waterfront to the sound of clanging rigging and the workers unloading their ship’s cargo. The air smelled of salt and seaweed, like it always had, but its sweetness felt like a joke. He couldn’t go back to the house. Didn’t have a home or a friend he could turn to. There was only one place left to look.

He stumbled into the open doors of the Whispering Pearl. The early morning hour ensured the taverna was quiet, its only patrons those who had lodged overnight. He almost turned around and left again when a figure seated in the yard outside caught his eye through the window, his wide-rimmed hat unmistakable.

Yasir.

As Niko entered the courtyard, Yasir looked up and beamed, but his smile quickly fell away. He’d shaped his goatee, making his face thinner, or perhaps the last few weeks at sea had thinned him some. He shot from his chair and took Niko’s arm.

“They have him,” Niko growled.

Yasir steered Niko back out onto the street. “Can’t talk here.” They threaded through early morning traders setting up their stalls. “Keep moving. We need to get out of sight.”

“They have Vasili.”

“I suspected as much when they tore through my ship. Luckily, I wasn’t aboard or they’d have me too.” His lips turned down in a severe