Three Months Later

Keep running.

The dead leaves crunched, and the fallen twigs snapped under her feet as Cassandra ran through the autumn night. It didn't matter how much noise she made in the wood—they were trained to find her, even if she silently remained still.

There were three of them—the Guild's top assassins—and they were following her with the vehemence of men who hadn't had the chance to make a fresh kill in far too long. She sensed their presence behind her more than she heard them—it was a trait she picked up through her training, and one day she was certain it would be beneficial to her success within the Guild.

And now she knew exactly why.

Keep running.

The sun completed its descent below the horizon, which signaled the beginning of the elongated countdown until it rose again at dawn. Once the early morning light shone, her Trial would be complete, and Cass would become an official member of the Guild of Assassins.

She only needed to survive the night to pass the final test.

She knew the men who followed her personally. She trained with them before the Trials, maintained relationships with them, and knew first-hand that they were the best in Lathos. Being within the Guild's top three members earners and completing their missions better than the rest of its members, this was their reward.

And in that, if they caught her, they could do what they chose to her—it didn't matter who they were or what she was to them. For this one night, the Guild would turn a blind eye to its Code, and she would very well end up dead.

Keep running.

The hours passed as she wound and dodged her way through the dark forest. The Trials were different every time, they told her—no two were the same for any fledgling assassin. So, in that, there was no correct way one could prepare themselves for the final test before Initiation, other than the skills already gain from the weeks—months—of training beforehand.

The bile rose in Cass' throat as she gasped for breath while she wove her way through the dense thicket of trees. No matter how many times her sister attempted to dissuade her, Cass knew what would be expected of her the moment she petitioned the Leader to be a member of the Guild of Assassins. She knew this day would come, had worked hard to get where she was, and no matter how many times her sister tried to convince her that was making the wrong choice, Cass she knew this was where she belonged.

But those thoughts of her sister finally halted her movements, causing her to hesitate, if only slightly, as she attempted to climb a nearby tree to rest her weary body. Only for a moment, she told herself as she nestled between the trunk and a large branch. The sounds of pursuit from the ground below quieted. So she accepted her current reprise as a gift from the gods, especially as she felt her stamina falter, and gave herself some time to clear her mind and refocus.

Closing her eyes, Cass could almost hear her sister's reprimanding voice. Lilia never wanted the younger Cortova to join the Guild. She never wanted her to be a part of the treachery and betrayal that resided beneath the skin of the city's Underworld. Of course, her sister did well enough as the Guild's Second, but as hypocritical as it may have been, it was never something Lilia wished upon her sister.

Perhaps that was the primary reason Cass wanted it so badly.

She clenched her jaw as she took in a deep breath through her nose. Lilia hadn't returned in time for Cassandra's Trial either, and it wasn't until that moment that she realized how much her absence bothered her. What she would have given for her sister's guidance and suggestion before the Trials began, but still she did not return. In that, Cass couldn't help but wonder if Lilia would ever return from her mission, or what it would take to make her do so if the time came.

Would her sister's death be enough of a reason? Would Lilia finally return to Lathos if Cass didn't make it through the night?

Noises from below startled Cass from her thoughts, and she cursed her weakness, quickly discovering she delayed too long while considering her sister's fate. The assassins below didn't have reason to be quiet, she remembered as she made herself smaller on the branch above them. They were nothing but predators of pure strength and speed- they weren't the ones whose life depended on avoiding them.

She stopped breathing as they lingered at the base of her tree. She tried her best to cover her tracks, but as the seconds ticked by, she found she was suddenly questioning her abilities as one of them leaned against the trunk.

"I don't know what Baz is thinking with this one," the one below her mentioned casually, and she could tell it was Lex by the sound of his voice.

"And since when are you one to question Baz?" a second voice retorted, his voice hushed as if Baz would hear their conversation. Jem, Cass determined. So then, there were only two of them—where the third went, Cass was uncertain. Nevertheless, she listened.

"Since he's too busy thinking with his cock instead of his brain," Lex observed.

"She's her sister," his companion reminded him.

"Doesn't mean a damn thing. Her sister left, remember?"

"She's on mission..."

"For three months? You're smarter than that."

"You think she deserted?"

"I've heard there's a Lordling that caught her attention at the Solstice."

Jem snorted at that. "Baz always said her methods would be the end of her one day."

"Let's see if her sister is just as good," Lex mused.

Cass hadn't realized how much their conversation distracted her until a rustle of leaves to her side brought her eyes up to meet the sneering stare of Wil, the third assassin assigned to her Trial for the night. Before she could get her only knife out from where it remained hidden in her boot, he leaped, colliding with her body and, using his momentum, shoving her from the branch where she was perched. In a tangle of limbs, they tumbled to the ground, and Wil pinned Cass against the forest's floor as the air was knocked from her lungs.

Stars circled around her vision in the night's darkness as she stared into the void of the wooden canopy, and she knew the other two waiting assassins surrounded them where they lay.

"Shit," she cursed as she tried to sit, but the hands that grasped her shoulders pushed her back onto the hard ground beneath her, causing her head to hit again against the cold dirt again.

"I would stay right where you are, Cortova," Wil smirked above her, and it was the look in his eyes, so close to her own that made her stop.

She knew these men—she worked with them, practiced with them, trained with them almost every day to get her to this point of her Trials.

And now they surrounded her like starving dogs begging for their next meal.

"Baz doesn't pay you enough, Wil," she muttered, blinking her eyes to clear the fogginess from behind them.

"Be that as it may, the bonuses are always worth it," he sneered as he gripped her shoulders tighter, forcing her harder against the ground.

She shuddered at the touch. No, right now, these men were not her friends.

Despite that, Cass was ready for him.

As Wil shifted above her, she immediately shrugged her shoulder up, catching him square in the neck, while her knee rose to connect between his legs.

Gasping for breath, Wil couldn't decide if he should comfort his neck or his balls and toppled off Cass to protect himself from further attack. But instead of going on the offensive, Cass took advantage of the situation to roll away from underneath him, her hand immediately grabbing the dagger in her boot as returned upright, crouching, waiting for the other two to pounce.

But instead of coming to the defense of their companion, they both remained where they stood, watching her in the fading night—she knew their eyesight was as well-adjusted to the darkness as hers, so the shadows would do her no favors if they tried to give chase.

No, if they attacked, it would have to be in the here and now.

Wil groaned and gathered his feet beneath him, his arm wrapped around his stomach as though he thought his entrails would spill on the ground. Cass allowed herself a moment to smirk at his expense, but only a moment, as she braced an arm on the ground beside her while the stars behind her eyes still refused to clear.

The stars...

Whipping her head around, she finally realized how much time had truly passed. And in the distance behind them, below the tree line, she could just make out the dawn's beginning light.

Keep running.

Never had better advice been given, so she jumped on her feet and ran.

Without another glance behind her, she sprinted towards the forest's edge, towards the sun, towards the end of the Trial that would finally—finally—give her the merit and purpose and, perhaps one day, the ranking she deserved.

The Rule of Succession said the positions within the Guild's could be transferred through a bloodline, and since Baz's right hand remained vacant since her sister left, should she never choose to return...

Cass heard the steps trampling behind her, the frustrated grunts and groans of the assassins who now realized they would spend another night alone should she get beyond the tree line. At that, the would-be assassin immediately increased her speed, pulling from every muscle in her body the last ounce of adrenaline left within them. Her lungs ached, her heart pounded to bursting, and her limbs were on fire as if every tendon was preparing to tear.

But still, she ran, her pace fast and hard as the edge of the forest spread and disappeared before her, and the rays of morning sunlight warmed her face.

And in the brightness and beauty of the dawn's light stood Lord Sebastian Gaylen, the Leader of the Guild of Assassins, his strong back towards her as he, too, appeared to be appreciating the arrival of the sun.

Maybe she whimpered, or maybe he heard her make her desperate escape from the woods, but as Baz turned to face her, his sharp blue eyes assessed her while she frantically bounded towards him, and she all but cried out at the sight of him.

Those were the eyes of the most dangerous man in Lathos.

They were also the eyes of her paramour. Her lover. Her heart and soul.

Leaping as though her life depended on it, she reached out for him like a lifeline, and he caught her in his arms and clutched her tight against his chest. Allowing the warmth from his strong body to protect her, to keep her safe if only for the moment, she finally released the breath she didn't know she was holding.

The Trial was over. And she survived.

"How did you do it?" was all he asked while he held her, a gentle hand gentle running along her sweat-soaked back.

"I kept running," she murmured into his chest as the darkness swarmed and finally consumed her within his arms.