Chapter 14. Assassins in the Night

Steam climbed like fingers of otherworldly mist to curl about Prince Lei Yǔlín as he stared waist-deep in the hot bath. Dripping across his sculpted torso was the run of jagged disfigurements on his back, a geography of pain scored on his skin. The water seemed to make each of his scars throb as if the memories which caused them still pulsed just beneath.

Su Shu was stuck at the door, her eyes wide open, her breath suspended in her throat. She had planned to bathe, her own robe clinging precariously to her shoulder blades, the thin material clinging wet to her skin. And now all she can see is the terror spelled out on Yǔlín's back. Scars extending from his shoulder blades to his waist, some deformed and ancient, some fresher and red-rimmed, each serving as testament to unimaginable suffering.

Her eyes wandered downward, to where the scars dipped from view under the waterline. Then a shuddery breath slipped out of her. Without thinking, she stepped forward.

The movement of the dancer caused her to accidentally knock against her water jar, which then fell to the ground with a resounding shatter.

Yǔlín's whole body tensed. He whirled round, rivulets of water running off his skin, his golden eyes slitted in warning. He was in rage and shock. But for an instant beneath all of it, he had flinched in exposure as if some part of himself he never wished to share had been seen by her.

"Why are you here?" he demanded in a low and deadly tone. Fists knotted beneath the water.

Su Shu swallowed hard, her eyes still locked on his wounds. "Does it hurt?"

Yǔlín's jaw was locked. He stepped forward, water churning at his hips. "When did my prisoner escape from her cage and begin questioning?"

Su Shu drew in a nervous breath, his eyes scanning his face. "Those scars. they're."

"None of your business," he snapped angrily. "Get out."

But Su Shu did not react. "I've seen wounds like those in the past. They don't heal."

Yǔlín's face grew dark. He leaned in closer to her, his face inches from her own, water droplets running down his sharp jaw. "You think you understand pain, Su Shu? You think some bruises and scrapes make you tough? You know nothing."

Her fists closed tightly. "I know enough to know that you're still in pain."

Yǔlín's eyes grew cold. For an instant, it seemed he was on the point of speaking, but he pulled back hastily. "Leave. Now. Before I forget why I'm letting you live."

She gazed at him for an extra beat of her heart, her heart thumping wildly, before spinning on her heel to hurry from the room, her wet robe clinging to her like a second skin.

Now in the king palace

It's

In the shadowy palace corridors, darkness seemed to slither on the walls. There were four black-clad assassins moving soundlessly through the corridors. Each had a bow fitted with an arrow dipped in deadly venom rumored to halt an onccoming demon's heart at once.

King Lei Moyao was alone in the throne room, thinking deeply, his eyes weighed down by tiredness. The experiences of the previous week had made him uneasy, paranoid. The perpetual surveillance of the guards had been revoked at his behest, and the room had fallen silent and ominous.

The first assassin notched his arrow in place and drew back on the string. Cold determination glittered in his eyes.

Then, without a sound, he released.

The arrow cut through the air with lethal accuracy, the tip of it shining in the dim moonlight. The arrow struck King Moyao right in the chest, piercing deep into his heart. The king's body convulsed with jagged spasms, his eyes snapping wildly open in shock. Blood gushed from the wound, reddening his robes to a deep, foreboding red.

But the assassins were not finished.

A second arrow. And then another. And another. Each one impacting mercilessly with precision, each one piercing deeper into the king's lifeless body.

They paused for ten seconds. Silence. The head of King Moyao drooped forward, his eyes lifeless and his body soaked red. The assassins exchanged one satisfied glance. They had accomplished something none other had dared to do — to penetrate the heart of the Demon Realm itself.