The farmer thumped a heavy bag onto the table. "There you go. Fifty gold marks, as promised."

    Evren swiped the bag. It disappeared into her leather vest without making a sound. "I hope your farm will be left in peace now."

    She turned to leave. "Wait a moment," the farmer called. "What's a young woman like you doing killing Fae?"

    Evren glanced back with a sniff of indignance. "Personal business." The farmer said nothing more as she left his hut.

    A man stood in between two large coal black stallions, holding the reins. He handed one pair over and Evren swung into the saddle. "Well?" Cadoc asked.

    Evren smoothed loose black curls out of her face. "He paid what he owed and I killed the creatures bothering him." She clicked her tongue and her stallion started trotting down the road.

    "What was it this time?"

    "Naga. Three of them. It's a miracle those demons didn't make it into his house. His new granddaughter would have made a light snack for them." Evren frowned at the thought of the creatures.

    The male Faerie creatures were as hideous as they came. Their bodies were covered in black scales and gave off a serpentine appearance. Their amber eyes carried an otherworldly feeling. You could get lost in those eyes if you weren't careful, and you would never find your way back out. Their sharp teeth and polished talons had slain many innocent Humans, lost in a star struck stupor.

    "Many beasts have crossed the border now that the Wall is gone," Cadoc said. "You see more Naga than anything else."

    Evren only inclined her head in response. The rest of the ride passed in silence. At last, they reached a small hovel. Evren dismounted and took Cadoc's horse for him. She led the horses into their shed and removed their saddles before wiping them down. Evren secured the latches on their stall doors, then entered the house.

    Cadoc was already seated at the table. He held out an expectant hand. Evren sighed and dropped the sack of gold into his palm. Cadoc undid the drawstring and dumped the marks out.

    "Thirty for me and twenty for you," he said, sorting them into two piles.

    "I killed the Naga myself. I should get the larger share," Evren protested.

    "Who trained you?" Cadoc lifted an eyebrow. "Who gives you food, clothes, and shelter? Who dug you up when those High Fae left you to rot, all those years ago?"

    Evren gritted her teeth. "You trained me. You dug me up. But if we're being honest, I'm the one who provides both of us with food, clothes, and shelter. All you ever do is steal my money."

    "Ten gold marks it is." Cadoc moved ten pieces to his own pile. "You should be a little more grateful, you know. Without me, you would be dead." He shoved his marks back into the bag and pocketed it. Cadoc flicked her chin as he brushed out the door.

    Evren stared after him, bile burning in her throat. "Thieving bastard!" She growled. She moved behind the makeshift curtain wall and dropped onto her bare mattress.

    She stared up at the ceiling, clasping her hands over her stomach. Sixteen years. How had she survived sixteen years of this? Sixteen years of serving Cadoc and slaughtering the Fae kind just so he could steal her earnings. Sixteen years of letting him touch her, because if she didn't let him, she would have been on her own. Sixteen years of training, killing, and plotting.

    Evren sat up and pulled a map out from beneath her bed. She spread it out, tracing over the red lines she'd drawn. Each line showed her a different route into the Autumn Court. That was where her most coveted kill waited to be claimed.

    Evren unsheathed her twin daggers and laid them on her bed. She touched the smooth metal of the slightly curved blade. These weapons had spilled so much blood. They were her closest friends, her allies. The only things she could truly trust. Vita and Mortem. Life and Death.

    She picked up Mortem and closed her eyes, feeling the weight of the blade. This blade would spill her victim's blood. This blade would avenge her parents, now nothing more than dust.

    The door banged as Cadoc returned. Evren opened her eyes. "I'm going out tonight," Cadoc called. "Donovan invited me to the Starling. Said Madame Shaverton is providing tonight's live entertainment." He chuckled, jingling the bag of gold. "I might find myself some decent company tonight. Company that doesn't shirk away from me." He pulled the curtain back and stared at her. "Or maybe, I'll come home and find you."

    "Don't bother. I'll be asleep," Evren spat. "I've decided I'm making my move."

    His gaze fell to the map on her bed. "You're going to kill the High Lord? You're not ready for that."

    "Oh, I think I am."

    "Trust me, you're not. If you attack him now, you'll never live to see another sunrise."

    I'm better off dying to avenge my parents than spending one more night letting you rut around with me, Evren thought to herself. "I don't think you're worthy of judging my skills anymore. I haven't seen you make a kill in several years."

    "That's because you're not invited on any of my assignments," Cadoc sneered. "Mark my words, Girl. If you go after Beron Vanserra, you will not succeed. You will have survived for nothing." He spun away and stalked out the door.

    Evren swallowed and moved her daggers off her bed. She tucked the map back into its place before laying down. She exhaled slowly. I'll kill Beron, she thought, and then myself. There's no need to come back here once he's dead, and I don't want to spend my life killing people. I want to find my parents again. I won't find them here.

    She felt no fear or sorrow at the thought of taking her own life. In fact, she rarely felt anything anymore, other than anger. There had been a time when she cried herself to sleep every night. There had been a time when she begged and screamed and fought against Cadoc. She'd outgrown those emotions a year after the death of her parents. She had to. It was how she survived.

    Once, she had felt shame, guilt, and horror when she thought of everything she had done. Of everything that had been done to her. No longer. Now, she let Cadoc do what he wanted, then went on with her business. What others called rape, she called appeasement. She gave him what he wanted and he left her alone. Sometimes, he even gave her more of her earnings than normal. It was survival.

    Survival. What a game she made of it. How many things she endured for the sake of survival. And why was she surviving, she often asked herself? For this one final target. She survived to kill Beron Vanserra.

    When he was dead and her parents were avenged, she would be able to free herself from this game of survival. She only hoped that her blackened soul would contain enough light to be allowed a reunion with her parents, however brief it was. Evren closed her eyes and slept.

•~ ❘ ۞ ❘ ~•

    Early the next morning, Evren slung a satchel over her shoulders and headed out the door. Cadoc was snoring away in his own bed. There was an empty bottle of ale still clutched in his hand. Evren mounted Asper and rode away from the hovel.

    Her plan was simple, although she was certain it would become more complex, the closer she got to her target. She would ride through the Spring Court and reach the Autumn Court in a day or two, depending how hard she rode and how often she stopped. Once there, she would follow her map to the Forest House, home of Beron Vanserra.

    She would spend a few hours, or a few days, scouting out the house and learning its weak points, guard locations and schedules, and entrances. Then, she would concoct a fully fledged plan. Once Beron Vanserra was dead, she would ride back to the spot where her parents had been buried. The spot where she had been buried. And on top of their grave, she would slit her own throat. A tragic, but befitting ending for her.

    Evren rode at a steady pace for two hours, pausing every thirty minutes to give Asper a slight break. They reached the Spring Court very soon. Most had called her and Cadoc insane when they chose to buy the hovel three miles out of the town of Offing. It was so close to the Fae lands. That was precisely why they had chosen it. Evren needed to be close to Fae lands in order to kill Fae, after all.

    She rode on until darkness began to fall across the land that was wreathed in perpetual spring. Evren reined Asper to a halt in a thicketed clearing. She dismounted, removing his saddle and bridle. Evren replaced the bridle with a loose halter and tied Asper to a tree limb, making sure he had enough room to bring his head down for grazing. A stream flowed through the clearing. When Asper drank from it, Evren did as well.

    She cupped the cool water in her hands and drank her fill. Evren paused as moonlight reflected from the water. She peered at herself on the rippling surface. Her own porcelain skin shone almost as brightly as the moon under its ethereal light. Her hair was pulled back in a braid, but loose dark curls framed her face. That was inherited from her father. Her fair complexion and sea green eyes came from her mother.

    Evren sat back on her heels and smoothed the hair from her face. She drew Mortem and rotated the blade in her hands. "Beron Vanserra will die by this blade," she swore. "And then, we shall be reunited. I promise." There was just a flicker of pain in her heart.

    Evren lay back against the trunk of a tree. She didn't bother lighting a fire. The evening was warm enough and the light would only attract unwanted attention. Her Human scent would do that well enough on its own. She was not afraid. She had killed many Faerie creatures in her life. What had she to fear from them? She did not fear death. She did not fear suffering.

    In fact, the only thing she believed she did fear was failing to avenge her parents. That would mean that everything she had ever done was all for naught. That was what she feared. She feared it more than the monsters that were surely watching her, even now.