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Chapter One

The cavernous entrance hall of the Assassin’s Keep was silent as Celaena Sardothien stalked across the ers No one had greeted her at the towering oak doors save the housekeeper, who’d taken her rain-sodden cloak--and, after getting a look at the wicked grin on Celaena’s face, opted not to say anything

The doors to Arobynn Hamel’s study lay at the other end of the hall, and were currently shut But she kneas in there Wesley, his uard outside, dark eyes unreadable as Celaena strode toward hih Wesley wasn’t an assassin, she had no doubt that he could wield the blades and daggers strapped to his massive body with deadly skill

She also had no doubt that Arobynn had eyes at every gate in this city The moment she’d stepped into Rifthold, he’d been alerted that she’d at last returned She trailed mud from her wet, filthy boots as she made her way toward the study doors--and Wesley

It had been three ht Arobynn had beaten her unconscious--punishreement with the Pirate Lord, Captain Rolfe It had been three months since he’d shipped her off to the Red Desert to learn obedience and discipline and to earn the approval of the Mute Master of the Silent Assassins

The letter clutched in her hand was proof that she had done it Proof that Arobynn hadn’t broken her that night

And she couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when she gave him the letter

Not to old she’d brought with her, which were on their way up to her room at this moment With a feords, she’d explain that her debt to hi to walk out of the Keep and move into the new apartment she’d purchased That she was free of him

Celaena reached the other end of the hall, and Wesley stepped in front of the study doors He looked about Arobynn’s age, and the slender scars on his face and hands suggested that the life he’d spent serving the King of the Assassins hadn’t been easy She suspected there were --perhaps ing loosely at his sides, ready to reach for any of his weapons She ée, but Wesley had always made it clear that if she became a threat to his master, he wouldn’t hesitate to end her She didn’t need to see hi opponent She supposed that hy he did his training in private--and kept his personal history a secret, too The less she knew about hiht ever ca, she supposed

"Nice to see you, too, Wesley," she said, flashing him a smile He tensed, but didn’t stop her as she strode past hi of the Assassins was seated at his ornate desk, poring over the stack of papers before hiht up to the desk and tossed the letter onto the shining wooden surface

She opened herout of her But Arobynnfaintly, and returned to his papers Wesley shut the doors behind her

Celaena froze Arobynn flipped the page, eyes rapidly scanning whatever docuue ith his hand Sit

With his attention still on the docu, Arobynn picked up the Mute Master’s letter of approval and set it atop a nearby stack of papers Celaena blinked Once Twice He didn’t look up at her He just kept reading The h: she was to wait until he was ready And until then, even if she screae her existence

So Celaena sat down

Rain plinked against the s of the study Seconds passed, then estures faded into silence Arobynn read three other documents before he even picked up the Mute Master’s letter

And as he read it, she could only think of the last time she’d sat in this chair

She looked at the exquisite red carpet beneath her feet So all the blood out How much of the blood on the carpet had been hers--and how ed to Sam Cortland, her rival and coconspirator in the destruction of Arobynn’s slave agreement? She still didn’t knohat Arobynn had done to hiht When she’d arrived just now, she hadn’t seen Saain, she hadn’t seen any of the other assassins that lived here So maybe Sam was busy She hoped he was busy, because that wouldaside the Mute Master’s letter as if it were nothing ht and her chin upheld, even as Arobynn’s silver eyes scanned every inch of her They lingered the longest on the narrow pink scar across the side of her neck, inches away froht you’d be tanner"

She alht rein on her features "Head-to-toe clothes to avoid the sun," she explained Her words were quieter--weaker--than she wanted The first words she’d spoken to him since he’d beaten her into oblivion They weren’t exactly satisfying

"Ah," he said, his long, elegant fingers twisting a golden ring around his forefinger

She sucked in a breath through her nose, re to say to hi the journey back to Rifthold A few sentences, and it would be over More than eight years with hiold

She braced herself to begin, but Arobynn spoke first

"I’ain, the words vanished from her lips