The assassinations had stopped abruptly months ago. After the death of the Princess Nehemia, word had it that the King's Champion had gone feral, been thrown in the dungeon for attempting to kill the Captain of the Guard. These stories were backed up by the presence of a new scar down the man's face.
A few weeks later, it was reported that there had been a massacre of a rebel group on the night of the Princess's assassination. And since then, only two murders. From the short nights after Celaena's release from her cell.
One- Archer Finn. Simply vanished in the night.
And Two – the assassin named Grave. That horrible, disgusting man from the Champion's Contest. He had been mauled.
Found in an alleyway the next morning.
Pinned to the wall by daggers through his hands, fingers on the floor beneath his hanging body, blood-soaked clothes in tatters, skin almost entirely removed.
Killed by an expert torturer.
Judging by the blood, the carefully, skilfully inflicted wounds, he had been kept alive for hours on end while his killer had inflicted the maximum possible pain upon him.
Even his eyeballs had been removed.
It was a wonder no one had heard his screams.
But rumour had it that Nehemia's body had also been mutilated. Carved up. And rumour had it that Grave had been the one to kill her.
It didn't take a genius to figure out who'd returned the favour.
But since then – nothing.
No word on Celaena.
And no more killings.
But someone claimed to have seen a woman with honey-gold hair boarding a ship bound for Wendlyn. A woman with an amethyst ring.