Arobynn's plan was, she grudgingly admitted, brilliant. It would be quite a spectacle. She brought Evangeline with her – needed her there, so that if Celaena did kill her, the girl might be looked after.
Celaena was many things, but she had never killed a child. And a life with her would be better than falling into the hands of Arobynn or Clarisse.
She had refused Arobynn's offer of a carriage of his own. Because she may be here to pass on his message, but her main aim was to warn the assassin. To give her Wesley's letter, now tucked into the pocket of her thick grey cloak.
And she needed Celaena to know she wasn't entirely Arobynn's plaything. Not anymore. And never again.
They pulled up outside the warehouse Arobynn had indicated, and she threw up her heavy hood as she stepped out onto the curb. They waited only a minute under the narrow awning, the cab driver remaining, Evangeline tucked into the cab. Out of danger if the situation turned violent too quickly.
The woman who opened the huge rolling door of the warehouse was unmistakeably Celaena, despite the red-dyed hair.
Her arm was twisted into the folds of her cloak, no doubt to conceal a blade she held there. Those turquoise eyes bore into her and for a few moments they stood in silence. She reached into her cloak to touch her letter as recognition flashed over that scarred, sun-kissed face.
"Start explaining," Celaena said quietly, leaning against the doorframe, "Or you're rat meat."
She stepped back instinctively, ready to shield Evangeline if it came to that.
She pulled back her hood a little, revealing her face.
"I came to warn you."
Celaena stepped close, now under the awning herself, and drawled, "As far as memory serves me, Lysandra, I warned you that if I ever saw you again, I'd kill you."
Every instinct screamed at her to keep her eyes on the predator in front of her, and yet she wanted with all her being to look back. To ask the driver to take Evangeline away. To keep her safe.
"Please." She knew she sounded pathetic, but she was desperate. She had to deliver that letter. Had to make sure Evangeline was safe.
That hand slid a blade back into a sheath and the assassin stared at her, weighing her position. Considering.
And then she tugged back her own hood and said, "It would take me less than a minute to kill you and your driver, and to make sure your little protégée in the carriage doesn't say a peep about it. She'd probably be happy to see you dead."
Lysandra almost sighed in relief that she'd been right. Celaena wouldn't kill the girl.
But another part of her stiffened.
"She is not my protégée, and she is not in training."
"So she's to be used as a shield against me?" Celaena's smile was razor-sharp.
"Please – please," Her voice quavered slightly as she spoke over the rain, "I need to talk to you, just for a few minutes, where it's safe."
The assassin's gaze trailed over the carriage, the fine clothes, and she squeezed the bridge of her nose between two fingers, then lifted her head. "You know I have to kill your driver."
"No, you don't!" Cried the poor driver, scrambling to clutch his reins. "I swear – swear I won't breathe a word about this place."
Celaena stalked over to the trembling driver, rain instantly soaking her cloak. She peered in at the permit behind him, illuminated by the little lantern hanging above.
"Well, Kellan Oppel of sixty-three Baker street, apartment two," She said lazily, flicking her gaze back up to him, "I suppose you won't tell anyone."
White as death, the man nodded.
The assassin yanked open the carriage door, and spoke to the child within. "Get out. Both of you inside, now."
Her heart lurched. "Evangeline can wait here." She whispered.
Celaena looked over her shoulder, lips pulling back from her teeth as she bared them at Lysandra.
"If you think for one moment that I'm leaving a child alone in a hired carriage in the slums, you can go right back to whatever cesspit you came from."
She peered back into the carriage, features softening, and said to the cowering girl, "Come on, you, I won't bite."
Reassured, Evangeline scooted closer and gripped Celaena's outstretched hand to jump down onto the curb.
Lysandra watched the assassin take in the beautiful young girl, with her citrine eyes and red-gold hair, watched her note the jagged scars on the child's cheeks and branded out tattoo on her wrist.
The assassin winked at Evangeline and said with a conspiratory grin, "You look like my sort of person."