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“You sound like you’ve done this type of job before.”
“It’s a good job, especially if you’re genuinely fond of the person you work for. I’d rather guard a royal than, say, a rock star.” She took another sip of wine. “Listen, Nick, you saved lives today through your actions. There’s room on the team for someone like you.”
“I’ve got a job, thanks.”
“But not nearly as exciting as this one. Besides, you could really help us with locating and dismembering the rest of the group; what did they call themselves?” She stopped and looked at him.
“Death to Royalty. Not very creative but it does make their agenda very clear.” He did feel compelled to go with her. A few months spent working on this would not hurt the flexible arrangement he had with Bert.
“Solve it and all the royal houses of Europe would be grateful.” Kyra looked at him with large brown eyes over the rim of her wine glass. Nick noticed that her nose was turning slightly red from the cold. “But it’s your decision. You can always wrap up whatever you need to, and let me know. Can I ask you a question?”
“I don’t see how I could stop you,” laughed Nick.
“You didn’t seem surprised by what happened this afternoon, so I assume you know about immortal battles. You told me you know about the game, so I’ll have to assume you’ve spent time with another immortal.” She waited, but since he merely looked at her quizzically, she continued. “I’m also assuming you haven’t been immortal for very long.”
“None of those are questions,” observed Nick.
“Bad experience with a teacher? Do you even know you’re supposed to find a teacher?”
“If I don’t want to play the game, why would I want a teacher?” asked Nick.
“Ah, but what happened to make you not want to participate? Look Nick, your behavior today tells me you’re a man of morals and principles. Think about it. If I had let Yurovsky live today, handcuffed him and turned him over to the police, how long do you think he would have stayed in jail? A convenient death and he’s out of there, ready to start over. Don’t you feel any responsibility to mete out justice? Don’t you care about how many mortals he has killed without punishment? Does he and others like him really deserve to live?”
Nothing. Nick continued to sit quietly, sipping his wine.
Painfully she continued, “You know, a few years ago, I fell in love with the man I was guarding. He was such a noble, good man. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe him. Men like him are rare and to find one is like finding the perfect diamond or reading the best book. He did what was right, which was to convict a butcher of war crimes. Unfortunately he didn’t know the man was immortal. They killed him, Nick, right in front of me and I could do nothing to stop them.” Tears welled in her eyes and she brushed them away with her glove. “I went mad with grief, lost my memory for a time, but slowly pieced it back together with the help of a friend. That immortal did not deserve to live. I may not know why we exist, but I do know that if we don’t police ourselves the bad ones will gain the upper hand, and I for one am not going to allow that to happen.”
Startled, Nick’s mind was thrown back to his comparable experience with Julian Heller, butcher of thousands, selling their organs or using them in those who could pay. Amanda had wanted his head over the death of a midwife hundreds of years before. It was personal. Still it hadn’t been until he had murdered his ex-wife Lauren, that he had felt the need to kill him and had done so. A small crack opened in his mind, closed and clouded for so long by the anger he had felt about becoming an immortal.
“Oh, never mind,” sighed Kyra. “Go your way Nick and wallow in whatever it is that has you immobile and inactive it the face of what you are. Take care of your selfish self.” Finishing her wine, she stood and turned to leave.
“Wait,” said Nick, reaching for her arm. “Just wait one minute.”
She stood and looked down on him as he struggled with his words. “Okay, you win,” he finally said a little explosively, keeping his eyes on the table top.
“Win what?” she asked, not planning on making this easy for him.
He looked up into her cool eyes. “I will come with you, join your team, and work on finding the Death to Royalty group.”
“Great,” she said, turning again. “I’ll set it up tonight with the king.”
“And,” he continued when she was two steps away.
Keeping her back to him, a smile playing on her lips, she stopped. He got up and walked around her. “Will you be my teacher?” he asked.
“You’re probably soft, but I’ll see what I can do,” she answered, poking him in the middle. “Good night, Nick. See you in the morning.”
He stared after her, a witty retort dying on his lips. He’d show her.
***
Stockholm, Sweden
January 2003
“Did anyone ever tell you that you were a stubborn man?” Kyra asked, standing over him as he sprawled on the floor of the gym. “That defense didn’t work the first nine times you tried it. What makes you think it’s going to work now?” They were in a private gym in the palace. After a few years of following the princess around Europe in various schools, she was now enrolled in the University of Stockholm.
“My mother told me that all the time,” admitted Nick. He wiped the blood off his stomach with his ripped shirt and got to his feet.
“You had a mother?”
“And a father and a brother. I was adopted when I was a baby. Dad was a cop and Mom a teacher. My brother was a pain in the ass, but I did learn to fight from him. It wasn’t easy.” Nick wondered why he was telling her all this, but it bought him some time. Lessons with Kyra were always demanding, always exhausting and usually humiliating. Nick might have been a professional boxer, all-around sports hero and tough guy, but this petite woman was faster and had more tricks than he could imagine.
Kyra snorted. “You had it soft. I assumed for years that I was left to die as an infant because I was a girl. It was only when I found out I immortal that I realized it was nobody’s fault. But by then it was a habit to make sure no boy or man ever beat me at anything.” She grinned at him. “And no man ever has!” She lunged towards him again, her sword thrusting in the same manner as before.
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