Chapter 2

I woke soon after the sun had set. As I stood from my bed I could hear the sounds of my brothers and sisters shuffling about the villa. We were a predominately nocturnal group, though there were many among us who had chosen to sleep during the night and watch over the village and villa during the day. I stopped for a moment to examine myself in the large mirror situated on top of a dresser. Before lying down to sleep I had removed my shirt and thrown it to the side.

Needless to say, I looked like I could use more sleep, but not many among us got enough. I took a few moments to look over my appearance. I have shoulder length black wavy hair, which I normally keep tied back for practicality, but now hung loose and tangled. Leaning in, I looked into the reflection of my own eyes. I have a square jaw-line and a cleft chin. My nose, prominent with a small bulge on the bridge where it had been broken multiple times, while my mouth and lips were small and narrow. Almost every aspect of my face was emotionless. Rubbing my chin, I decided that I could use a shave later before I left for my next assignment. Everything about me seemed surreal. Everything except the scars that lay across my body, many of them acquired through training. I stood back up straight and stretched, the muscles in my chest and back tightening. Walking away from the mirror I went to grab my undershirt and pulled it over my head, making my way to the door of the room.

As I left my room I noted my saddlebags laying neatly by my door. It was a shame they had to be carried all this way here to be brought back out. I left them where they were and turned down the hall. A door not far down the hall opened and a head peaked out.

"Dorian," a woman's voice called. I rolled my eyes. She was a pretty women and an astounding assassin though a bit of a nuisance when she had nothing better to do. She strode out from her room flipping her curly brown hair behind her shoulder and walking towards me.

"I don't have time for your shenanigans, Aglea," I said,perhaps in a more harsh tone than I had intended. She furrowed her brow and frowned at me.

"I'm not up to any shenanigans," she said with a sarcastic tone, and held out a letter, "I've been told to give you this."

I looked down at the paper and then back up at her quizzically. She seemed to get frustrated with me quickly. Like most of the females in the Order she had a short temper when it came to the men. Our Order treated both men and women well. We all agreed that men were more adept in some aspects while women excelled in areas that men could not, but there was always some discontent. Although our current master had been the first to allow women to take on more missions than poisonings and information gathering, he still seemed to have a bias towards them and had not allowed many of the women to rightfully rank to the title of master assassin and gain the Theta branded on their wrist.

Aglea had been brought to the villa the same year as I had and been trained alongside me. Rightfully she felt that she should have earned her Theta at the same time as me, but had not and therefore held a disdain for me. She shook the letter at me, demanding me with her eyes to take it.

"It's from the master, it's your contract. He had business to take care of and told me to give it to you," she mumbled with a huff. I took the letter from her hand and broke open the seal. Reading through it carefully, I made sure to memorize each line.

"Hmm," I mumbled, "Athens."

"Athens? I was there not too long ago. Its two days if you ride through the night. Who's your target," she asked giving me a mocking smile, trying to take the letter back from me. I put my hand over her face and pushed her gently into the wall.

"None of your concern," I said rolling the paper and lighting the end of it in a nearby candle. I held it up half of an arm's length away from me and watched it burn almost down to the tips of my fingers, dropping what remained into the small basin of water that sat next to the candle. When I turned back around, Aglea was scowling at me and leaning against the wall.

"Will you tell the stable boy to prepare my horse?" I asked her, my voice flat. She shrugged her shoulders and pushed off from the wall, brushing me as she walked by. As she jogged down the staircase I could hear her mumbling obscenities to herself. Sighing a bit, I returned to my room, grabbing the saddlebag still stacked by my door and tossing them effortlessly onto my bed preparing to repack them.

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