ECLIPSE
"What? A bridal selection contest?" Eclipse scoffed lightly in disbelief while she stood face to face with the Bloodhound back at the Hollow.
Of all the absurd and not so absurd things she had imagined her summons back to the Hollow regards Malric NorthSteed would be about, she hadn't envisioned this.
The Bloodhound silently stared at their training board plastered on the wall that contained every single snippet of information on Malric and the North. Eclipse liked to call it their crime board—and every single information on it had long been bleeded and imprinted in her brain.
"Yes." The Bloodhound grunted, squinting at the board. "The Luna Queen of the North passed away a week ago from illness. A bridal selection contest will be held to determine the future Luna Queen. Royal messengers have already been dispatched across all regions. It will be…a grand affair."
That got Eclipse's mind working overtime.
For one, the sudden death of the Luna Queen pegged her, although she brushed it asides for the very reason that it was hardly her business.
On the other hand, a contest where prospective brides from all over the regions gathered was sure to be received with great fan fare. Dare she say it would bring a bit of chaos to the North that had been much awaited for five years.
If she assumed the right identity, and found herself in the right place, and the right time, then she should be able to do something about her unresolved vendetta.
A smile threatened to tear through her carefully built impassive façade. But then she stilled as she realized something. "Then you must have summoned me to use this opportunity and make my move through the selection?" She asked.
He cut her a single-eyed glare. "It was not I who summoned you. I still stand that you're not yet ready. It is the Pale Warden that summons you."
Eclipse froze. The Pale Warden was considered the leader of the Hollow. Yet he stood as the most mysterious figure amongst them.
The Bloodhound faced her squarely, his expression betraying that the words he now conveyed to her was not of his own volition, but because it came from an order from high above him.
"I have been authorized to pass his message to you; you are to infiltrate the Bridal Selection." the command came out curt and to the point.
Despite her trainer's lack of excitement, Eclipse arched up at that information.
Infiltration was an art she had long mastered. She had played the dainty role of a servant, a maid, a stranded passerby, a widowed woman, a rogue, a merchant, even a noblewoman countless number of times that wearing another skin now felt more natural than wearing her own.
"What?" She drawled in a voice that brimmed of unsheathed excitement, "Shall I be the attendants to one of the Brides? The maid? Or the handmaiden."
The Bloodhound didn't share in her dark amusement. "This time is different, Arrow. You shall be the main character."
What? The main character?
"Do you mean…?"
"You shall become one of the brides." The Bloodhound revealed the information without ado.
She looked up at him, stunned for a moment.
"One of the Brides?" She scoffed, "that is a weak identity. I would be found out easily."
Was he not the one that went on and on about how Malric was considered one of the century's finest intelligent men. An assassin assuming the identity of one of his brides was something he would sniff out on the first instance.
Background checks and investigations would have already been launched. Even a maid might not escape such scrutiny but stood a better chance than a bride.
"An identity has been prepared for you. It is seventy percent proof."
Already?
The Hollow moved quite fast. And their speed wasn't without due cause.
She could handle an identity that was fifty percent proof, talk more of seventy. Yet she was curious how they pulled something that should have been otherwise impossible like this given the timeframe.
It was Malric NorthSteed they were speaking of after all. To be able to sneak into his own bridal selection contest required long preparation more than skills. And that was just what the Hollow did; they prepared long for this.
The door swung open, interrupting her thoughts. A woman she had never seen entered, swaying her hips side to side with a malicious smile on her lips.
"Bloodhound," she drawled, blue eyes piercing Eclipse like a hawk circling its prey, "who would have thought the day when I finally get to meet your prized student will come."
The woman crept to her master, placing long fingers against his chest almost seductively while her eyes remained on Eclipse like the prime predator she was shaping out to be.
The Bloodhound looked anything but seduced though. Like a rock, he remained impassive.
"This is Sage Raven." He introduced brusquely, "she is in charge of the Transition Team that will prepare you for this mission."
That told Eclipse everything she needed to know about her new mission—
—dangerous? Yes. High profile? Certainly.
Sage Raven who stood as one of the six Sages leered at her. Then she clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Aside from her pretty face, she doesn't seem to have much going for her. And yet the Pale Warden approves of her more than my own proteges whom I've moulded for decades."
Eclipse remained unfazed at the jab. Ronan had long informed her that the other assassins bore a common hatred for her for the simple reason she had been trained in secrecy and secluded from them.
She instead nodded curtly at the woman as a way of greeting. "Arrow." she introduced herself.
Raven chuckled, eying the bow strapped to her back. She left the Bloodhound's side, approaching Eclipse menacingly. Then her fingers crept to her face, caressing the flesh until she feared the flesh would break and blood would spurt out.
"I've heard of you, Arrow." she hissed like a snake, "but no one told me you've such beautiful, vibrant, dark eyes. If I saw you on the way, I would mistake you for some innocent doe-eyed beauty."
Eclipse tilted her head up, rising to the veiled challenge. "Do you think there's anything innocent about me?" She jabbed back easily.
There was blood on her hands after all. As such, innocent was a far reaching description.
Raven evidently didn't like to be challenged for she gripped her jaw easily, eyes spitting fire.
"Fine." She chuckled, "I shall like to see what tough stuff you're made of."
"Do not mar her face." The Bloodhound commanded coldly.
Raven released her abruptly.
Facing the man who remained impossibly still, she pouted. "You acquire a young blood, and then you forget all about our past connections." she said in a playful tone with thorns jabbed at the edges.
He said nothing, but that didn't deter her.
"For the past five years, I wondered why you broke your vow and took a student for the first time," She snapped with that fake playful lithe to her tone, "but now I fear only you would ever know the reason why."
Eclipse took in the strange exchange with mild befuddlement.
The general belief she and Ronan shared was that the Bloodhound took her as his first ever student because of his unfinished assassination attempt on Malric. Yet Raven made it sound like there was more to it.
Raven swiftly turned to her, all signs of playfulness wiped away from her expression. "Let's get started, Arrow." She said, all business like, "as the leader of your Transition Team, I shall warn you beforehand that if you slip one bit in this mission, even if the Alpha King leaves you a whole corpse, the Hollow will not."
The threat travelled Eclipse, loud and clear. Yes, this might be her personal vendetta, but it was the Hollow's business more than it was hers as far as they were concerned more than it was hers.
So it was expected that she must play according to their rules as they have trained her.
"Understood." She answered even though she didn't plan on obedience.
The moment she got close enough to Malric during the selection, she would take his life whether or not the order was officially given.
Raven must have sensed her rioting defiance because the woman circled her like a prey with a sneer on her face.
Then she tossed a booklet to her which she caught easily. "For this mission, you will be Eclipse Monart of the Monart Pack in the East."
What… wait a second? She would be assuming the identity of who?