Chapter 24

A few hours after falling asleep I woke up. Faye was still sound asleep in my arms. Frowning I tried to figure out what had woken me up. Generally I was a heavy sleeper. I’d stir a bit but fall right back asleep as long as my mind could identify what had disturbed me, and it didn’t require me to wake up. For example I never fully woke up if Faye moved around or got out of bed. Back on Earth I had easily slept through lawns being mowed outside my apartment window. But if my roommate knocked on my bedroom door or my phone was ringing I would be wide awake.

Suddenly the door to the bedroom burst open. Sitting up I found myself confronted by a man dressed all in black. My first thought was that they were some type of ninja. “Who are you?” I immediately asked.

The man raised a hand and pointed it at me. Suddenly I realized that the man was an assassin. An assassin that used the offensive powers of the swarm to kill their targets. I was almost certainly dead.

The area between me and the assassin filled with a shocking number of sparks. Closing my eyes I realized that this was the end and just hoped that it wouldn’t be too painful. Surprisingly I didn’t feel any pain. Opening my eyes again I noticed that the man was staring at me with horror.

For what felt like eternity, but was probably only a couple seconds, I tried to figure out what was going on. Then I realized that the man wasn’t looking directly at me. Turning my head I realized that they were looking at Faye. She had sat up and pointed her own hand at the man.

Turning back I realized that the sparks were quickly closing in on the man. Suddenly he turned and tried to flee. Before he made it a couple steps the sparks reached him. With a scream he fell to the ground. I nearly threw up as his clothes and then his skin disintegrated. For a few seconds I could see his muscles, as his bones became visible he stopped screaming. A few seconds later there was nothing left of the assassin.

With wide eyes I looked over at Faye. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that her secret was that she was a swarm lord. The fact that she had just killed a swarm wielding assassin proved that she was probably at least a baron.

The fear in Faye’s eyes actually made me feel a bit relieved. She obviously wasn’t afraid that I would physically attack her. The only possibility was that she was afraid of how I would react to learning her secret.

“No matter what, I love you.” I said and then leaned forward and kissed her. It took a few seconds but eventually she relaxed after processing what I had said.

Pulling back I gave her a bit of a sterner look. “Nothing you say is going to change that. However, I would like to hear an explanation.”

Faye nodded and then looked over at the door. “I’ll explain everything. But first can we figure out why someone is trying to assassinate you? I’m only a duchess. If queen Andrea or king Josh are behind this and are determined to kill you I won’t be able to stop them.”

I couldn’t help but feel a bit stunned when she stated that she was a swarm duchess. As a duchess she should be in charge of around a hundred thousand worlds. I couldn’t imagine why a swarm duchess would ever pretend to be a simple maid. Just as stunning, she had been trying to seduce me during our first meeting.

Shaking my head I focused on the current situation. “The only thing I can think of is that the queen and king made a bet during the ceremony. King Josh is here because one of his sons was one of the other new barons. He bet a tiny core factory that none of the other swarm barons would be more talented than his son. Me and his son are both counts. In five days we will see if we are both dukes.

Faye nodded. “It’s rare but swarm lords have been killed for less. Although in the case of king Josh it probably has just as much to do with the perceived loss of reputation if his son is less talented than you are. Although I’m surprised that he didn’t wait longer before sending an assassin after you.”

“Why would he wait?” I asked.

“His son should be at least a swarm duke or king. It would make more sense for him to wait to see if you are at least a swarm duke. If you are only a count then he doesn’t need to send an assassin after you.” Faye answered.

I shrugged. “What if he gave his son some extra micro cores? It’s possible he found out his son is the one that is stuck as a swarm count.”

“It’s unlikely but that seems more likely than anything I’ve thought of.” Faye said.

“So what do we do?” I asked.

Faye seemed to think about the question for a bit. “I don’t think the king will act publicly and damage his reputation, otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered sending an assassin. It seems likely that once he learns that the swarm count he sent failed he will send a duke to kill you. If that happens I won’t be able to protect you.”

I nodded. Some of my studies had involved learning about fights between swarm lords. A swarm lord could always kill a lower ranking swarm lord. They could also destroy the offensive swarm of that lower ranking swarm lord. Doing so would stop the swarm lord from killing other people.

However, if the two swarms lords were the same rank everything changed. They couldn’t kill each other. They also couldn’t block the attacks of the other swarm lord. Which meant if a swarm duke came after me there was nothing that Faye would be able to do. She couldn’t even block them from using their swarm to kill me. At best she could distract them for a bit while I tried to escape.

“You are going to need to find a swarm king or queen that will protect you.” Faye said.

“What about queen Andrea?” I asked.

Faye shook her head. “She is subordinate to king Josh. If he orders her to kill you then she will. In fact if this is about reputation he may just give her the tiny core factory in payment for her killing you.”

I couldn’t help but feel fear as I realized that she was right. “So where do I find a king that will protect me then?”