The Assassin and the Pirate Lord Read Online Free PDF Page A

never recover.
    They’d only be here for three nights; they could both go without a little sleep if it meant keeping her identity—and their lives—safe.
    â€œCelaena?” Sam asked into the dark. “
Should
I worry about going to sleep?”
    She blinked, then laughed under her breath. At least Sam took her threats somewhat seriously. She wished she could say the same for Rolfe. “No,” she said. “Not tonight.”
    â€œSome other night, then,” he mumbled. Within minutes, he was out.
    Celaena rested her head against the wooden wall, listening to the sound of his breathing as the long hours of the night stretched by.

Chapter Four
    Even when her turn to sleep came, Celaena lay awake. In the hours she’d spent watching over their room, one thought had become increasingly problematic.
    The slaves.
    Perhaps if Arobynn had sent someone else—perhaps if it was just a business deal that she found out about later, when she was too busy to care—she might not have been so bothered by it. But to send her to retrieve a shipment of slaves … people who had done nothing wrong, only dared to fight for their freedom and the safety of their families …
    How could Arobynn expect her to do that? If Ben had been alive, she might have found an ally in him; Ben, despite his profession, was the most compassionate person she knew. His death left a vacancy that she didn’t think could ever be filled.
    She sweated so much that her sheets became damp, and slept so little that when dawn came, she felt like she’d been trampled by a herd of wild horses from the Eyllwe grasslands.
    Sam finally nudged her—a none-too-gentle prodding with the pommel of his sword. He took one look at her and said, “You look horrible.”
    Deciding to let that set the tone for the day, Celaena got out of bed and promptly slammed the bathroom door.
    When she emerged a while later, as fresh as she could get using only the washbasin and her hands, she understood one thing with perfect clarity.
    There was no way—no way in any realm of Hell—that she was going to bring those slaves to Rifthold. Rolfe could keep them for all she cared, but she wouldn’t be the one to transport them to the capital city.
    That meant she had two days to figure out how to ruin Arobynn and Rolfe’s deal.
    And find a way to come out of it alive.
    She slung her cape over her shoulders, silently bemoaning the fact that the yards of fabric concealed much of her lovely black tunic—especially its delicate golden embroidery. Well, at least her cape was also exquisite. Even if it was a bit dirty from so much traveling.
    â€œWhere are you going?” Sam asked. He sat up from where he lounged on the bed, cleaning his nails with the tip of a dagger. Sam definitely wouldn’t help her. She’d have to find a way to get out of the deal on her own.
    â€œI have some questions to ask Rolfe. Alone.” She fastened her mask and strode to the door. “I want breakfast waiting for me when I return.”
    Sam went rigid, his lips forming a thin line. “What?”
    Celaena pointed to the hallway, toward the kitchen. “Breakfast,” she said slowly. “I’m hungry.”
    Sam opened his mouth, and she waited for the retort, but it never came. He bowed deeply. “As you wish,” he said. They swapped particularly vulgar gestures before she stalked down the hallway.
    Dodging puddles of filth, vomit, and the gods knew what else, Celaena found it just a
tad
difficult to match Rolfe’s long stride. With rain clouds gathering overhead, many of the people in the street—raggedy pirates swaying where they stood, prostitutes stumbling past after a long night, barefoot orphans running amok—had begun migrating into the various ramshackle buildings.
    Skull’s Bay wasn’t known as a beautiful city, and many of the leaning and sagging buildings seemed to have been