“Hunt the traitor down, and bring her back to me. Alive.” The Ice Queen’s eyes blaze with an insatiable hunger that could devour nations. I shiver internally, but my outward composition is as impenetrable as a stone. Identical to the others around me.

We turn in unison and stalk out of the throne room, ready to complete our quest and claim the reward. And lucky for me, I have a leg up on all the other assassins on the hunt.

As if it senses my thoughts, the cause of the quest warms in my pocket, compelling me to examine it. I push the notion away and instead focus on the task at hand.

It will take the other assassins a day, at most, to discover that the poor handmaiden I framed was, in fact, framed. It’ll take them a half hour to discover who framed her. I have to move quickly.

At the first intersection, I split off from the group and quicken my pace, heading for the back gate. The odds that I succeed in the task I have set for myself are slim to none, but I have to try. For the good of the world, I must destroy the Ice Queen using the very weapon with which she sought to destroy it.

Sensing my thoughts once more, the amulet of the Lost Flame King warms in my pocket encouragingly.