The sun hadn't come up yet and the sky was that strange, bruised purple color that happens just before the world wakes up. Inside the palace, the servants were already moving, laying out white flowers and ironing miles of silk ribbons. But in the damp, freezing woods behind the high stone walls, two women were moving through the mist like ghosts.
Jessy Williams and Joyleen Strow didn't look like the heads of a global shadow army right now. They were dressed in black leather, their hair pulled back so tight it hurt. In their hands, they carried short, silenced blades.
This was the "Mission before the Vow."
"My heart is hitting my ribs like a hammer," Joyleen whispered. She stopped behind a thick pine tree and wiped cold sweat from her forehead.
She looked at her hands; they were trembling.
"I've delt with kings, Jessy. I've taken down empires in the dark. So why am I shaking like a leaf?"
Jessy reached out and squeezed Joyleen's hand. Her own fingers were like ice.
