Red

I woke with a jolt when something soft pressed against my forehead.

My eyes opened to come face to face with horse nostrils. I laughed silently as I pushed Ivar away. His massive body towering over my body as I laid against a tree. Must've fallen asleep. I slowly got up and spotted the sun. Almost noon. I guessed. I really just fell asleep for five hours.

Ivar waited patiently as I got up and brushed all the grass and dirt off of me. His ears perked as he waited for me to mount up.

Once finished, I walked up to him and gracefully mounted onto his bareback. I always feel so small on this huge horse. Just like his mother, Ivar is pure muscle.

Ivar and I slowly made our way back to the city. Eventually, we made our way through the forest, the sights and smells of Dunkev greeting us.

I made sure my hood was up as Ivar and I strolled down the main street that led to the Shadowed Manor.

We passed by huge houses and busy sidewalks, all filled with people talking about the recent murders in a warehouse. Hmm. Wonder who did that?...

I kept a smirk on my face, though it was hidden by my hood.

Ivar kept a steady pace as we turned down some shady streets, that led behind the huge houses and manors, eventually spitting us out at the stable behind my home.

I slid off of Ivar and opened the door for him, he stopped to snort at me, communicating his displeasure of having to go to his stall. Drama queen. I rolled my eyes at him. We literally just were out for six hours, what more could he want?

I joined Ivar inside of the stable, shutting the huge rolling door and walking to the grain bin so I could feed him his daily grain.

By the time I turned around, Ivar was in his stall waiting for me. Walking over to him, I dumped the grain in his trough. He wasted no time in gobbling up the grain.

I watched him eat, though a shuffling of feet had my attention shooting around the stable.

A deep chuckle and footsteps drew my attention to the rafters. I spotted a muscled male body covered in clothes extremely familiar to mine before said male disappeared.

Ezekiel.

I immediately relaxed and turned my attention to Ivar.

"You've been gone for a while." Zeke dropped from the rafters, landing perfectly and nonchalantly walking towards me, his hands in his pockets.

I shrugged and felt him staring at me.

"Have you iced this?" His hand came up and his fingertips lightly brushed my jaw.

Shot... I completely forgot about that. I shook my head and faced him in time to see the disapproving frown.

"So you disobeyed my orders?" A spark danced in his green eyes.

The hand that rested on my face, tightened around my jaw. He moved my head so I was forced to meet his hard stare.

And despite the twitch of displeasure, his excitement was evident by the twinkle in his eyes. Kinky bastard loves when I disobey.

His frown drew up into a smirk as he let go of my chin. "If you weren't innocent, I would be inclined to punish you in other ways. But for now, I suppose I will let this small slip up pass."

I nodded and faced Ivar. Who was done eating and was watching our exchange.

When he realized he had my attention, he stepped forward and buried his nose in my stomach.

I chuckled silently as Ivar continued to act like a hound rather than a fourteen-hundred-pound horse.

I felt Zeke's stare on me, though I tried my best to ignore him.

He cleared his throat, telling me he needed to talk about something serious.

"I know you just completed an Errand, but it would seem that your last Errand needs to be continued," Zeke said kind of cryptically.

I turned and raised my brow at him.

Zeke folded his hands in front of him and stood straighter. "Last night you intercepted a letter from another continent, which confirmed the marriage of our princess and the prince of Urrey. It would seem that the king is unaware of the marriage, and I have reasons to believe he will try and stop the union." He sent me a look before continuing. "Your next Errand is to kill the king before he gets the chance to kill either the prince or the princess."

I did my best to hide my shock, disbelief threatened to show as I digested what he had just said.

"I take it you understand the risks and whatnot?" His blonde brows raised. He is actually being serious.

He wants me to kill the King of Illyra.

A smirk slowly replaced his seriousness. "I suppose I will take your silence as acceptance. Everything you need is, of course, available to you." He turned and started to walk away.

He's punishing me for not talking. Just like always. He will never stop trying to get me to talk. My anger slowly started to rise as I realized what he was setting me up for. He's taunting me.

"Oh and Red." Zeke turned back to me briefly. "Correct me if I'm wrong," He waved his scarred and callused finger as he spoke, " I do believe this is your most important mission, so don't fuck it up."

All I could do was nod, as he left.

My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides as my mind tried to process what just happened.

I've just been hired to kill the King of Illyra. The King. It's not that I can't successfully kill him, but the fame I would get from this one kill.

The last thought made me pause. I don't want to be famous, I just want people to tremble at the mention of Red Riding Hood. Killing the king would mean both.

As my thoughts finally started to sort themselves out, I found myself grinning.

Little Red Riding Hood, the only assassin to ever successfully kill the King of Illyra, also known as The Charming Snake.

I would be the one to finally put an end to his horrible reign. The tides may finally turn in favor of the people of Illyra.

That settles it. I'm going to kill the king.

~~~~~~

Thank you for reading Chapter three. I hope you liked this chapter. This is quickly becoming my favorite story as I'm really starting to get into Red's character. For those of you who are also reading my other two stories, I do apologize that I haven't updated in a while, this chapter was already partially typed out, so it was easier to just finish this. Anyways, I'm hoping to update the others soon. I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! Feedback and comments make me happy.