Chapter 139

Sam's theory made sense. And if he were right, the whole thing would actually be easy to resolve. But tonight's incident had been a deliberate attempt on my life, through and through.

And behind it,

Julia, or Count Kolkos.

Ever since Julia got swindled out of that diamond mine, the two of them had gone strangely quiet. There was no way they'd turned over a new leaf, and I was still as much a thorn in their side as ever, so I'd figured something big was coming eventually — I just hadn't expected it to be tonight.

God, I wish this had happened after Sam had already awakened as a Sword Master.

Now that I'd survived, I had the luxury of imagining what-ifs. Whether assassination or kidnapping, something like this should never have been allowed to happen at all.

"What are we going to do, Diana?"

Sam looked at his…