Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
We stepped onto the main road and joined the foot traffic. Finally. The bridge curved just ahead. Yes! Made it.
“We meet at the Market, and then things that should’ve happened do not,” the man continued.
What did he mean by that?
“I come to the Harzi house, and you frustrate my plans. You should stop.”
“I was more surprised to see you in the cage than you were to see me outside of it, my lord. I had my own plans, which had nothing to do with you, but I couldn’t leave you in there. As you’ve said, we’ve met three times. We are practically friends.”
“Is that what we are?”
I realized Lute wasn’t behind me. I turned. He’d stopped in the middle of the street with an odd look on his face.
The man from the Garden stalked between me and Lute, blocking him from my view with his body. He was too close, way closer than was appropriate, and there was a spark of magic in his golden eyes.
“A friend is someone who knows you,” he said. “And you don’t know me at all, my gentle mel.”
I went cold.
Mel meant a year-old lamb-like creature. It sounded like a term of endearment, but it wasn’t. When a lamb became mel, it was marked for slaughter. There was a man who said this exact phrase in the books, word for word. He said it to Inhan Savaric just before he slit his throat.
Silveren. The man from the Garden was Estol Silveren. The Lord Commander of the Redeemer Knights. The man who had allied with Hreban and kidnapped Matheo.
Fuck.
“Lute!” My voice sounded too sharp, but I didn’t care.
Silveren smiled.
A metal blade slid over his shoulder along his neck.
The smile died. His eyebrows rose slightly. He hadn’t expected that.
“Step aside,” Lute said, his voice a quiet snarl.
Silveren took a step to the right, then another. Lute pulled the sword back and put himself between me and Silveren. On the other side of the bridge two men stopped to watch. A woman halted on the right. People were looking at us.
“Be on your way,” Lute said.
Silveren took two steps back, turned, and strode across the bridge into Kair Toren.
I slumped back. Lute caught me and helped me lean against the stone rail of the bridge.
“What happened?” I asked him. “Why did you stop?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I blinked and he was between us. Are you all right? You’ve lost color.”
“I just need a minute.”
The first time I ran into him in the Garden, he had called Hreban a toad and mocked him. And then he’d said, Alas, one shouldn’t keep such a rare beauty waiting. I’d assumed he was talking about a celebrity attendant. He had been talking about Hreban. Hreban was the beauty. They could meet at the Garden in complete privacy without raising suspicion. Galiene’s people would simply lead them to the same secluded room one at a time, and nobody would be the wiser.
Hreban must’ve shared his intentions for Galiene with him. Silveren knew, so he paid attention when that scheme collapsed.
It explained why he’d been at the Dog Market. He knew about the Butcher, so he went to check out the killer’s handiwork for himself. But what about the Harzi? How did they fit into this? Why was he there, what did he want? They weren’t a part of Hreban’s plan in the book. I was missing something.
Damn it.
I needed to speak to Everard. The sooner, the better.
I pushed from the rail.
“Are you good?” Lute asked, his eyes concerned.
“Yes. We have to get home.”
“Agreed.”
We started across the bridge.
He said the Harzi had something that didn’t belong to them. What could it be? A weapon of some sort?
“Maggie?” Lute asked.
“Yes?”
“What was all of that for?”
“What?”
“Going to see the Harzi. What was it for?”
“For Tzeri.”
I nodded toward the mordok on my shoulder. She hissed.
“Mordoks prey on small magical creatures and when they can’t get those, bats, mice, and small birds, and they need magic to survive, so the more magical the prey, the better. When a mordok bites something or someone, they imprint on the taste, and they can find them by magic across distance.”
“No, I got all that. We let her lick some blood or bite someone’s dirty laundry, and then we make those weird noises, and she finds the person.”
He’d gathered that from just watching the beastmaster and me. Huh.
“Why do we want her?” Lute asked.
“Because last night I ripped out a chunk of the Butcher’s hair. And a bit of scalp. It’s in my study. My clothes from last night also have his blood on them. ‘Reynald’ had cut him, and when the Butcher shoved me away, some of the blood got on my tunic. I hid it in my linen chest before we left, so Clover wouldn’t wash it.”
Lute’s eyes lit up. “We’ll be going hunting.”