“She said she would gift me with great power for a limited time. And during that time, my mission was simple: find and kill her.” The woman pointed at me.
The cold way she said it sent a chill down my spine.
“Why?” Maverick’s tone was as hard as the stone walls around us.
“I didn’t ask. I did it for the gold, remember.”
Maverick gave an odd sounding grunt-growl but nodded. “How did she indicate the person to be killed?”
I was curious about that as well. Had someone painted a portrait of me? I didn’t recall sitting for one.
“She made an image in the mists. Looked exactly like that girl there. That’s how I knew.”
That made me shiver. It seemed the mistweaver could do almost anything. No one knew the extent of a mistweaver’s powers, and that mystery sent a chill down my spine. At the same time, I felt just a little more bad-ass that I’d killed her.
“Who were you before?” Maverick asked.
The woman’s demeanor shifted, becoming hard, shoulders set, jaw tight. It took her a moment to answer. “When I was six my parents sold me to a whorehouse. I cleaned and kept house for them until I was old enough to join those illustrious ranks. But I was not gifted with beauty, as you might see, and did not bring in much coin for my mistress. And, since she’d acquired a new cleaning girl by then, I was kicked out onto the streets to beg. I did what I had to, in order to survive, until that madwoman came along. Her offer was easy to accept. Kill one person for a wealth of coin?” The woman shrugged. “I’d not tried killing yet, but I’d been close. And to get away from that life, it seemed a fitting task.”
“That’s horrible,” Alvere whispered to me.
I had to agree. Though I still didn’t have a lot of pity for this woman who’d tried to kill me.
“Did you hear the mistweaver say anything about why she wanted this woman dead or who else might be involved?”
The woman smiled wide, with mock-innocence. “I didn’t ask, and she didn’t offer. I was a bit confused why a mistweaver would need the help of a wretch like me, but I see that clearly now. I was never meant to succeed. Only wear her face and be a decoy. Am I right?”
Maverick grunted a non-comital sound.
The woman nodded. “As I thought. What will you do with me?”
Maverick’s tone was hard. “You will remain here and be well cared for until such time as you are needed to testify to what you have done before the Council of Nobles.”
The woman shrugged at that. “At least it’s mostly warm and mostly dry. More than I can say for my life beforehand.” She lay back on the bed, though she left one leg over the side and as she put the other one on the bed, her dress rode up high on her legs. “And I’ll be here if any of you men need my services.”
Maverick turned away sharply and returned to us. “There is nothing here. I’m sorry.”
“That’s the reaction I usually got,” the woman said with a sigh.
“No one is to touch her, is that understood?” Maverick said sternly. Not that it needed saying, even Jack was shaking his head.
“That goes without saying, Boss.”
We left the dungeons, locking the door behind us, and Maverick bristled, seemingly shaking off the disgust of that experience. Then he sighed heavily. “I’d been putting that off and now I know why. I didn’t suspect she knew much, and I knew I wouldn’t like the experience.”
“It had to be done,” Amber said softly.
“What if she was lying?” the prince asked. “What if she made that all up?”
“She didn’t,” Amber said. “Before you arrived I… made her speak the truth.”
“You can do that?”
Amber looked into his eyes for a long moment and stepped in close, whispering to him: “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” he said without hesitation.
“Forget that,” she said again. And he blinked and shook his head.
