I burned them with a blast of my fire. I didn’t have time for this.
Still, it was well done for a man who would run out of air in the next minute. In three strides I was atop him, slamming him onto the mossy ground with enough force to rattle his bones.
“You will be granted a breath,” I hissed, “only to answer me. Nod that you understand.”
His face was beginning to turn purple. He nodded.
The movement caused the necklace with the pendant of his rank within the Assembly to fall out of his collar.Druidic Grand Magus.
Gelida had hired agrand magusto do their dirty work? The Assembly kept their top talent under tight scrutiny. Maeron must at least know that this man was working for Gelida. Just how much that snake, who called himself the chancellor, knew about what this man was doing was another question altogether.
Even a pleasant truth might not save Maeron from me after this.
“Were you with Cadoc? Speak and choose your words with care.”
He gasped, filling his lungs as I loosened my hold. Sweat beaded on his temples as his eyes darted every which way. “I-I wasn’t with Cadoc. I was sent to do a job—”
“Did the Assembly validate your contract?”
He nodded,face going pale.
“To take the diplomat?” I growled.
He breathed in deeply as he tried to stop himself from squirming under my grip. He nodded. Then the lingering traces of Isca’s magic on him finally reached my senses.
“Did you hurt her?” I asked.
He opened his mouth.
I never heard his answer.
The curse surged like a flash flood. I fought it, choking and gasping, but all I had was two hands to hold back the torrent.
I’d meant to ask him if he’d put Isca to sleep, as his type could do. I’d meant to ask him where they’d taken her and a million other things. But her magic was onhisskin.
And just like that, the sanity I’d barely been holding onto, fled me completely.
When I blinked again, I stared down at a body turned to pulp, wrapped in the same traveling robe the corrupted druid had been wearing. There was something wet in my clenched fist. It took a heartbeat too long to realize it had once been his jaw. And it was still twitching.
I think I returned to the location of the ambush. It was hard to say what was real. I’m fairly certain I killed all the survivors. There was blood and something worse covering my boots and armor when I left.
The smell of burned flesh and the coppery slickness coating my fingers were reminders that I’d done this. I’d let it happen.
Whatever lay between me and her was not going to be simple. I’d slaughtered an entire regiment of their army. I’d killed their general.
All because I lost control.
All because I was desperate and let the monster win.
Cursed gods… What would the cost be? I couldn’t allow Isca to pay it.
I had finally found something worth staying alive for. Yet if Fate demanded a life… I would walk willingly toward the ending I had once begged for—long before watching the light fade from her eyes.
Chapter 52
Isca
The memory was so vivid, it felt like I was reliving a dream.
