“What if I can give you a better chance than that?”
The Weaver cocked her head curiously, and she knew she had her.
“Drayer and I are soul-bonded, as you know,” she began, “which means there are only so many people who can manipulate the bond. Me or him if we have the necromancer bones that bound us, the soul seamstress who stuck us together, or… a necromancer.” She dared to meet Clea’s gaze, trying to gauge whether her gamble had worked. She didn’t know how much the other woman knew about soul bonds, nor if it was possible for the soul seamstress or necromancer to willingly kill only one side of the bond. All Gentry knew was that she didn’t want to die right thissecond.
Thankfully, Clea’s expression transformed from one of curiosity to pure greed. “A necromancer, you say,” the Weaver purred, “she’ll be able to kill Drayer through you?”
“Yes,” Gentry lied smoothly.
Clea released her magic, and Gentry slumped to the ground. The Weaver pulled her back up by her injured arm, the blood now dripping onto the fancy university floors. Drip. Drip. Drip. Gentry dared to wrench her arm back, which made the Weaver laugh.
“I knew talking to you would be worthwhile,” she chuckled. “Luke is always saying the magic-less have to be more cleverwhen it comes to solving problems. I’m glad to see he was right. Here.” She tapped on Gentry’s arm with a single black-painted nail.
Scorching-hot magic pounded into her arm and seared the flesh of her cuts. Gentry watched with amazement as her wounds healed in an instant. It had taken Visha at least ten minutes to achieve a similar effect.The Weavers must be strong.But then again, she’d read rumors that the disgraced princess had been adopted by her father purely for her violently powerful magic.
“I will get you the necromancer,” Clea said, “but I’ll need certainassurancesfirst, or the deal’s off.”
Gentry understood that the ‘deal being off’ was really just code for ‘I’ll kill you’. “Yes, what do I need to do?”
The Weaver’s eyes gleamed. “Do you know anything about my abilities, girl?”
She thought for a second before responding, “You’re strong and good in a fight, but it’s your tracking that you’re renowned for.”
“Bingo, I am the best tracker in Skadra. When I’m not collecting taxes for my bastard father, I’m hunting down the worst criminals in the city,orwhoever is dumb enough to piss off my father. I can track down anyone. But first I need one condition met.” Clea’s smile was razor sharp. “Can you guess what that is?”
Gentry thought about all the things she knew about witchcraft. “Organic material,” she said, “you need something from me. DNA of sorts.”
“Bone, blood, hair, fingernails, or anything else,” Clea agreed, “take your pick and hand it to me. Or else I’ll smash you into the wall like a bug and be on my merry way. But just know — once I have something of yours, you will never be rid of me. I’ll always be able to find you. For example, I had that Jumper bitch’s hair — the one who holds the assassin’s leash — and she tried to hidefrom me. Managed for a few days, too. But I could sense her in the desert moving at impossible speeds, and knew the bitch was hiding in a bunker. It took a few days for me to memorize the stops, the patterns. I had tons of fun killing her this morning.”
All the gears in Gentry’s head stopped working as she stared at Clea in horror. Visha, the woman who’d almost killed Gentry, was dead. She’d probably suffered through a horrific death just a few hours ago.
“So be sure that you want to work with me,” Clea said earnestly, “because I will kill you if this doesn’t work out. But don’t worry, it won’t be personal, which is more than what the people I usually kill can say.”
Gentry believed her. “So I give you my hair, and you’ll get me to a necromancer. Is that what this deal is?”
The Weaver smiled. “Yes.”
It wasn’t much of a choice, but it was hell of a lot better than dying right here and there. Hands shaking, Gentry reached up to her hair and plucked a strand. She then held it out to the Weaver.
“You have yourself a deal.”
thirty
Gentry
Gentry found Kit sitting on a bench a few yards away from the building. He stood up when he saw her, his face far more guarded than it had been before.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, a little alarmed to see the usually cheery witch so gloomy.
He took her arm and started pulling her along the street, his pace long and difficult to keep up with. “There were a few witches I had to take care of while you were inside the building. I think I got them all, but we should get to your father’s apartment before we pick up any more tails.”
But now we have the ultimate tail, Gentry thought, unsure about how to broach the subject of Clea and their deal. Her head still swam at all that had changed in the span of an hour. In theory, she knew how to break the curse binding her to Drayer Netherton even if so much of it was impossible. Clea was going to bring the city’s only necromancer to her location at some point. If the necromancer couldn’t find a way to kill Drayer remotely through Gentry, then Clea would summarily kill her.
And don’t forget Visha’s dead, she reminded herself,just because you hated her doesn’t mean Kit does.As far she could tell, they’d been amenable. Hell, Visha had been acting like they had still been an item.
She didn’t know Kit well enough yet to break the news.
“You said your father’s apartment is on Harlow Street?”
