I was alone.
CHAPTER 55
GARRICK
Before
I foundthe scarlet letter my last morning in Canmar. The bounty I’d been offered was no good. The target was a young woman who’d run away from home. Usually, those sorts of jobs were easy. People never made it far in Velora, especially women. If they were alive, I found them quickly. But a few discreet questions had told the real tale.
Her father hit her. She’d contracted a marriage on another continent and seen it as an escape… only to find out that her father planned to accompany her. She fled. Whether it be across the water or into the wilds of Velora, I was not going after her.
I did not take chances anymore.
I rarely took jobs anymore.
Only two in the last six months. It was just too easy for things to go wrong. I’d learned that after the hexblight massacre.
I had no problem with killing. But I did not like to do so without knowing the implications. Another mistake like that, and I could wind up in prison or beheaded. The former barelyexisted in Velora anymore, which made the latter more likely. I could not protect my mother if I were dead.
I followed the instructions inscribed on the scarlet card exactly. I entered the tavern from the side door. Ordered an ale. Waited.
The king gave orders, and I danced to them. Even two decades later, even on the other side of the damn continent. I might be gone, but my mother’s bargain kept her in Balar Shan. Indefinitely. Forever. Until her limited mortal years ran out.
How much longer could I stay away, really?
I’d amassed a fortune by exploiting the dwindling wealth in Velora for nearly twenty years. It was enough for my mother and me to live comfortably for the rest of her days back in her homeland. Not in Velora. There was no future in Velora.
There was no future at all, because my mother was bound to Balar Shan.
I’d done everything I could from afar. Going back was my only option. I’d sworn to myself when I left that when I returned, it would only be to free my mother. If I went back now, with no plan…
But going back meant facing more than just the king. My siblings were there, fully grown now. Memories were there.
Damn it all to the Dark God’s eternal hell. It felt like I’d been living there most of my life.
I readjusted the bow and quiver of arrows in their sling across my back. I only took them off to sleep, but their weight was reassuring even now, when I did not dare to wield it.
After an hour, I stood up and asked where to relieve myself. Then I ignored those directions and turned right behind the bar instead of left. I opened the third door. It was already occupied.
A woman with heavy black curls sat in the single chair, at the single table. A fire roared behind her, lighting her from behind. Every instinct I possessed, human and fae, screamed a warning.
“You are in the wrong room,” I said. I certainly was not. I’d memorized the directions in the letter before burning it.
She tilted her head to the side. “I assure you I am not.”
There was no use arguing with a stranger. If they wanted me badly enough, another scarlet letter would find its way to me.
“You received a summons from the fae king,” the woman said. And then added, “Your father.”
I turned back very slowly, reassessing the room and everything in it. The fire burned bright—too bright for the wet wood that fueled it. Dry wood was a rare commodity for most people in Velora, especially shady tavernkeepers. It took too long to dry out before use, and the humans of Velora were running out of time.
Her ears were not pointed; she could be a halfling, like me. But I felt no pulse of magic in the room. There was one way to know for sure. I compelled her to stand. She remained sitting. There was not a fae alive who could resist my compulsion. But there were a handful of beings still living in Velora who might.
“You are not fae,” I said. “You are a witch.”
She inclined her head. The movement revealed the gold flecks in her otherwise black eyes. “I covered my appearance well. You are as capable as your reputation purports.”
“I do not deal with either fae or witches.” And the King of the Fae certainly did not associate with the latter. They were dangerous, capricious incarnations of the Dark God himself, who’d combined his power with the other six gods to place the curse on Velora in the first place.
