“Forgive me, it would be hard for one man to kill ten women at once. Are you sure it was just one man? And if they died, where are their bodies, miss? There is only one dead courtesan in there.”
I gritted my teeth against the guard’s callous response.
“It was…there was smoke consuming them. It smelled terrible, and it was a pale, horrid yellow. Then…they turned to dust before my eyes. I swear it.”
The guard didn’t believe her, but I did. A lump grew in my throat. I’d recognized my hands in that dream, and yet I’d never been in that pleasure hall after that first time.
Ryssa pulled up beside me. “Is everything alright, my King?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes.”
Ryssa looked toward the madam and the guard. “Would you like me to ensure her business is funded to recover from this tragedy and any damages?”
The way she asked with such eerie recognition of what had transpired made me turn my head abruptly her way. She couldn’t have known…what was there to know? I’d been in bed. I’d been dreaming. I’d been nowhere near this part of town.
Staring into the void of Ryssa’s faceless cloak, I nodded. “Yes,” I said again. “And find out who that guard is and remove him from his position.”
It left me feeling helpless and numb. It left me wondering if the evil that grew within me had always been there.
Chapter 24
Krait
When I came down for an early dinner before the council meeting, Ryn and Elsedora were sitting beside each other in the dining room. Sprawled across the table was a stained and filthy vellum that looked older than me. It was a map with Brennax and Phynx cities inked upon it.
They were bickering about something and pointing to parts of the world.
“This would be where Helos sits now,” El said.
When the two of them put their heads together, they made a good team. There were also moments of catastrophic disagreement that made me want to send them to opposite sides of the realm.
I mused, “Those are hopeful faces.”
Elsedora blurted, “Caym has someone new doing his bidding.”
“Explain,” I ground out, still in a piss-poor mood after having pushed Sybilla away in the library—in an even worse mood because the moment replayed like a tune stuck in my head.
“Well, we always suspected Mattock and Stygian were under Caym’s influence—Firose too. But we’ve never found evidence to link them all together. We think that the envoys bear a mark. Look.”
Elsedora gently spun the ancient map in my direction. She pointed at a familiar symbol—three skulls with a triangle intersecting them. The hairs on my arms stood.
“It moves…” Elsedora’s eyes followed as the mark moved very slowly through what would be the city of Helos.
I narrowed my gaze on the page.
“It was on the dagger those men used on Sybilla,” El continued.
I nodded. She’d been so cagey about that damned dagger.
“I recognized it immediately. It was also carved into the belongings of those we suspected to be harvesting Death for Caym,” El said. “When Firose grabbed me in the fray at the battle of Luz, I sawthissymbol engraved on a golden ring she wore. I thought it odd because—”
It snapped into place. I knew where I’d seen that symbol. I cut in, “Stygian had this inked on his arm.”
Mentioning my former Commander, the man who’d betrayed me and led my troops on a Death rampage through Phynx, made me grind my teeth. I hoped he rotted amongst the worms.
“Then itisconnected to Caym. I saw it on Corric Mattock’s crown as well. Which was what I wasaboutto say before being interrupted,” El huffed.
Isolde’s tomes were infuriatingly vague, but they had mentioned Caym often acted through others—envoys. With Isolde’s Reverist power, even while trapped and most of the power out of his reach, Caym could influence those most vulnerable. Those angry or seeking purpose…
