“A Tetrarch lives to serve.” He rolled her on top of him, a wicked gleam in his eyes. His cruel-edged smile turned tight. “The gods enjoy their games. We’ll have to play them if we’re to learn this one’s identity.”
Her haze of contentment crumbled. “Swear to me that you won’t do anything reckless. Bad enough that Noceo wants you dead without you taunting a god.”
“I won’t.” He soothed the goose bumps rippling over her flesh. “Noceo won’t kill me either. We’re too evenly matched, and he’d find my death unacceptably boring.”
Thank the Elsar for strange cruelties. She dropped her head to his chest. “How do we plot against a being who can hear our every word?”
For all the tenderness in his eyes, his voice was decidedly grim. “We wait for them to slip.”
Night was quick to draw over the sky in the Month of Breath.
Smoke clouded the horizon from the direction of the Aequitas, the courthouse still burning itself to death.
It was a decidedly grim group that convened outside Méherre’s domus. The brisk scent of crushed pine soaked into the muddied air as Méherre related what news she had gathered within Edessa.
Noceo apparently hadn’t needed much time to acclimate himself to sitting at the top of a country.
He’d dragged every available priest and vigile he could bribe or Coerce to watch Cassandane’s tower and Kadra’s. He had also spent the better part of a day attempting to brute-force his way into Aoran Tower with little luck in the face of Cato’s wards.
He wondered what it was about his home that inspired such devotion.
“Edessa will lead him on a merry dance,certo, but how do we fight a god? We don’t even know which one it is!” Cassandane finally whispered. “Six and a half thousand dead and nine thousand madness-struck now. Perhaps we should face it. Noceo’s one thing, but this is all far,farbeyond our reach. We’re…” She waved her hand in search of words that weren’t coming.
A green-faced Harion bemoaned his existence, trying to determine which of the Dark Reaches he might be condemned to.
Anek looked grimly resolute. “We research. Gods have their foibles. We aren’t without recourse.You,” she snapped at Harion’s moaning figure, “we’re going to the Hall of Records.”
“I’m heading to the horreum again.” Sarai crossed her arms. They had decided on that course of action last night. “That was our first bloodbath. It might be able to tell us something.”
“Kadra?” Cassandane glanced at him.
“I’ll tie up a few loose ends and join her.”
Cassandane’s brow pinched. “One of us could theoretically perform a Summoning ourselves and ask one of the Elsar to aid us.”
Kadra had considered it. A Summoning created an obligation on the part of the god. He had the power to call one forth and demand aid. Taxing, but it would end the greater battle here. Cassandane’s narrow-eyed glance at him said that she was hoping he would do it.
“Summonings are dangerous,” Méherre broke in quietly. “I know the south popularized them during your former Head Tetrarch’s reign, but there are dangerous caveats that could invite the wrong attention.”
Sarai winced. “Noceo said the same. Something about how anything can slip through the cracks.”
Cassandane’s brows hit her hairline. “Alright. No Summonings.”
They parted at the artery of a main road to make for their respective leanings. He caught the smile Sarai sent his way and tucked it close as he veiled himself in shadow. The pines lining either side of the mountain road breathed with him and shielded him from the worst of the snow. Wind wove the snap and spice of conifer needles into harmless eddies. No one was out tonight. A darkness like this was an invitation to hunt. Prey grew braver when they couldn’t see. They lauded themselves for being among the few to stalk the night and mistook their adrenaline for strength.
Desperate men amused Kadra greatly.
The old tunnel from the city into Sidran Tower remained well functional. He emerged from the trapdoor within Sidran Tower’s broom closetto the dulcet sounds of Noceo roaring at least a mile away in an effort to cajole Cato into undoing his own wards and let him into Aoran Tower.Interesting approach.
His brother was no fool, but the god’s appearance seemed to have thrown him from meticulous to desperate. Kadra stalked toward Aoran Tower, staying off the cobblestone path and watching his brother storm away after more screaming.
Padding toward the gates, Kadra took in Noceo’s guard standing watch, back facing him. Kadra yanked the man back and clapped a hand over his mouth before he could loose a scream. The furious epithets meeting his palm were proof that the man wasn’t Coerced. Bribed then. No loss.
Kadra slid the man’s dagger from him and slipped it through his throat. It sank in with ease. A well-maintained blade. Drawing it loose, he waited for the man’s dying gurgles to end, then rolled him onto the path.
Moments later, he caught steps nearing the gate. It swung open. “I wouldn’t recommend leaving, Cato.”
“Why not—gods.” A sconce parted the dark and vanished just as quickly as Cato hurriedly retreated from the corpse. He wiped his sweating forehead as Kadra entered Aoran Tower. “Who’s that?”
