Page 46 of A Requiem of Fire and Ice

Ma Yang speaks in her common tongue, “She comes in near the end of the session to finish him.”

“He summoned her from my mother’s chambers?”

Ma Yang inclines her head. “Yes, he always does.”

“But she fled earlier, which aggravated him?”

Ma Yang turns her back to me and lowers the glittery purple robe to reveal third-degree burns across her shoulder. Blistered pus and blood swell across her back, rippling with heat and throbbing a dark red. “He grew angry and began hurting his dolls.”

“Do you know where I can locate Layla?”

They shake their heads.

“And you didn’t see the water elemny maid scheduled to clean the mess?”

Veronica furrows her brow. “Water elemny? Not Bethany?”

“Bethany?” I say flatly.

“The earth elemny. King Ragan never sends a water elemny in after.”

“Why?”

“We exhaust him too much. Therefore, he requests an elemny weak to fire.”

I sigh with frustration. “You may go, but I prohibit you from leaving the castle grounds until I say so. If any of you leave, I’ll kill you.”

They leave the room in silence. As they do so, I eye the hole in his head.

Silence. It’s the keyword throughout everything.

I will rule out rifles. The range seems a short distance from the murder. There are also no holes through the arched glass windows. Besides, shooting three times in the same spot would lack accuracy, given the direction they fired. It’s awkward enough carrying a sniper rifle around. I can’t imagine someone standing over King Ragan and aiming it downward in that motion.

So…it was a pistol. Most pistols can hold a silencer, but it’s all about the quality that makes the difference. Some can even make slight noises that the sex workers might hear. A Beretta M9A4…It handles well enough and shoots accurately. Or there’s a chance it could already be a gun with a suppressor attached. The FNX-45 Tactical is also an option if that’s the case.

Alek and Ri would likely know more. I’ll send the information upon their return to the Kingdom of Flesh.

I cancelled their investigation into this Pandora girl because I needed more hands-on help when hunting with Astin. Walkyer will be the king, and I need him to have more protection while I am gone. He will be the first water elemny king ever.

Riots and uproar may arise once we announce the crowning.

I examine King Ragan again and grimace.

The maid and Layla seem to play in my mind…especially the maid. A water elemny instead of an earth elemny entered the Throne Room after he had his way with the sex workers. It never occurred to me that King Ragan would put orders like that in place, but it makes sense now. King Ragan’s dolls were of more use than I ever would have expected.

I move my hand toward his head as if I’m holding the gun, and my frown deepens when I pull the trigger.

It skimmed the side of his neck, where the first lot of dry blood on the ground had occurred. It spurted out until King Ragan placed his hand over the wound.

Makes sense. Blood covers his hands, and there’s a burn mark lining the injury. He attempted to seal it shut.

What happened next?

My focus trails across the floor, and I follow the drips of blood that spilled from his neck. He moves toward the throne until the culprit shoots him again. King Ragan falls across the steps, so they move toward him, stand over him and shoot again.

My finger moves as if I’m pulling the trigger. A flutter rises, stirring when I pull the trigger. So, I do it again. Another flutter stirs, clenching my heart with excitement. And so I do it again, and that time, it’s fucking satisfying.

Revenge. The motive was revenge. That satisfying feeling caused the culprit to pull the trigger five times. The first was reactionary, the second for death, and the three others were pure, relishing satisfaction with the elemny’s revenge.