City of Exile by Claudie Arseneault

Author:Claudie Arseneault
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Kraken Collective
Published: 2022-11-26T16:12:42+00:00

As soon as Branwen Dathirii had laid eyes on Garith’s message and read his cheeky see you tonight, dear cousin, she’d known he was about to do something foolish. Even in cursive, she heard the forced bravery of the declaration, the way he tried to manifest it by putting the words on the page. If he had been certain, he would have surprised her with it.

She didn’t know what to make of the rest. He still trusted Yultes, that much was obvious, and while she couldn’t shake all of her doubts away, she found herself hoping he was right. Regardless, there was one thing she did know: she couldn’t stand waiting to see what happened. It felt like all she’d done recently. Waiting for information, untangling the lies, passing what she learned along to Uncle Diel and Lady Brasten, then back to waiting. Bullying Hellion had helped her mood a great deal, but she was growing restless again, and if Garith had a plan in mind, she wanted to be ready.

So she’d asked herself what they might need, alone in the Dathirii Tower, surrounded by Allastam soldiers and at the mercy of Hellion’s whims. The answer? Reinforcements. She didn’t have a lot of time, but Cordelia might help her build a small team of the Dathirii guards that had moved on. Branwen had thought first to talk with Kellian about it, but the moment she’d laid out her idea, he’d swept it aside.

“They’re in too small numbers compared to the Allastam soldiers. I’ll do it.”

“Because you alone isn’t too small?” she’d retorted, irritated at his dismissal. “Besides, you forget one important detail: you’re under arrest.”

Kellian had rolled his shoulders as if warming up for exercise. “I am not the same I was. Stone walls can’t contain me.” He’d stepped closer to said wall, then pressed his palm against it. His hand had slowly turned into stone itself and sank in. “Get me a sword, and I’ll be there. They can decide what punishment I get for it after everyone is safe.”

Branwen had wanted to protest, but she’d feel much better with Kellian by her side. She’d missed him, with all his gruff bluntness. Maybe this was a mistake, but she found that much like him, she didn’t care to think that through now.

“Strike team, then,” she’d said with a smile.

And so they’d found themselves at the foot of the Dathirii Tower when a lone figure slipped out of it, underdressed for the freezing weather, a small bag slung over their shoulder. One might think him a messenger boy too poor for proper winter clothes, but Branwen Dathirii was as adept at seeing through disguises as she was at constructing them. Especially those from her wardrobe. More importantly, she and Garith had grown together from tiny children into who they were today, never leaving each other’s sides for long, and she would know him out of thousands.

He’d exited the Tower two levels below, from the kitchens’ doors, but she bent over the bridges’ railing and cupped her hands around her mouth.

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