City of Secrets by Sarah K. L. Wilson

Author:Sarah K. L. Wilson [Wilson, Sarah K. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sarah K. L. Wilson
Published: 2021-12-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“Where is she?”

I wanted to be the one to ask the questions. I wanted to ask how bad the injury to his eye was. I wanted to ask if he was hurt. I wanted to ask where Gundt was. Instead, I gritted my teeth as Prexav spoke.

“She’s with my sister and Jensen of The Crown and Seal.”

Judicus shot him a look I’d never seen in the face of the leader of my coterie. It was sharp and deadly.

“Alive?” he asked.

Prexav threw up his hands. “Of course, alive! Of course! What do you think is happening here, traitor? The city is under attack.”

“I know.” I hadn’t thought of Judicus as a particularly intimidating person. Perhaps because I’d met him when he was mortally wounded. And it didn’t help that he was still hunched, though he stood half a head taller than Prexav. I knew he was powerful – I’d seen what he could do with his rope work, but I wouldn’t have thought he was ... scary.

Until Prexav backed up half a step into the rushing madness of the crowd and put a hand to the hilt of his knife almost unconsciously.

“I was just taking Sersha to safety. A ship.”

“A ship,” Judicus repeated, his voice clipped and his one eye burning like a phoenix. “And now?” he asked, looking at me and his eye softened when it fell on me.

I shook my head. I wasn’t going anywhere without him.

He sighed and it seemed like relief before he suddenly stopped, and his face grew hard again. “I’ll not hold you to the bonds, Sersha. You’re free to leave my coterie to go with him if that’s your desire.”

I was already shaking my head so hard it blurred my vision.

“She’s in your coterie?” Prexav asked, as if Judicus had just announced I was the new Grand Hadri.

“You seem woefully underinformed, my friend.” Judicus spared him a short glance but then he returned his full attention to me as if it were just the two of us on the street and not shoals of people. “I’m hurrying to my sister, Sersha. Gundt is waiting for us in an apt location with ... our other companion.” He shot Prexav another tight look. Clearly, he didn’t have Mally’s problem with spilling secrets. “Will you come with me to secure her safety?”

I nodded quickly.

“And once she’s safe we’ll see to Mally.” He sounded definite about that – as if it were a sure thing.

The gong rang again over the city, reverberating through the crowd. It drowned out anything more he might have said, overwhelming shouts and demands, shrieks, and fearful calls. This time, it struck twice and the faces of those around me turned from worry to terror.

Judicus cursed, beginning to move, but Prexav grabbed his sleeve.

“By the time you find your sister, our ship will have sailed with Sersha’s cousin on it. And the palace won’t let you in while the city is under attack. You’re wasting your time.”

Interesting that Prexav knew where Judicus’ sister lived while I did not.

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