Dragon Age_Tevinter Nights by Patrick Weekes

Author:Patrick Weekes [Weekes, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07V62HK75
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2020-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The man in the shop may not have talked, but there was another person who knew about the necklace—or the “seal,” as Aelia had called it—and I had him cornered. His trunk lay behind us where he’d dropped it in the street and his back was to me. I kept hold of the magic keeping him there.

“How did you find me?” Flavian Bataris asked. The silver egret pin bobbed nervously at his throat—just as it had the last time we’d met. His name, along with the name of the boat he’d hired, had cost me the rest of the evening and enough coin for a week’s worth of fish dinners.

“People who scurry around the lower market after dark don’t wear gold-embroidered robes.” I walked carefully around him until we were face-to-face, then pointed to the silver egret. “And they don’t advertise themselves with the family crest.”

Flavian flushed. It was an embarrassing error, though maybe not the one he regretted most. I held up half of the four-winged dragon so he could get a good look. Aelia had taken off with the rest of the necklace.

“You failed to get me killed,” I said calmly.

“That wasn’t the point,” Flavian said. “I was getting rid of it.”

“And you let the right people know you no longer had it,” I said.

If Flavian was capable of remorse, he wasn’t wasting it on me. “Someone was going to die—if that’s broken then most of Minrathous will. That included you anyway. Or you might have stopped Aelia. Between the two of us, you had a better chance.”

I dropped the magic holding Flavian in place. Flavian folded his arms, then unfolded them, then clasped his hands.

“You didn’t like my odds against Aelia,” I said.

Flavian eyed my arm. “Was I wrong? Besides, I don’t like anyone’s.”

As if in support, a tremble shook the ground beneath us. A young couple by the pier pulled apart, looking around in confusion, then went back to it.

“What are the necklaces for?” I asked.

“Corypheus wanted Tevinter reborn,” Flavian said. “He trusted Minrathous to be the jewel of his new world. He planned to return here after his victory in the south.”

“What are they for, Flavian?” I said.

“There’s a demon sealed beneath the city. If it’s let out…” He made a dismissive gesture, as if tossing Minrathous aside. “Corypheus would rebuild. That was the plan.”

“Minrathous has defeated demons before,” I said.

“Not like this,” Flavian said. “I’m not even sure demon’s the right word. It’s something only a god could summon.” At the look on my face, he added: “If not a god, Corypheus was close enough.”

Another tremble shook below us and I took a step to steady myself. People along the docks were starting to look worried now. I saw a man run toward one of the storehouses. The young couple hurried away.

“Keep going,” I said.

“Eight of us held the seals to its prison. Blood-bound. We couldn’t speak of them. The death of the others was the only thing that could shock me into giving mine away.

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