Inkling of Violence by Saffron Bryant

Author:Saffron Bryant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saffron Bryant
Published: 2022-09-17T12:41:15+00:00

CHAPTER 25

Skylar arranged to meet the group of criminals the next morning. Time was short, but she needed sleep to clear her head. Plus now that she knew what she had to work with, she was in a better place to come up with ideas. Since leaving the Battered Ram she'd been painfully short of any ideas at all. Why was it on her shoulders anyway? Breaking into the palace and stealing their most valued item was too much for one person. The Chroniclers said they wanted it to happen, but how much support would they offer really?

As she drew closer to the edge of the Chroniclers' compound she heard soft sobbing. Skylar held up her palm, gesturing Mag to join her in the shadows at the edge of a building. Who would be out on the street at this time of the morning? Only urchins and other homeless, but they tended to keep their tears to themselves. Weakness invited trouble.

She could see them now, the faintest outline against the wall of the Chroniclers' compound. Just a ball of shadow that she would have walked right past if she hadn't heard the crying.

She laid a hand on her knife. It had to be a trap; someone had seen her leave the building and knew that she'd be back. Maybe they figured she had a soft heart and would drop all her defenses over a few tears. They underestimated her. Skylar drew a deep breath through her nose. The smells of the street assailed her. Rubbish and waste—always present, and the distant salt of the ocean. She sorted through those, searching for the smell of people. There were many, but all faint, traces left over from the day before. Only one stood out strong enough to be on the street with her. And she recognized it.

"Remi!" Skylar ran from the shadows, across the street, and fell to her knees beside the hunched shadow. She heard Mag hesitate in the middle of the street.

Remi's shoulders shook in time with his sobs.

"Remi, what's wrong?" Skylar gripped his shoulder, intending to pull his head up from where it rested on his knees.

He flinched as if he'd been burned, scrambled away, but collided with the wall, head-first. He crumpled to the ground.

"Remi!" Skylar's heart pounded. What in the Pits had happened to him while she was gone? Why was he outside? The Council had been very clear—Skylar might go out to recruit, but Remi had to stay. It was too risky for him to be out too.

He'd fallen so that his head lay part-way out of the shadow, lit by the distant gleam of a lamp.

Skylar stumbled to a stop, bile rising in her throat.

His eyes were the milky white of a donor.

She crawled closer, gripped his arm. "What happened? Who did this?"

"Don't touch me!" Remi yelled. "I'll gut you. I have a knife."

Skylar withdrew her hand, cold creeping over her skin. She'd seen enough fresh donors to know when one had just lost their hearing.

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