King of Assassins by Jenna Rhodes

Author:Jenna Rhodes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2014-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

RIVERGRACE EMERGED from the graying darkness of the cave, her eyes narrowed against the sun. From its slant, she’d been inside the cave far longer than she would have guessed. She drew in a long, slow breath, enjoying the clean air free of the smell of cold rock and lichen and dust. As she stepped farther out, something moved furtively in a line of shrubs, something unseen but heavier than just a scurry upon the ground. She turned to it, listening. All noise hushed. Not even the buzz of an insect wing. The lack of noise told her more than the sound before had. She was not the only one who paused, held their breath, and listened for an enemy. It was not her imagination unnerved by what she had seen and learned from the dark water. Lariel might have tracked her down. This ridge ran along the border of her kingdom, and Lara had a bonding with it that was laced tightly with her Vaelinar powers as well as the powers of Kerith itself. She knew who trespassed on her borders, and although Grace was near certain she stood beyond them now, she couldn’t be absolutely sure, and even if she did—she stood so close to them, that the land itself might betray her. How she might have to react to that betrayal shook her for a moment.

She would change; it was inevitable, and this must be the beginning of it. Rivergrace pressed a hand to her eyes, shuttering them for a moment, hoping for clarity when she reopened them. It might work. Chances were it would not. Yet, when she looked upon the scene again and swept her gaze about, she could see a multitude of threads in all the colors of the landscape, each one waiting to be plucked or braided or snapped—and thus altered forever. Did she dare take the responsibility? A failure to accept those consequences had destroyed the House of her father, or what had once been her father.

She took in a long, slow, soft breath as if she could taste any mischief on the wind, as an animal would scent trouble. A hush stayed over the area. The feeling that pressure built, swelling and expanding, until it exploded and inundated the surroundings, cloaked her. A storm gathered, but not a storm of electricity and rain. That she could handle, even draw upon, replenish herself as she replenished its essence. She was water and, in some little respect, fire, but she was nothing of what she sensed approaching. Grace took in another soft breath, deep and quiet, a gentle hiss between her teeth and through her nostrils.

She balanced her weight and brushed her cloak from her side, wrapped it about her left arm to shield it and slowly withdrew her short sword. With a certainty and fluidity she was not sure she really felt, she moved into a defensive position, keeping part of the broken rock of the cave entrance at her back.

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