Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

Author:Linsey Miller [Miller, Linsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2017-08-28T18:30:00+00:00

Twenty-Seven

Seve was in the bath when I leapt into my perch. I whispered every Nacean name I could remember into the night. He would know why I’d come for him.

And then he had to die quietly.

A dead lord in the middle of Left Hand auditions would be suspicious. I only had to be less suspicious and they’d never know it was me.

I’d have to keep him from screaming. Couldn’t cut out his tongue—too much blood, too little words, and a bit suspicious.

I pulled on my gloves, turned my mask inside out to hide the number, took out my knives, and crept toward his roof. The servant poured his tea and left, and I dropped onto the roof as the door shut. I crept around to the side of his little nook, keeping in the dark across from his chair. A thousand thoughts flickered through my mind and fidgeted in my fingers. He leaned into the light.

He was cave-fish pale, blue veins marbling his carefully maintained white skin. A sheen glistened on his cheeks, catching the light with every movement, and he clutched his silk robe tighter around his long neck. Only one rune marred his hands—the jagged tail of a symbol I didn’t know peeking out from under his sleeve. He brushed a hand through his hair and straightened his gold spectacles. His eyes darted to the small mirror hanging on the wall. He checked the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes.

At least I knew how to keep him compliant.

“Apologies, Lord del Seve,” I said in Erlenian, coming up behind him and covering his mouth with a hand. “You scream, I carve up your pretty face and leave you for the night crawlers. You stay quiet, I reward you for your time.”

Seve nodded. A bead of sweat dripped down his nose, seeping through my glove. I jerked my hand away and rubbed it over my thigh. Disgusting.

“What do you want?” He rolled his neck, fingers drifting to his pocket. “I hold meetings for anyone who asks all day.”

Playing it unconcerned, like I wouldn’t notice him going for a weapon.

“You wouldn’t have agreed to meet me.” I tapped his hand with my knife. “Sit. Stay still. Answer my questions and I won’t hurt you.”

He sat, hands clenched in his lap. “What do you want?”

“Who ordered the withdrawal of troops from Nacea?” I leveled my knife with his neck, the tip nipping his chin, and stared at him through my mask. Let him think I was a shadow come to claim what he owed. If Our Queen had known what he’d done, he’d have died years ago. His death was long overdue. “Your soldiers were there and then they weren’t. Same with all the others. Why?”

“Nacea?” His brows furrowed. “That was ages ago.”

“Barely a decade.” Time must not matter when you were rich and unworried about starving to death or rotting because you couldn’t afford a physician. Out of sight, out of mind. “Last chance—names.”

“Lord, girl.” He threw up his hands and sighed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.