Of Spies and Shadows (Magic and Monsters Book 1) by K.L. Ziggler

Author:K.L. Ziggler [Ziggler, K.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Tove

Tove threw herself over the privy in Kaolum’s room, the contents of her stomach emptying for the fifth time. She heaved, nothing but acid retching from her throat.

The attacker had ripped through servants’ quarters, torn through trained janissaries. Highly trained attackers. Ruthless. Lethal.

In her bones, she knew whoever it was after her. Why else would they go through servants’ quarters, turning over everything? They hadn’t realized she didn’t stay there.

The question was who was behind it. Someone on the court. God, maybe even Balian himself. Perhaps someone from the Isles.

Or maybe the assassins sent after her.

“Tove?” Amari’s voice rumbled through the room, her footsteps echoing with it.

Tove only gagged again. It couldn’t be the assassins. She’d left them on the Mainland. She’d made sure they hadn’t followed her when she changed ships and came to Osmaniya.

The bathing room door banged open. Tove craned back to catch Amari’s gaze flick to the dirty sheets and towels crumpled in the corner from where Tove and Kaolum had tossed them after changing the night before.

“Last night must’ve gone well?” Amari tilted a brow.

Tove coughed and spit, the rancid taste still coating her tongue. “It did.”

Amari paused, the only sound between them the picking Amari must’ve been doing at her fingernails. “Ceyda. Did she—do you know if she left right away?”

Tove backed away from the privy, taking deep, steadying breaths. “The coach pulled away as soon as we unloaded. She didn’t let you know what she heard?”

The sound Amari let out was unmistakable—relief. “No, I haven’t had a chance to see if carrier pigeons arrived.” Her steps drew closer behind Tove, the sultana’s steady hands pulling the hair off Tove’s neck into a ribbon. “Is this because of alcohol? Or because of what you saw in the quarters?”

Tove swallowed another bout of nausea, the images rising again. “What I saw downstairs.” What was meant for her.

Amari said nothing while she went to the vanity, grabbed a cloth, ran it under water, then filled a goblet on the sink.

“Drink.” The sultana handed her the water and knelt in front of Tove, wiping the cool rag over her balmy skin. “What did Ceyda hear?”

Tove sipped, removing some of the bitter burn from her mouth. “Balian is making promises to court members for when he takes power. He’s using the first attack for leverage, I think. Ceyda will know more.”

Amari shook her head. “And this will certainly not help our standing with the court, either.” Her focus went distant while she placed the cloth over Tove’s forehead.

“Are you okay?”

“I am used to death. Osmaniya may be peaceful, but Malinka is not always.”

Tove had been so close to boarding a ship headed to Magna Terra, Malinka specifically. Another beautiful empire that was a safe haven for those like her. Perhaps she’d been lucky having to change her plans.

“It’s one thing for warriors to die on the battlefield, it’s another to see civilians massacred.” They both went quiet for a moment, the sultana brushing the cloth along Tove’s forehead.

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