Poisoner's City by Julia Blackmore

Author:Julia Blackmore [Blackmore, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781657855625
Publisher: Paeonia Press
Published: 2020-01-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

He couldn’t have died an hour and fifteen minutes ago. He looked like he had only just died. I tried to get a better look at the body, and my suspicions were confirmed. Whatever had happened to Phecda wasn’t death. Did he fake death to get Ares off his back? What did he do to make it so convincing? I decided to call Phecda to see if he’d reply.

Phecda picked up after a few rings. “Hey there. Who is this?”

“It’s me,” I said, using my real voice. I had no time to be Marun. I was too relieved that Phecda was alive. “I’m borrowing a friend’s phone.”

“Have you heard about Phantom’s death?” Phecda snickered.

“What did you do?”

“You’ll have to figure it out. I can’t tell you anything. Sorry.”

“But you’re alive?”

“Would I die without letting you know?”

I stared at the body lying in the crowd. I still felt a chill run down my spine when I saw that the eyes were still open. Without thinking, I stepped through the gathering of people and approached the body that was supposedly Phantom. But it couldn’t even be Phecda putting on a good act. I was just speaking to him. As I leaned over to take a better look at the empty red eyes, I heard reporters gasping and whispering. “What is he doing?”

“Was he working with Phantom?”

“Isn’t he the new guy working with Ares? Maybe he’s a traitor!”

I narrowed my gaze when I turned to face the crowd. Everyone took a few steps backward, evidently afraid of the dead-calm Marun Ookami that I had put in front of them.

“Silence,” I commanded. The whispers faded. “Yes, Phantom is our enemy, but he’s dead now. This body does not belong to him. Move on unless you want to deal with me.”

The crowd parted with fear in their eyes, except for one man who boldly walked up to me. “Delivery Boy,” Saeru greeted mockingly. “Did you have any connection to Phantom when he was alive?”

“No. No, I didn’t. Did you?”

“Don’t get on with that to me, Delivery Boy. Why do you care for the body?”

“What, do you want it? I hear there’s a good taxidermist around. Either way, I can assure you that this body does not belong to Phantom.”

“Oh, did he brainwash someone into pretending to be his dead body? Where is his real body, then?”

“Precisely,” I lied. “I killed him. I was sick of him. It looks like he wanted his death to be made into a spectacle for the public, but I’m here to tell you that if you hurt this body, you’ll only hurt an innocent woman’s body. Someone wake Goodwin. She has nothing to do with Phantom, so you don’t have to hurt her body.”

Saeru’s golden eyes pierced me once again. He checked the body and found the small mark that appeared on the dead body’s face. That mark, I noticed, appeared when Goodwin transformed. The body faded before our eyes.

Saeru ‘s eyes burned brightly with disdain. I knew I couldn’t let my guard down around him, and I matched his glare with one of my own.

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