The Alliance Series: Books 1-3: Adamant, Nemesis, Collision by Emma L. Adams

Author:Emma L. Adams [Adams, Emma L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-12-04T07:00:00+00:00

Somehow, impossibly, I was still invisible.

From high up, I saw at least fifty centaurs scattered amongst the trees. All wore leaf-crowns I recognised from Markos’s description of a disparate group wanting the throne for themselves. These centaurs wanted Markos dead, so he must be hiding.

I kept one level lower than Ada, one eye on her progress as she kept moving as I’d told her. She was pretty damn good at keeping her balance above the canopy, barely disturbing the leaves around her. But if any of the centaurs looked up at the wrong moment, she’d be in trouble. Which meant I needed to be ready to cause a distraction.

Being invisible gave me a few options, at least. I’d told Markos I’d draw their attention somewhere else. Naturally, he’d objected, but if they saw him, they could shoot him down and claim it an accident.

I did have one option, though. I could use magic, in such a way that wouldn’t draw attention to myself. I’d not had too many opportunities to practise, but here, it was possible to achieve that level of control. Guess I had the mage to thank for that. But I’d have to time it right, and get the centaurs as far away from Ada as possible.

Ada had managed to pass the centaurs, but we were still too far from the clearing for my liking. And their restless movements indicated they’d sensed a disturbance.

The scanner had picked up traces of magic, all right. Faint traces, but something magi-tech in origin had knocked down the tree. Not pure magic. It couldn’t have come from Aglaia, where the technology style was totally different. Which meant it came from offworld. Someone from another universe had killed the centaur king.

And the scanner couldn’t detect which world, of course. It only worked on individuals, and even that wouldn’t work here, where magic was a constant presence. What could an offworlder possibly have to gain by murdering Markos’s father? The mage had said magic was lower than it seemed. Aglaia didn’t have any resources the Alliance needed, or anyone else, for that matter. It was barely acknowledged by most worlds, and the migration rate was negligible. Nobody ever moved there, and few left, especially the centaurs.

It was needle-in-a-haystack impossible to tell who might have killed the king. No, there might be up to fifty worlds with a motive, and that was only within my limited awareness. For all I knew, every goddamned universe had a potential reason to ignite conflict on Aglaia.

Five of the centaurs had moved closer together, and Ada was near enough to reach with those crossbows no matter how fast she climbed. I had to cause a diversion. But centaurs moved quicker than any human even though they couldn’t climb.

I kept just below the canopy, moving as quickly as I dared without drawing attention. The group of five had moved close enough to talk to one another. Despite myself, I paused to listen.

“Tryfon said there’d be more.”

“This is just a sample. Be careful handling it.

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