Zane Halloway: Omnibus Edition by P.T. Hylton

Author:P.T. Hylton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Six-String Books
Published: 2015-12-19T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ONE - NOW

Jacob Von Ridden sat behind his large desk, his hands folded in front of him, and his ample belly pressed against the oak. He squinted at Lily in a manner that suggested he wasn’t entirely pleased.

“Tell me what you suggest I do about this situation?”

Lily bit her lip against the first four responses that sprang to mind. Her chair was shorter than his, and sitting in it always made her feel like she was being reprimanded by the schoolmaster. She remembered the first night she’d sat here, back when she’d been Zane’s apprentice and she didn’t understand even the basics of the abditus craft. It felt like another lifetime. She hadn’t seen Zane in over two years now, and, lately, she spent more time at fancy dinner parties than she did with a sword in her hand. The socially-awkward-but-deadly girl she’d once been was now only a memory.

But some of the lessons still remained. Just because she was now studying to become an abditus rather than a ferox didn’t mean she couldn’t use the things she’d learned during her time as an assassin-in-training. Though some might not feel the same way.

She leaned forward, meeting her mentor’s eye. “Were I you, I’d congratulate your apprentice on a mission well accomplished and on her uncommon ability to think on her feet.”

Jacob sighed. “It’s not your ability to improvise that I’m worried about. Nor your…uncommonness. It’s your inability to follow simple orders and execute a carefully planned strategy.”

“Caleb said—”

“Bah! Caleb isn’t your mentor. I am.” Jacob rubbed a weary hand against his eyes. “Tell me your assignment.”

“Jacob, is this exercise really—”

“Please. Humor me.”

Lily took a deep breath. After everything she’d been through, she resented being treated like a child, but what could she do? Her past was gone, and she’d worked damn hard to forget it. She’d never be a ferox. And Jacob Von Ridden controlled her chances of becoming an abditus. Unless she wanted to go back to her parents’ farm, she needed to do what he asked. At least occasionally.

“I was to accompany three members of the King’s Guard to the home of a man suspected of stealing from the king. I was to use a shimmer to hide our approach. When the Guards engaged the target, I was to use the shimmer to disappear from view and let the Guards do their job.”

Jacob nodded sagely. “And that wasn’t what happened?”

Technically, that was exactly what had happened. She’d disappeared as the Guards knocked on the door. But it wasn’t a lone thief who’d answered; it was five armed bandits who quickly engaged the Guards in combat. Two more leapt from a second story window to get behind the soldiers. But Jacob knew all of this.

“If I hadn’t acted, those three Guards would be dead.”

Jacob nodded slowly. “I do not disagree.”

Lily hadn’t been able to stand by and watch as good men were slaughtered by criminals. She’d leapt into the fray and evened the odds a bit. As such, three of the bandits were dead and the rest were in custody.

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